Epilogue
Sadie
March
Mud season in Vermont was an . . . experience. Even Beckett’s fancy SUV with all its latest innovations struggled in the deep grooves of gloppy mud covering the dirt road.
“What if you slide off the road?” Orla asked from the back seat.
“What if you get stuck?” Fionn asked.
Beckett let the SUV slide down the other side of a slick bump in the road then accelerated to power us back to a fairly level and drier patch.
“In either case, you call one of my brothers to help. Logan’s truck has towing capacity and is the best equipped for hauling anyone out of trouble, but any of my brothers would figure out a way to save the day. ”
He wasn’t exaggerating either. I’d personally witnessed Beckett and his brothers problem solve in the most unique ways over the past few months.
Like the time Joshua rigged up a pulley system to hoist Sylvie up into a tree to check on an owl’s nest.
Or the time Isaac had to get creative in sedating a coyote who was a master at eluding him.
Or the time Darius and Logan freed a moose from a wire fence.
Or the time Beckett had created a computer program to track seasonal patterns at Hartley’s Nest so they could better prepare throughout the year.
In each case, the Hartley brothers had used their personal strengths and collective creativity to serve wildlife. They usually did so while teasing each other too so the show was always fun to watch.
So fun that it made me miss Maeve. The Hartleys treated me like one of them, but I wished Maeve was still here. She would have delighted in seeing me live at a wildlife rehabilitation center.
In America.
And I would have delighted in seeing her marry Cian.
After he’d revealed his love for her, I’d reviewed conversations I’d had with Maeve.
She’d never grumbled about having to marry him when I’d talked about the unfairness of arranged marriages.
She’d listened, accepted that I had a point of view, but not once had she badmouthed the practice.
Or Cian.
She’d talked about fulfilling her role as a princess of Verdalach, about carrying out her political duties, about living a purposeful life.
Part of that purpose, however, had been loving Cian.
I can only imagine she’d kept her true feelings for him a secret because romance wasn’t something celebrated in Verdalach.
I wished she’d felt she could share such sentiments with me, her only sister, though.
Unfortunately, I couldn’t bring Maeve back for me or for Cian, but I could get my two best friends to live in Vermont with me. The moment I’d asked Orla and Fionn how they felt about moving to another country, they both threw their arms around me.
“Yes!” Orla had cheered as we jumped up and down, the three of us connected by hugs.
“We were brainstorming ways to secretly get on your next flight from Verdalach to Vermont actually,” Fionn had said.
“Thankfully, we don’t have to now,” Orla had said. “Which is wonderful because I don’t know how long we would have lasted squished in the baggage hold of the royal plane.”
They’d reveled in riding in actual seats on the plane right next to me where they belonged. Beckett had been waiting to pick us up at the airport, and just like every time I’d come back from being in Verdalach, seeing him again sent my heart fluttering.
“Is it always this muddy here in Vermont?” Orla asked, her nose pressed to the back driver’s side window as the late winter landscape stretched on in all its gray and brown glory.
“No,” Beckett said. “March and April are the worst of it, but by May things start to dry out. By August, these roads will be complete dust that leaves a cloud behind any vehicle traveling on them.”
Orla and Fionn grew quiet in the back seats as we journeyed toward Hank’s cabin by Slater’s Pond. Hank, upon finding out I was a princess, had offered to sell me his cabin.
“You do anything you want with it, Your Highness,” he’d said. “Live in it, rent it, sell it, tear it down and build a moated palace in its place.”
“Hank, this cabin is part of your family legacy,” I’d said. “You told me you wanted your daughter and grandkids to have it, to keep it in the Faraday family.”
“Well, sure, but I’d be honored to sell it to a princess that I consider family,” he’d said.
“I’d really like to let my friends from Verdalach live in it with me until they can find something more permanent,” I’d said. “And I’d like us to pay you rent.”
He’d opened his mouth to argue, but I’d raised my index finger and pointed at myself.
“I’m a princess, Hank,” I said. “I have the money. I’d like to pay you for the time I’ve already lived here and for each month my friends and I continue to.”
