Chapter 25
Jenny
The night air wrapped around us, cool and steady, while Liam’s words lingered between us like something fragile and powerful all at once.
I love you, Jenny.
He meant it.
Every part of me knew he did.
My throat felt tight, and I had to swallow twice before I could get the words out. “I love you too,” I whispered, the truth slipping free like it had been waiting for the right moment all along.
His smile was slow, soft around the edges. Then he reached over, threading his fingers through mine, his hand warm and solid like an anchor.
We sat there for a long time, saying nothing else because nothing else needed saying.
Through the open window behind us, I could hear Poppy’s steady breathing. No nightmares tonight. No crying. Just sleep.
Maybe for the first time in her life, she felt safe.
Liam’s thumb brushed across my knuckles. “We’ll figure it out,” he said softly. “The job, the mountain, all of it. But I want you here. Both of you.”
Both of you.
Not just me.
Not just her.
Us.
I leaned into his shoulder, breathing him in, letting the weight of the last few days finally ease off my chest.
Inside, Poppy stirred. A moment later, she made her way out onto the porch, rubbing her eyes.
She looked at us sleepily, sitting down between us. “You’re not going away, right?”
Liam’s arm tightened around her. “No, sweetheart. Not going anywhere.”
She nodded like that was enough, laying her head against his arm.
I watched them together—this quiet, solid man and the girl who had already been through too much—and something deep inside me settled for the first time in years.
This was home.
Maybe not the kind with walls and windows.
But the kind with arms that held you when the world fell apart.
Epilogue — Jenny
Three months later
The mountain was alive with summer. Wildflowers climbed the hillsides, bees hummed lazily around the porch, and Poppy’s laughter carried from the yard where she ran barefoot through the grass with Forest’s dog chasing at her heels.
Like she was five years old. I don’t think the first twelve years of her life was ever easy and carefree.
I leaned against the railing, coffee in hand, watching her spin in a circle, arms stretched wide like she was trying to hug the sky.
She laughed now.
All the time.
The nightmares had faded to whispers, fewer and further between. The sadness was still there on some days, but it no longer defined her.
And maybe that was true for me, too.
The hospital had offered me my old position back. I’d taken it—on my terms this time. Part-time, with longer stretches at home. The mountains were only two hours from the city, close enough for both lives to fit, for once.
The screen door creaked, and Liam stepped out beside me, his arm sliding around my shoulders. He smelled like sawdust and sunshine, the kind of man who fixed fences in the morning and held you like the world might end at night.
“You ready?” he asked, his voice low.
I nodded toward the valley where chairs and white ribbons waited, where Forest and Fraiser had set up an archway overlooking the ridge. “It’s beautiful.”
“Not as beautiful as the bride,” he said with that slow smile that made my knees weak.
Poppy ran up the steps, breathless, cheeks flushed. “Can we start now?” she asked.
Liam laughed. “Are you sure you’re ready? I thought you were the flower girl.”
She grinned. “I can do that! I don’t care if I’m too big for this I will still do it.”
The guests were already gathering—Forest and Fraiser in their cleanest boots, with half the town carrying food for the reception. The mountains wrapped around us like a promise.
Liam turned to me, his hand finding mine. “You sure about this?” he teased softly, but there was a flicker in his eyes, like he still couldn’t quite believe it was real.
I squeezed his fingers. “I’m more sure than I’ve ever been about anything.”
When the music started—simple, just a guitar and a fiddle—I walked toward him with the wind in my hair and the whole world in front of us.
And when Liam kissed me under that archway, with Poppy throwing petals like confetti and everyone cheering, it didn’t feel like an ending at all.
It felt like the start of everything.
Bonus Scene — Liam
The guests had gone home hours ago. The last of the lanterns still flickered outside, fireflies dancing in the dark like they’d come to celebrate too.
Inside the cabin, Poppy had gone to bed.
Jenny stood by the window, her wedding dress traded for a soft T-shirt of mine that hit mid-thigh. Her hair was loose now, tumbling down her back a golden blonde as she watched the moonlight spill across the hills.
I came up behind her, sliding my arms around her waist. She leaned back into me like she belonged there—and hell, she did.
“Long day,” I murmured against her hair.
“Perfect day,” she corrected softly.
We watched the valley for a long moment, the quiet wrapping around us like a blanket.
“I was thinking,” she said finally, her voice slow, careful. “About the cabin down by the river. The one Forest said was for sale.”
“Yeah?”
She turned in my arms, looking up at me with eyes that still stole my breath. “What if we bought it? Made this home for real?”
Home.
The word landed deep, right where everything in me had already decided she and Poppy belonged.
“Yeah,” I said. “I like the sound of that.”
Her smile was soft, the kind that lit something warm in my chest.
Behind us, Poppy stirred in her sleep, mumbling something about flowers and cake before settling again. Jenny glanced over at her, then back at me.
“She’s happy here on Fraiser mountain,” Jenny whispered.
“So are you,” I said.
She nodded. “So am I.”
We didn’t need anything else. No big speeches, no promises shouted to the stars.
Just the three of us.
Safe.
Home.
And when I kissed her there in the moonlight, with Poppy sound asleep in her room and the mountains wrapped around us like they were keeping watch, it felt like the life I didn’t even know I’d been waiting for had finally begun.