Epilogue
ONE YEAR LATER: MEG
Opal was being a major pain and taking immense pleasure in it. The yearling hadn’t even reached her full height yet and she was already causing mischief: stealing hoses, jumping fences and ignoring every command thrown her way. Today, the chaos she decided to sow involved taking every bucket she could find and throwing them about the yard. She had also attempted to knock over the water trough, which had been cemented into the ground for this exact reason.
“Were you a rodeo clown in a past life or something?” Meg asked the horse, attaching a lead to her halter and moving her to a safer pasture that was free of buckets. “Like seriously? For someone a year old, you have a serious propensity for mischief.”
Opal just whinnied, delighted at all of the attention she was getting because of her exploits. Meg couldn’t even be angry at her. She’d somehow ended up being Meg’s horse, the same way that Tilly would only ever listen to Nash. And as naughty as she was, she was also one of the smartest animals Meg had ever encountered. Which was going to become a serious problem, because it was only a matter of time before she figured out how to work the latches on all the pens.
“Go on,” she said, letting Opal loose in the corral so she could blow off some steam without damaging any more property. Not to mention the adult horses needed a break from her insanity for a couple of hours. Meg sat on top of the fence, watching Opal trot around gleefully, squealing and snorting at the top of her lungs. Beyond the corral the sun was starting to dip into mid-afternoon, lighting up the pastures in a gentle, golden glow.
When she had first set foot on the ranch, a little over a year ago, Meg’s first thought had been that it looked like a storybook illustration. It still did. In fact, it was probably even more true than it had been before. With the money they made from the Hillside Rentals, there were funds and time available to fix up the whole ranch. The main house was looking just as fresh as the buildings on the hill, and the horse yards had new fencing. That was mostly because Opal was feral and they needed to keep her contained, but it still looked nice.
The remaining cattle were mostly here to keep the grass down and because Nash just couldn’t bear to part with them if he didn’t have to. In a few years the herd might multiply back to the numbers it had once been, but for now they were just some very spoiled cows, eating grass to their hearts’ content. Plus the guests from the city just loved taking pictures of them, especially when there were any calves bouncing around.
“Hey,” came a grunt from behind Meg. She turned to find Nash wandering over to her, looking tired, which was pretty normal. But he didn’t look stressed these days. In fact, she’d never really seen him so happy.
“What did she destroy this time?” he asked, jutting his chin at Opal.
“Threw a bunch of buckets around. Attacked the water trough. Nothing too terrible.”
Nash rolled his eyes. “Yeah, she’s an angel.”
Opal whinnied louder as if she knew she was being talked about.
“Are you busy?” Nash asked.
“When?”
“Now.”
“Nope. The only thing on my agenda was to deal with this delinquent.”
“That’s a job that never ends. Come on, then, before she destroys something else.”
He gave Meg a tap on her thigh, always finding an excuse to touch her as much as he could and walked off in the direction of the house. Meg swung off the fence and followed.
“Why? What’s up?” she called after him. All manner of things sprung up on the ranch that needed their attention. She’d stopped trying to predict what her day might hold a long time ago.
“Jump in the truck. I’ll show you.”
“Okaaay. Where are we going?”
“It’s a surprise.”
“Is pestering you with more questions going to work?”
“Nope.”
Meg sighed. “Fine. Just let me wash my hands. The delinquent slobbered all over them.”
Getting pulled away to do something last minute with Nash was nothing out of the ordinary. In fact, she did the same to him on a regular basis. But having the reason be a surprise was new… Life on the ranch was busy , and the only way they got to spend any real time together was to see an opportunity and take it with both hands. Though getting in the truck and actually going somewhere was new. But asking questions wasn’t going to reveal anything, was it? Meg was just going to have to be patient and wait to see what scheme Nash was cooking up.
“Busy” was an understatement really, considering how wildly successful the Hillside Rentals had become. Within a month of starting up, they were pretty solidly booked out. Apparently they were filling a niche that they didn’t know existed. Being on a hill was the main attraction instead of a deterrent… people loved a good view.