Hank had finally agreed to payment, which cleared my conscience, but then Beckett had surprised me by configuring his home’s security system to recognize my fingerprints. He’d pressed my finger to the pad outside the garage door and the door had slowly lifted.
“Now you have full access,” he’d said. “I installed the app that controls my home on your phone too.” He’d paused for a moment, looking nervous but then squaring his shoulders as if he’d given himself a mental pep talk.
“I’ve shared my heart with you, and I want to share a home with you too. Live with me, Sadie. Please.”
That had been a simple decision. Living with Beckett meant seeing more of Beckett and more of Beckett was always ideal.
Life was good, as they said in America.
Business at Kalm Kingdom was also good. I had appointments almost every day and planning sessions for my clients brought me such joy.
Orla and Fionn were coming on as employees, and I couldn’t wait to see what the three of us designed together for Greenridge, the neighboring towns and states, and maybe more.
The Hartleys had been so generous in allowing me to conduct some sessions on their property and Beckett’s mom had suggested we make that a little more permanent.
“What you’re doing with Kalm Kingdom is so aligned with our mission and philosophies here at Hartley’s Nest,” she’d said. “Why don’t you make us your base? We’re adding onto the art and learning center to accommodate Carina’s preschool. I’m sure we could add in a space for you too.”
I’d been honored that she wanted to include me and my services. I was also thrilled over the idea of working among the best people I knew at Hartley’s Nest. I had no doubt that Kalm Kingdom would continue to thrive on that special property that was so full of love.
We arrived at Hank’s cabin now and settled Orla and Fionn, promising to be back later to bring them to Hartley’s Nest for a proper welcome to Greenridge.
As Beckett and I stepped outside to leave the cabin, Orla and Fionn both bowed slightly before me as was custom in Verdalach.
I took their hands and shook my head. “You’re not my servants anymore.
” I smiled at each of them. “You never really were. I’ve always considered the two of you to be so much more than that.
You have been my friends for years. After Maeve passed, you both became family to me.
What you risked to get me out of Verdalach showed me exactly how loyal you are. ”
“What you almost risked to come save us,” Orla said, glancing at Beckett, “showed us how loyal you are.”
“We are bonded, the three of us,” I said. “Forever. And now we are truly free to be on equal ground, American ground. So bowing is no longer needed.”
Orla and Fionn stood a little taller, a clear sign they’d bloom here in Vermont, as I had.
Beckett took my hand to lead me to his SUV, and though he’d taken my hand many, many times over the months we’d been together, it never failed to send a little jolt through me.
“What time are your mom and Jimmy due back in Vermont?” I asked after we were seated in the SUV.
He glanced at the dashboard clock. “In about an hour or so.”
His mom and Jimmy had joined a group of seniors who went on vacations together. So far they’d been to Mexico and Greece. This most current expedition had taken them on a safari in Africa.
The Hartley siblings had initially been surprised that their mom wanted to travel. She’d never once expressed an interest in doing so.
“Your father and I had always planned to see the wildlife in the rest of the world,” she’d told them after announcing that first Mexico trip to the clan.
“But we never got to it.” She’d patted Jimmy’s hand.
“Now, however, I have a traveling buddy, and you kids can more than handle things at Hartley’s Nest.”
Their next trip was scheduled for July, and by the looks of things, married life was treating Beckett’s mom and Jimmy Slater quite well.
The only serial-killer rumor that came to the surface in town every now and again was that his mother had only married Jimmy to keep him from slaying the entire family in a broken-hearted rampage.
We’d turned that rumor into a drinking game so that whenever one of us heard it, we sent out a group text, met at the garden shed Jimmy had built at Hartley’s Nest with a drink in hand, and toasted to a small-town gossip mill that would probably never truly quit.
There had also been two more weddings in Beckett’s family.
Isaac and Carina had gotten married in mid-December with a beautiful wintry theme, and Joshua and Sylvie had tied the knot as they said here in America last weekend.
Darius and Flora had a July date picked out because they first met in the summer.
Then all the Hartleys would be married.
Except one.
I peeked at Beckett, wondering what he’d say if I came out and asked him to marry me. My insides swirled with a mix of delight and anxiety. If he said yes, I’d swim in a sea of bliss.
If he said no . . . I’d absolutely drown in devastation.