Epilogue
Six Months Later
Daisy
The house was finally finished. I stood on the wraparound porch, coffee cup in hand, watching the sun rise over the valley. Hollow Peak glittered below, still sleeping, the mountains turning pink and gold in the early light.
Our house. Our view. Our life.
We'd moved in two weeks ago, after months of working on it together. Knox had done the heavy construction, but I'd been there every step of the way.
It wasn't perfect. The master bathroom still needed tile, and we were missing half the furniture. But it was ours, and waking up here every morning felt like a dream I kept expecting to end.
The door opened behind me, and warm arms wrapped around my waist.
"You're up early." Knox's voice was rough with sleep, his chin resting on my shoulder.
"Couldn't sleep." I leaned back into him. "Too excited."
"The party's not until this afternoon."
"I know." I turned in his arms, looking up at him. His hair was messy, his jaw shadowed with stubble, his eyes still soft from sleep. "I'm just happy. Is that allowed?"
"More than allowed." He kissed my forehead.
I laughed and pressed my face into his chest. He smelled like warm skin and laundry detergent and home.
Six months. Six months since that storm, since the truth came out, since everything changed. Sometimes it felt like a lifetime. Sometimes it felt like yesterday.
"Come back to bed," Knox murmured against my hair. "We have a few hours before we need to start setting up."
"And what exactly are we going to do with those hours?"
His hands slid down to grip my hips. "I have some ideas."
I let him lead me back inside, into the bedroom with the big windows facing the mountains, into the bed we'd picked out together.
He laid me down and covered my body with his, and I stopped thinking about anything except the feel of him against me.
Some things, I'd learned, were worth waiting eight years for.
***
The housewarming party started at four.
By five, our home was full of people. Mae had brought enough food to feed a small army.
June showed up with a six-pack and Mason was in the backyard, arguing about the best way to light the fire pit.
Lila was on the couch, deep in conversation with River about something that involved a lot of hand gestures.
And Cal was in the kitchen, helping Knox set up the bar.
I watched them from the doorway. The two of them, working together, talking in low voices. Not best friends, not yet, maybe not ever. But something built on mutual respect and a shared love for me.
Cal caught me watching and smiled. It was still tentative, that smile. Still searching for forgiveness he hadn't fully found. But it was real, and it was trying, and that was enough.
Knox appeared at my side, beer in hand.
I took the beer he offered. "Look at this. Look at all these people. In our house."
"Our house." He grinned. "Still getting used to that."
"Me too."
Mae bustled over, her apron dusted with flour even though she'd supposedly stopped cooking hours ago. "The cinnamon rolls are a hit. I'm going to need that recipe for the maple glaze, Daisy."
"It's your recipe, Mae. I added maple syrup."
"Innovation." Mae beamed. "I like it." She looked between me and Knox, her eyes going soft. "You two. I always knew, you know. Even back then. Some people are just meant to find their way back to each other."
She patted Knox's cheek and disappeared back into the crowd.
"She's terrifying," Knox said.
"She's wonderful." I leaned into him and his arm came around me automatically, holding me close while the party swirled around us.
This was my life now. This town. These people. This man.
I'd come back to Hollow Peak broken and lost, running from a life that had never fit. I'd found something I wasn't looking for. Something I'd lost eight years ago and never stopped missing.
Home.
Later, after the party wound down and the last guests left, Knox and I sat on the porch, watching the stars come out.
The valley spread out below us, Hollow Peak's lights twinkling in the darkness. The air was cool but not cold, the kind of autumn evening that made you want to stay outside forever.
"I have something for you," Knox said.
I looked at him. "What?"
He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small velvet box.
My heart stopped.
"Knox..."
"Before you say anything." He held up a hand. "This isn't a proposal. Not yet. We've only been officially together for six months, and I know that's fast, even for us."
"Then what is it?"
He opened the box. Inside, nestled against black velvet, was a ring. Simple. Beautiful. A band of rose gold with a small diamond that caught the starlight.
"It's a promise," he said. "A promise that I'm going to ask you, someday. When the time is right. When we've built more of this life together and you're absolutely certain."
"Knox." My voice was shaking. "I'm already certain."
"I know." He smiled, that slow smile that still made my stomach flip. "But I want to do this right. I want to give you the courtship you deserved eight years ago. The dates. The flowers. The romance. All of it."
"We built a house together. I think we skipped a few steps."
"Then we'll do those steps now. Out of order." He took the ring from the box and slid it onto my right hand. "Wear this. And when I ask you for real, I'll move it to your left."
I looked down at the ring on my finger. At this man who had waited eight years for me. Who had built a house on hope and become someone new so he could deserve a second chance.
"Yes," I said.
He blinked. "Yes?"
"When you ask me for real. The answer is yes." I took his face in my hands. "It was always going to be yes, Knox. From the moment you showed up in my uncle's driveway, looking at me like I was still the only thing you wanted. It was always yes."
He kissed me. Deep and fierce, with the stars bright overhead and our future stretching out before us.
"I love you," he said. "I loved you when I was twenty-one and too stupid to fight for you. I loved you through eight years of distance and silence. And I'm going to love you for the rest of my life, Daisy Taylor. That's my promise."
"And mine," I said. "For the rest of my life. That's my promise too."
We sat together on the porch of the house he'd built for us, watching the stars wheel overhead, my hand in his, the ring catching the light.
Hollow Peak spread out below, quiet and peaceful, holding all our secrets and all our history.
I'd come home broken.
I'd found myself whole.