Epilogue
Laida
One year later
It’d been one year since the fire. One year since we exchanged I love yous.
Jesse spent the year rebuilding the barn even better than before, but with touches of its former glory.
It was as beautiful as ever, at least from the outside.
He wouldn’t let me see the inside until he was finished.
Rusty loved working in the barn with him whenever he was out there.
His duties included barking at people driving up the gravel and chasing wild animals away.
Dok Champa is thriving. The firehouse had started putting in regular orders for the salves and Jesse said the guys liked to use the dandelion salve as their skin moisturizer under the disguise of “it’s for my girl.
” He teased them about it since he’d found different salve tins in desks and lockers, which meant they were using them on themselves.
I’m completely healed up and the burn on my arm where I saved the canvases from a horrible fate has healed to the point that you can’t even tell it was there unless you look closely. Rusty’s coat is all back to normal, too.
No one ever made claim to Rusty. There weren’t any Lost or Missing Dog signs that popped up. It’s like he appeared out of nowhere and he was meant to be ours.
Jesse moved out of his apartment and into the farmhouse with me a few months after the fire.
He never left my side, so it only made sense for him to move in.
When he wasn’t at work, he was with Rusty and me.
I had finally asked him if he would consider the move, and he was all too happy to oblige.
One of the first things he did after the fire was make sure there were batteries and flashlights in every corner of the house.
He’s a bit averse to candles now, though. I can’t blame him.
The barn doors opened a crack, just wide enough for Jesse to squeeze out. I was standing outside on the porch waiting for a reveal. Jesse walked up to me and asked, “You ready, Laida?”
“Do I finally get to see the inside?” I was so eager!
“Yup! He smiled and reached out for my hand. I took it as we walked off the porch and down to the barn. “Alright. It’s different from how it was, Laida, but I think you’ll love it this way too.”
“Oh, I’m sure I will.”
Jesse opened the barn doors and Rusty went in first. When I stepped inside, it was breathtaking.
I squealed, “Oh Jesse!” bringing my hands to my mouth, shocked at how stunning it was.
There were warm LED string lights everywhere, so the bulbs didn’t get too hot.
To the right, where my grandfather’s canvases once sat on the floor, I found them framed and hanging on the adjacent wall.
A burn mark in the corner of the canvas was still visible.
I thought it would bother me seeing that, but it was a reminder of what we’d survived, mentally and physically.
As I moved through the beautiful space, there were shelves and storage for everything.
When I reached the back of the barn, where all my gardening stuff was set up before the fire, Jesse put in a new, fully organized cabinet to hold my jars and all new gardening tools.
Right beside I, he stacked baskets for collecting herbs, flowers, and spices from the garden.
I said, “Jesse, it’s perfect,” but I didn’t see him.
When I turned around, Jesse was down on one knee, with Rusty sitting next to him with the widest grin a dog could manage.
“Laida Sayavong, I can’t imagine my life without you.
I wasn’t looking for love, and then you walked into the firehouse and took my breath away.
One of the things I love the most about us is that we were unexpected.
It just happened. Losing you is never an option.
If you let me, I’ll spend the rest of my life showing you how loved you are.
How needed you are. How my day starts and ends with you, and how I can’t imagine it any other way.
I’ll always choose you, Laida. Will you marry me, herbalist? ”
I was holding my breath, but I wanted to yell and scream at the top of my lungs.
My stomach flipped and my heart was battering inside my chest trying to break free to embrace him.
When I didn’t answer right away, Rusty barked, like he knew what was being asked, cracking us up.
“Yes, Firefighter. Yes, I’ll marry you!”
Jesse stood, picked me up, and swung me around before giving me the deepest, most passionate kiss. He lowered me to my feet and cradled my face with his hands like he always does before whispering against my lips, “I love you, Herbalist.”
“I love you, too, Firefighter!”
The End