Nash had seized the beginnings of success and refused to let go, riding the momentum and adding new features to keep the place fresh and exciting. Meg’s idea of hiring out the barn as a wedding venue had been a hit, with the wedding parties staying in the surrounding buildings for convenience. Tours of the property soon became an option as well, with Nash as a guide explaining about the small herd they still had and the crazy uncle that had moved from the hill to flat land. It had become a more and more elaborate legend over time, but that was half the fun. Once Nash had the idea to throw in horse riding lessons as an add-on option, bookings had doubled, leading to a lengthy waitlist. Only the geldings were available for actual riding, but Tilly was at least content to be groomed by strangers if she deemed them worthy — or if they fed her snacks first. People were allowed to approach Opal at their own risk. She was going to make the perfect rodeo horse one day and a complete menace to society.
Running the rentals, the tours and the lessons kept Nash busy from dawn till dusk, and he’d never been happier. These days he walked with his head high and his shoulders back, ready to take on the world. It made Meg smile just to see how light his steps were these days. He’d finally found a purpose, and his purpose was thriving. There was no stopping him now.
Meg, meanwhile, was kept busy with her own work. When she’d promised Nash to stick around, to run this place together, she had assumed she would just be running the rentals with him and tending to their own animals on the ranch. But word of mouth soon got around that there was a new livestock vet in the area, and she was good . One call out to a neighboring farm turned into another, and before Meg knew it, she was fully booked with appointments. She was asked to look at everything from horse dentistry to cattle vaccinations, stray kittens and elderly donkeys with arthritis. That was probably her favorite patient.
Somehow, completely by accident, she’d fallen into the image of a large animal vet that had once seemed like a fairytale. The image she’d had for her life at the start of college had now become a reality, driving around country roads and seeing to all sorts of animals from dawn until dusk. The lingering fear that she would have to return to an industrial lot took time to disappear, but disappear it did. So Nash wasn’t the only one with lighter steps these days.
It didn’t leave Nash and Meg much time to just hang out. But there was lost time to make up for, lost years , and both of them were determined not to waste a second. So when Nash said come on, I want to show you something, she went. When she said hey, come sit with me while I order new vaccines for the herd, he pulled up a stool and sat beside her. They carved out time with each other with all the care of a sculptor, making sure never to miss a day of being together. It had taken them this long to reconnect; Meg, for one, wasn’t going to take it for granted.
She climbed into the truck, still not sure what could warrant a full-on surprise, but happy to go along for the ride. Hopefully Opal wouldn’t burn the place to the ground while they were busy.
Nash drove through the pastures, and only when they arrived at the old oak tree where Meg had first spotted the buildings on the hill did she realize where they were.
“The treehouse?” she asked as they climbed out of the truck and wandered over to the rope ladder.
“Yep.”
“What are we doing at the treehouse?”
“It’s a surprise.”
“But we’re here now. You can tell me.”
“Nope.”
“You’re a pain.”
“Yep.”
Without any extra comment or even the slightest clue, Nash climbed up the rope ladder with that surprising grace of his and disappeared into the small building. Meg didn’t bother complaining or arguing; it would get her nowhere, so she started to climb up after him. She gave up halfway up the ladder though, hanging there with a huff. Her thighs were burning from chasing Opal around the yard all afternoon. Nash poked his head out of the entrance and shook his head at her.
“Come on,” Nash said. “Are you getting old or something?”
“I mean, yeah,” Meg said with a shrug. “I kind of am. I’m not exactly twenty-one anymore.”
He tutted in that old-man way of his that she secretly loved, grabbed her hand and hauled her up into the treehouse. Meg sat on the edge of the opening with a huff, her legs hanging, taking a second to get her bearings before she looked around.
She had been expecting some new renovations, and that would be the reason why Nash had brought her up here. Maybe he’d finally put curtains up? But there were no renovations and no extra decorations. Instead there was a full picnic spread out on a tartan blanket on the floor. The last picnic they’d had here had been sandwiches, supermarket bags and cans of lukewarm soda. This was something else entirely. On top of the blanket was an actual picnic basket, made of wicker, just like the movies. There was an ice bucket with a bottle of champagne resting in it, the sunlight from the window glinting off the glass. Champagne glasses sat beside it, ready and waiting. Meanwhile, on a platter in the middle of the blanket was an assortment of cheeses, crackers, meats and fruit, all laid out like some sort of still-life painting. It looked… perfect.
