Epilogue
Ripley
Summer
Mercy Hart was going to be the death of me.
I cranked the hand pump on the jack. “How the hell did you get a flat tire? I just put new tires on this stupid van.”
“Probably a nail.” Mercy was leaning against the van, all innocence.
I got down on the asphalt of the parking lot of the Indigo Valley Park. At least this time it was daylight and she wasn’t on the side of the road. “In the same damn place. What are the odds?”
“Yeah, really weird, isn’t it?”
I stopped cranking and looked down at the tire. There was no shredding, no nicks on the white walls. “What’s today’s date?”
“June first.” She grinned down at me.
I got up off the ground and brushed off my hands on my pants.
She pushed off the van and grabbed me by the wrist.
“Are you scheming, Mercy Hart?”
“Maybe.” She pulled me across the parking lot into the pavilion and past the rows of picnic tables into a clearing.
“What are you up to?”
“Well, we’ve both been so busy.” She threw a grin over her shoulder.
“We have.”
“And it’s wedding season so that means I’m going to be absolutely insane with all the cakes.”
I caught up to her and curled my hand around her hip. “I know. You’ve barely come to bed in weeks.” I stopped her and dragged her back against me. I dropped a kiss on her shoulder. Then I noticed the picnic blanket and basket.
She turned in my arms. “I know.”
“You didn’t have to make a fake emergency call to get me here.”
“I know, but since it’s our six-month anniversary, I figured it fit.” She linked her fingers at the back of my neck. She smelled like summer lemons and vanilla.
An echo to that first day in the bakery when I’d finally made her mine.
“Does this mean you’ll finally say yes?”
She tipped her head back with a throaty laugh. “How about you ask me?” She met my gaze. “Ask me.”
“Do you love me?”
“You already know that answer.” She went on her toes and kissed me. “I love you madly.”
My stomach dropped. The question I’d wanted to ask had been on the tip of my tongue since the first full week we’d been together.
The question that I hadn’t dared to bring up.
But she knew me.
Knew me better than anyone at this point.
“I love you, Mercy Hart.”
She sighed. “I’m never going to tire of hearing that.”
“You know I had a whole plan for proposing to you, right?”
She grinned. “Things don’t ever really go to plan with us, right?”
And she was getting better with dealing with that. To be spontaneous. To accept help. To be a partner.
We both were.
“I don’t even have the ring with me, dammit.”
Her smile widened. “Just ask me!”
“How’s tomorrow sound?”
“Ripley.” Her voice was filled with sunshine.
“How’s next week sound?”
“Ripley.” This time, it was low and filled with every promise I never dared to wish for.
“How does forever sound?” I lifted her off her feet, so our faces lined up.
“With you?”
“With me. Will you marry me, Mercy Elizabeth Hart?”
“I thought you’d never ask.”
I swung her around and her laugh filled the empty field. “Still not going to answer.”
“Yes. Every day, it’ll be a yes, Ripley.”
I set her down and framed her face with my hands. “You’re damn right.”
And I kissed her in the sunshine.
In the field where I was damn well going to marry her before the summer was over.
Because I couldn’t wait to start forever with her.
Don’t stop now! Turn the page for a sneak peek at Brewing Sunshine