Epilogue
Six Weeks Later
They say confession is good for the soul. I’m thinking it is just plain hard work. It started with me talking to one pink-haired lady named Florence, then Roger over at Roger’s Supermarket. By the time I talked to Pearl about renting out her restaurant for one evening, she knew what I was up to, and she was all-in.
It took me a while to track down Lindsay Marx, since she had moved away seven years ago, and moved three towns since then. But I eventually found her doing hair in Cincinnati. I flew her in for the event.
Now it was just a matter of herding Fallon and her parents to Pearl’s at the right time.
I knew Michael was up to something. But I had no idea what. He’d already proposed. Maddie and Zoe and little Bella were having a blast looking at dozens of bridal sites, while I was downsizing my business even more, and starting a new chapter in my career—an exciting chapter, something I’d never been this excited about.
Simon had approached me two weeks after my kidnapping with a job offer. Apparently, they needed a computer expert in cyber-security. He thought I might be right for the job. Then he looked uncomfortable.
The conversation was really entertaining as far as I was concerned.
“The thing is, Fallon. I can’t just hire you. I’m going to need to test you out first.”
“Uhm, Simon. I think that is prudent on your part.”
“The thing is, testing you to hack, could be considered illegal.”
“You heard how I regarded hacking.” I smiled. “What’s more, I think it depends on the reason you’re doing the hacking. Are you trying to get in somewhere and stop human trafficking? If you are, then I say you aren’t hacking, you’re doing good. You know?”
Simon had nodded. “But still. The types of tests I’m going to run you through will be rigorous and require lateral thinking and out-of-the-box thinking.”
I nodded. He was right.
“Okay, who will be testing me?”
“You’re not going to interact with them face-to-face. I have six different people who will give you six different scenarios, some will include hacking into a system. There will be other tasks like doing digital forensics, identifying and plugging leaks. Things like that.”
I grinned. “Simon. I hope I pass, because this sounds like a hell of a good time.”
He laughed. “I hope you pass, too.”
“What are you grinning about?” Michael asked me as he drove my Audi SUV across town to Pearl’s.
“Still thinking of Simon and his potential job offer,” I admitted. “I still have two more tasks to complete. If they’re anything like the first four, they’ll make my ears bleed.”
“You sure looked like you were having fun, though.”
“I was. Most fun I’d had in years… work-wise,” I modified. “I can’t believe yours and my parents wanted a big night out at Pearl’s.”
When we pulled up, every parking spot was full. We had to park in the grass out back. We walked into the diner hand-in-hand, and I might have held on a little tighter than usual, seeing how rude Pearl had been the last time I’d been here.
When we got through the door, everything seemed wrong. Instead of all the tables just being full, people were standing up all around the restaurant It was wall-to-wall people. I looked and saw what looked like all of Jasper Creek.
“What’s going on?”
Michael just smiled as he dragged me up to the counter where there was one seat available. He lifted me up onto the seat, then he leaped onto the counter so that everyone could see him.
What the hell?
He cleared his throat. I saw red creeping up his neck all the way to his cheekbones. He looked around the crowd, and when he saw somebody in particular, he winced.
Seriously, what the hell?
“I need to make an announcement. I did a crap thing damn near ten years ago, and I made it look like my beautiful fiancée was to blame, when in actuality I was the dick.”
I looked around the restaurant. A couple of people were laughing, like they were in on the joke, but most people were looking at Michael…and me…with avid curiosity.
“The night before our wedding was to take place, you all know that Fallon left town. So, it’s town lore that I was left heartbroken at the altar. Well, that’s not true. Fallon had every right to dump my ass. As a matter of fact, that’s what I wanted her to do. I set it up, so she would see me kiss Lindsay Marx and then go into Lindsay’s house with her.”
A gasp went through the restaurant.
“Before you paint Lindsay with a bad brush, don’t. Lindsay didn’t know I was going to use her that way. She called me every bad name in the book, but mostly she called me a coward for not manning up and telling Fallon I was too scared to get married, forcing her to break it off instead.” He looked at the woman again who’d made him wince. “I’m sorry for doing that to you, Lindsay.”
That’s when I recognized her. Lindsay gave me an awkward little wave. I smiled and waved back. She looked relieved.
Michael went on. “So, I staged everything. I did it because I was convinced I was going to turn out to be like my birth father, you know. The psycho who kidnapped Fallon and my mom, Lana Rankin. I was convinced I was doing Fallon a favor by having her walk out on me.”
I’d seen so many people looking at me with smiles, which was nice, but now they were frowning at Michael, and some were out-and-out glaring at him.
This I did not like.
Michael’s face was so red, he looked like a tomato.
“Michael,” I said. “I think that’s enough.”
“No, it’s not.” His voice was raw.
“Everybody, I want you to know that I have my head screwed on straight, and there isn’t a chance in hell that I’m ever going to let the best thing in the world slip through my fingers again. Fallon has agreed to marry me.
“The amazing part is that she never said a word against me,” Michael continued, his voice thick with emotion. “Fallon let you all believe she was the one who walked away. She took the blame, the judgment, the whispers behind her back. And she did it with grace.”
He looked down at me, and the love in his eyes made me dizzy.
“I am so sorry for what I put you through, Sunshine. I will do everything in my power to only bring love and happiness into your world from here on out.”
I blinked rapidly, my lips pressed together, holding back tears. The crowd remained silent for just a moment, then burst into applause.
I turned on the stool, grabbed a handful of napkins from the dispenser, and pressed them against my nose.
“Thank all of you for coming here and listening to my confession and apology.”
Michael hopped down from the counter. “I love you, Fallon. I always have, and I always will. Thank you for agreeing to marry me. Thank you for believing in me.”
“You were an idiot a long time ago,” I said softly. “But you’re my idiot.”
A breath of laughter escaped him, and then he was kissing me, right there in front of the entire town. Cheers erupted around us, chairs scraping against the floor as people stood and clapped. Someone whistled, and Pearl muttered something about them making up for lost time.
But all of that was just background noise to me. Michael held me close. My world was finally, completely right. And this time, I knew he wasn’t ever going to let me go.