Epilogue
Hannah shivered as she stood next to the cold plunge tub. Why had she agreed to this again?
“You ready?” Xavier asked as he stood next to her in his swim trunks. The sight of him almost undressed was enough motivation to get her out of bed this early in the morning, but she wasn’t sure anything could convince her to get into that water.
“No,” she replied, and she reached out to slip her fingers into the tub. She snatched her hand back at once, letting out a cry. “Oh my God, it’s so cold!” she protested. “You sure I can’t just go have my morning coffee instead?”
“No, you promised,” he reminded her, raising his eyebrows pointedly. “We have to test this out before any of the guests try it, right?”
“Right,” she muttered, grimacing as she imagined submerging her whole body under the freezing water. “Tell me what it’s supposed to help with again?”
“Reduces inflammation, increases circulation, improves metabolism and mood,” he replied, ticking off the benefits on his fingers. He grinned at her. “You ready now?”
“Ugh, I guess so,” she muttered, as she dropped the robe she had been hanging on to for dear life. She was in her one-piece swimsuit, and the warm summer that was starting to come in wasn’t enough to keep her from shivering.
“You’ll feel so good when you’re out, I promise,” he told her, grabbing her hand and helping her up the wooden steps to the tub.
“Three, two, one…” Xavier announced, and then the two of them both leaped into the water.
“Oh my God, no, no, no!” Hannah shrieked as soon as the freezing water hit her body. “No way!”
“It’s not that bad,” Xavier replied, but his teeth were already starting to chatter.
She laughed, even as the cold started to set in around her.
“Yes, it is!” she protested. She was well aware that they were probably going to get into trouble for causing such a racket this early in the morning, but she didn’t care.
She curled her toes and tried to breathe, her body already crying at her to get out.
It went completely against every part of her nature to sit here in freezing water.
For goodness’ sake, it went against human nature!
She should have been stepping out of a hot shower right now, preparing a warm cup of coffee, not freezing her butt off in this tub.
“I bet I can last longer than you,” he told her, and she narrowed her eyes at him. If he thought it was going to be that easy to beat her, he was wrong.
“Oh, yeah?” she replied, wrapping her arms around herself beneath the water. “Let’s find out, huh?”
He knew there was no better way to get her to do something than to suggest she couldn’t. She was stubborn right down to her bones. And she wasn’t going anywhere.
“You can get out anytime you like,” he teased her, even as his words started to shake from the cold.
“Oh yeah, so can you,” she shot back. “You all right over there? Looks like you’re struggling.”
“I feel great,” he replied, but he forced the words out through gritted teeth. His whole body was covered in goose bumps, and he was already glancing toward the spot where he had left his robe.
“Do you, now?” she asked him, nudging him with her foot under the water. “It’s really cold in here. Nobody would blame you if you had to—”
But she couldn’t even get the words out before he sprang from the water and grabbed his robe, wrapping it around himself quickly.
“Damn, that’s cold!” he cried out, and she laughed and kicked her legs beneath the water.
“Really?” she replied, feigning innocence and trying to keep her own teeth from chattering.
“I think it’s just lovely in here.” She counted out another ten seconds but then climbed out of the water, shivering wildly and slipping on her robe.
“You know what, beating you really did improve my mood,” she remarked as she reached for her shoes.
“Maybe there’s something to all of this after all. ”
“I should have known not to challenge you,” he muttered, chuckling. “You never let yourself get beat.”
“Exactly,” she agreed, as she crouched down to slip on her flip-flops. These last few months had been some of the best of her life, partly because she had realized a strength in herself she had never noticed before.
She had started therapy at Xavier’s request, after what she had been through at the hands of Jed and Sampson. She had been so focused on helping Xavier get back on his feet, she had found herself kept up late with nightmares and memories of her own.
Focusing on herself in therapy made all the difference, and she’d found herself better able to handle those dreams when they came around. As time passed, they were becoming less frequent and ferocious, and she knew it wouldn’t be long until they all but vanished entirely.
It helped, of course, that Sampson and Jed had been locked up with the key pretty much thrown away.
No court date had been set yet, as the state pulled together all of the evidence it needed to get them put away for life, but it was clear they weren’t going to be getting out anytime soon.
The horrors they had put her through, and the hardships they had caused for Xavier, were well and truly a thing of the past.