Then there was Nash, standing in the corner of the treehouse, looking about as awkward as a brand-new foal learning to walk. Which only made the whole scene more perfect, even as Meg grinned at the whole ensemble.
“What’s all this?” Meg asked, wriggling into the treehouse properly and trying not to knock anything over in the process. Against all odds, she actually succeeded.
Nash mumbled something, his neck burning bright red. He always got the most embarrassed by the things he’d put the most effort into.
“Nash, I love it,” she said, reassuring him. “It’s amazing. I just don’t know what it’s for ?”
“Our anniversary,” he said, much clearer this time but with his neck turning an even brighter shade of red. “It’s for our anniversary. It’s been a year since our last picnic in here, and I thought… you know… I thought I’d make a thing of it.”
Oh.
Well…
Meg simply refused to cry. Absolutely not. She needed at least two glasses of champagne before she was going to let herself cry. So when a few tears leaked out the corners of her eyes, she swiped them away and pretended that they absolutely didn’t exist.
“Oh, I love it,” she said, smiling up at him. “This is amazing.”
“Yeah?” he asked, suddenly looking so much younger, desperately hoping that he’d done a good job.
“Yeah, absolutely. So stop standing there like you’ve forgotten how to use your feet and come sit down with me.”
He didn’t move though. Was he okay? Had he fallen out of the tree while setting this all up and banged his head or something? Because Meg had seen him nervous before, but right now he was just acting weird .
Nash hesitated a moment longer and seemed to be bracing himself for something. Meg briefly wondered if Gadget had thrown him from the saddle again and he had gotten a concussion that way. But then Nash seemed to be mentally prepared, and he moved towards Meg as she sat on the blanket. As he lowered himself, instead of sitting he got down onto one knee and looked at her like he was seeing her for the first time.
Meg, for a few seconds, turned into a complete idiot, all of her brain cells vanishing without a trace. She had no idea what he was doing, entirely perplexed, until he pulled a black velvet ring box out of his back pocket. Nash opened it up, his hands shaking ever so slightly, revealing a delicate ring cushioned within, a single diamond glinting in the middle of the gold band. Then all of Meg’s brain cells returned, hurling her into sensory overdrive.
“Meg,” Nash said as she stared at him with her mouth hanging open. “I get it, if this is too soon. But I love you so much, and I’ve loved you for so long…”
He cleared his throat and swallowed before he continued.
“I just love you so much,” he repeated with a little smile on his face. “And I’m done wasting time, so I wanted to ask if you would marry?—”
“Yes.”
Nash blinked, and his grin widened. “You didn’t let me finish the question,” he said, laughter at the edge of his voice.
“I don’t care. The answer is yes,” Meg said with her own laugh.
“Can I still ask the question to the end?”
“You can if you want, but the answer is yes.”
He just laughed, reaching forward and taking her left hand, then sliding the ring onto the appropriate finger.
“Meg, will you marry me?”
“Yes.”
He kissed her, still up on one knee, bringing his lips to hers and cupping her cheeks in his hands. He pulled away and rested his forehead on hers.
“I’m glad you washed your hands from the Opal slobber,” he said, and Meg laughed.
“Yeah, this would have been pretty gross otherwise.”
“Especially because I forgot to bring any forks with me.”
“You would have just had to hand-feed me.”
“I can still do that.”
He settled down out of his kneeling position, reached over, slid a hand around the back of her neck and pulled her in for another kiss. One kiss melded into another, and it was a few minutes before Meg could bring herself to come up for air.
“I love it,” she said. “I love you. I love everything about our life together…”
This time she really did start crying, and she couldn’t deny it, even though she hadn’t had a single sip of champagne. But Nash’s eyes were misty too, shining in the afternoon light, so Meg didn’t feel quite so silly for the tears.
“I love you too,” he said, his voice soft, his hand squeezing the back of her neck. “I always will.”
“Promise?”
“Promise.”
Despite everything they’d been through to get here, or maybe because of it all, Meg knew that his promise really would last forever. There was no doubt about that.
The End