Chapter 20 #3
He looked up, following my gaze to where two figures on horseback emerged from the tree line. Even from this distance, I could see Anna's smile. It was brilliant and blinding and so full of joy it made my eyes burn with happy tears I was absolutely not going to shed in front of everyone.
And on her left hand, catching the afternoon sunlight, something sparkled.
“Everyone!” Jaxon's voice carried across the yard, loud and proud and happier than I'd ever heard him sound. “We have an announcement!”
Conversation died. People turned, curious and smiling. Someone turned down the music.
Jaxon helped Anna dismount with the kind of care that said he was treating her like something precious, and then they were walking toward us hand in hand. Anna's face was flushed, her eyes bright with tears of joy, her smile so wide it had to hurt.
When they reached the group, Jaxon wrapped his arm around Anna's waist and lifted her left hand high, showing off the ring that glinted blue and silver in the sun like it was winking at all of us.
“She said yes!” Jaxon announced, his voice breaking slightly on the words in a way that made my chest tight.
The yard erupted.
Cheers and congratulations and whoops of joy from everyone gathered.
Felix was the first to reach them, pulling Jaxon into a back-slapping hug while shouting something about “finally” that made everyone laugh.
Women surrounded Anna, all talking at once, demanding to see the ring up close, asking about the proposal.
I hung back for a moment, letting everyone else have their turn, my hand pressed to my mouth as happy tears spilled down my cheeks that I didn't even try to hide.
Then Anna's eyes found mine across the crowd.
She pushed through the people surrounding her and launched herself at me, pulling me into a fierce hug that nearly knocked us both over. “Harper! Oh my God, Harper, I'm engaged!”
“I know!” I hugged her back just as hard, both of us crying now like the emotional disasters we were. “I'm so happy for you! Tell me everything. Was it perfect? Did you suspect anything?”
“It was perfect.” Anna pulled back, her hands gripping my arms hard enough to probably leave marks, her smile incandescent.
“He took me to this overlook, Harper, you should have seen it. The whole valley spread out below us, the mountains in the background, the sun setting everything on fire. And then he got down on one knee and said—” Her voice broke, fresh tears spilling over.
“He said I was the strongest person he'd ever met and he wanted to spend the rest of his life proving I could trust love again.
That he'd spend forever showing me what real love looks like.”
“Oh my God.” Fresh tears spilled down my cheeks because that was beautiful and perfect and exactly what Anna deserved after everything she'd been through. “That's beautiful, Anna. That's perfect.”
“The ring, Harper, the ring is perfect. Exactly what I would have chosen if I'd picked it myself. How did he—” She stopped, her eyes narrowing playfully in a way that said she'd figured it out. “Wait. You helped him, didn't you? You knew about this!”
“I might have helped pick out the ring,” I admitted, grinning through my tears. “And I might have suggested the horseback proposal instead of letting him do something boring like a restaurant.”
“You sneaky bitch.” But Anna was laughing, pulling me into another hug that squeezed the air from my lungs. “Thank you. Thank you for helping make it perfect. I love you.”
“I love you too. And I'm so, so happy for you both.”
The party that followed was even more celebratory than planned. More food appeared from nowhere, more beer materialized, and someone produced a bottle of champagne that had probably been hiding in Denny’s truck for just such an occasion.
Connor raised his beer, his arm around my waist anchoring me to his side, his voice carrying over the crowd. “To Jaxon and Anna. Two of the best people I know. May you have a long, happy life together filled with love and laughter and never-ending patience for each other's bullshit.”
"To Jaxon and Anna!" Everyone chorused, glasses raised, smiles bright.
I leaned into Connor's side, watching Jaxon and Anna in the center of all the attention, glowing and happy and so obviously in love it hurt to look at them directly.
This was what the future could look like.
What it should look like. What I was finally starting to believe it might actually look like for me too.
For so long, I'd watched other people find happiness and wondered why I never could.
I watched couples build lives together while I scraped by alone, convinced I wasn't worth that kind of love.
That I'd always be the friend, never the partner.
Never enough for someone to choose, to fight for, to build a future with.
But Connor had chosen me. Not because I was perfect or had my life together or could offer him anything except myself.
He'd chosen me when I was at my lowest, when I had nothing but debt and fear and a business circling the drain.
He'd looked at all my broken pieces and said this one, I want this one, and then proved it every single day since.
And more than that—I trusted it. Trusted him.
Trusted that when he said he loved me, he meant it.
That I wasn't a burden or a charity case or something he'd grow tired of once the novelty wore off.
For the first time in my life, I felt secure in someone's feelings for me.
Confident that we were building something real, something that would last.
I could see it now, the future I'd stopped letting myself imagine.
Me running my boutique the way I'd always dreamed, hosting events and supporting local artists, finally thriving instead of just surviving.
Connor expanding his operation. Coming home to each other at the end of long days. Building traditions. Making plans.
Maybe even standing where Jaxon and Anna were standing now, with all our friends celebrating us. The thought didn't terrify me anymore. It filled me with excitement, with hope, with a giddy anticipation I'd forgotten I could feel.
"One day," Connor whispered against my ear, his lips brushing my skin in a way that made me shiver. "One day that'll be us."
"I know," I whispered back, turning my head to press a kiss to his jaw. "And I can't wait."