She hoped they would stay there, though she was sure she would have to testify against them when the case eventually went to trial. One of the reasons she was so determined to see her therapy through was so she’d be strong enough in her testimony to ensure they got a life sentence.
Seeing how much it had helped Xavier had also convinced her it was the right thing for her. It seemed nothing short of a miracle to Hannah that he had changed so much in these last few months, and she knew Sarah was a big part of that.
He had put in so much work, learning all these techniques to ground himself and pull himself out of a flashback when one hit him. She could only imagine how tough it had been to relive all those memories again in order to work through them.
But the person she had seen in the woods on that fateful day, she never laid eyes on again.
The man who seemed so lost to his memories, to the bad dreams and his past, was gone now.
When she looked at him, she saw his softness, his kindness—his dedication to making sure that nobody had to suffer the same way he had.
He had been an amazing support as she got back on her feet after the attack, and to the guests at the lodge, too.
He understood so well what a lot of them had been through, and he did whatever he could to help them through it, encouraging them to get therapy and able to tell them exactly how it had helped him.
His strength and kindness never failed to amaze her, and she was so proud to be able to call such a good man hers.
He talked a lot about his brother these days, which was such a nice change from before.
For so long, he had hardly spoken Max’s name out loud, but now, it was different.
The happy memories he shared with her made her wish that she’d had a chance to know Max properly, but at least she could get to know him through his proud older brother’s memories. That was something.
She had put up a picture of Max and Xavier as kids in their cabin, one that she’d dug up from his old room. It wasn’t much, but it was some kind of reminder of him, of their happy times together.
She had never been happier, not in her whole life.
Helping Bailey organize her wedding, coming up with fun wedding favors with River, watching the flowers she had planted bloom over the course of the summer, sharing the evenings with all of her friends, including her brother, who was totally accepting of her relationship with Xavier.
It was everything she could have asked for, everything she could have dreamed of, and she wouldn’t have changed a thing.
Well, maybe one thing. As she dried herself off, she pulled a face as she looked down at the flip-flops she’d brought with her.
“What’s wrong?” Xavier asked, noticing her annoyance.
“Those things gave me blisters on the way out here,” she complained. “It’s going to hurt like hell getting back to the cabin to warm up. I should have brought something else with me.”
“Well, maybe you can next time,” he suggested.
She laughed. “Oh, you want a rematch already, huh?” she asked, pretending to square up to him.
He grinned and put his arms around her. “How about I carry you back?” he suggested.
She smiled, leaning into him. “I guess I could manage that,” she agreed, and he swooped her up into his arms. “When did you become such a romantic?” she asked, and he lowered his mouth to hers.
For a moment, she forgot all about the bet he’d made and the fact she’d won. When he kissed her like that, nothing else in the world mattered to her.
“When I realized I could drop you back in the cold plunge tub,” he murmured.
Her eyes widened. “Wait, what?”
But before she could get another word out, he dropped her back in the water—robe and all—and took off running.
“You’re so dead!” she yelled after him, but she was laughing so much she could hardly get the words out.
The freezing water rushed through her again, and she scrambled out as fast as she could.
She took off her soaked robe and fished her flip-flops out of the water, then took off after him.
She didn’t care who saw her as she sprinted in the direction he had gone, robe and shoes in hand.
She saw him vanish down the path into the woods, just past the row of flowers she had planted before the first frost the year before. She put on a burst of speed, rushing to catch up with him, laughing so hard she could barely catch her breath.
When she finally caught up to him, he was already back at their cabin, sitting on the porch swing with a triumphant grin on his face.
“What took you so long?” he asked as nonchalantly as he could while still trying to catch his breath.
She matched his tone, stepping onto the porch. “Oh, I was just doing a little extra cold plunging. It has a lot of health benefits, you know.”
“Does it?” He raised his eyebrows.
“Sure does. It reduces inflammation, increases circulation, improves metabolism and mood… I’m pretty much a champ at it.”
He threw his head back and laughed. “Okay, champ, what do you say we warm up together in a hot shower? I hear that can have a few health benefits, too.”
Hannah agreed enthusiastically, and as she followed him into their cabin, she realized that she was living her dream. She was safe, she was loved, and she was so incredibly happy.
She couldn’t ask for anything more.