Epilogue
Madison pushed open the brewery door with her shoulder, balancing a travel mug in one hand and her phone in the other.
“Garrett?” she called.
No answer. The place was usually buzzing by now—clatter from the kitchen and staff humming to tunes on the radio as they got ready to open.
Today . . . silence.
She took a few cautious steps forward. Then stopped.
The entire taproom had been transformed.
Soft golden candlelight flickered across the polished wood tables. Strings of fairy lights were draped from beam to beam, their glow reflected in the tall windows that overlooked the pond. Someone had pushed the tables aside, leaving an open space in the center of the room.
Then, music drifted through the air, a slow orchestral melody.
Her breath caught and her chest tightened as memories rushed in. The sweep of a ballroom, the weight of a stranger’s hand at her back, the feeling that something important had begun.
“Garrett?” she said again, softer now.
He stepped out from behind the bar, and her heart skipped.
He wasn’t in his usual worn jeans and brewery T-shirt. He wore dark slacks and a crisp white shirt, sleeves rolled just enough to show forearms she knew very well.
Garrett swallowed hard before he spoke. For a man who could stand in front of investors, contractors, and an entire town council without breaking a sweat, his pulse now felt completely out of control.
Madison stood in front of him in worn shorts, her hair piled high on her head in a messy bun, clutching a travel mug. And she was still the most breathtaking woman he’d ever seen.
Her eyes were already shining.
He could see the moment she realized what was happening.
Her breath caught. Her fingers tightened around the cup. Then slowly—almost reverently—she set it aside like she needed both hands free for whatever came next.
God, he loved her.
“This song,” he began, his voice quieter than he intended, “is the first thing I remember about you.”
Her lips parted. A small, trembling smile touched them, the same smile he’d seen across a ballroom floor the night he’d met a stranger who somehow felt familiar.
“That night . . . I wasn’t looking for anything,” he continued. “I didn’t even want to be there. I was going through the motions. Doing what people expected.”
He let out a soft breath. “Then you walked in wearing a mask and a shimmery blue gown, and somehow I felt like I could see you anyway.”
Madison blinked fast, trying to hold back tears.
“I remember thinking how confident you were,” he went on. “How steady. Like you already knew exactly who you were, even when the rest of us were pretending.”
Her hand lifted unconsciously to her shoulder, brushing her constellation tattoo.
“I didn’t know your name,” he said. “Didn’t know where you were from. All I knew was that when I took your hand, something shifted.”
He reached for her hand, and his thumb moved over her knuckles, grounding him in the present.
“That electric feeling? I tried to forget it,” he went on. “Tried to tell myself it was just the music. The lights. The mystery of the night.”
Madison shook her head slightly, tears spilling now.
“I almost convinced myself I imagined you,” he admitted.
“And then you walked back into my life at the auction and decided I was worth bidding on. Somewhere between that moment and the night I almost lost you, I realized the connection we felt at the masquerade wasn’t just a memory.
I hadn’t imagined anything . . . I’d just been waiting for you to come back to me. ”
Her laugh broke through her tears, soft and breathless and full of emotion.
“I’ve never been more terrified than the night I thought I might lose you,” Garrett said. His voice thickened. “Not because we’d just started something, but because I’d already lost you once. At that masquerade.”
She reached for him then, her fingers curling into the front of his shirt as if she needed to feel him there.
He covered her hand with his.
“Madison Mitchell, you turned one anonymous night into the best thing that’s ever happened to me,” he said. “You made me braver. You made me believe I could have more than just plans and responsibilities and obligations.”
He drew a shaky breath.
“You made forever feel possible.”
Madison was openly crying now, smiling through it, nodding as if she couldn’t stop.
Garrett’s voice roughened slightly. “I’ve spent a lot of my life building things—plans, businesses, walls when I needed them. But loving you didn’t feel like work. It felt like coming home.”
Tears slipped down her cheeks.
“Madison,” he said, his thumb brushing over her knuckles, “You turned one anonymous night into a life I don’t want to live without.”
Garrett removed a ring box from his pocket and lowered himself to one knee.
“I don’t want just memories with you,” he said softly. “I want mornings. Disagreements. Laughter. Snowstorms and summer festivals and every ordinary Tuesday in between.”
He opened the ring box. “I want every road I walk to lead back to you.”
Her hand flew to her mouth.
“Madison Mitchell, will you do me the honor of becoming my wife?”
She didn’t even hesitate.
“Yes,” she whispered. “I love you.”
Down on the beach, laughter drifted across the lake as friends and family celebrated around bonfires and strings of lights.
Up on the wide wooden deck of the Blue Ox restaurant overlooking the sandy shore below, five women sat in a loose circle, wrapped in shawls and armed with steaming mugs of coffee and very determined expressions.
Elsie held up a finger and placed the FaceTime call. She held her phone up so the group of ladies around her could see. “Well,” she said as the call was picked up. “That went exactly as planned.”
Eve’s face appeared on-screen. “I couldn’t have done it without you all,” she said.
Mason leaned over her shoulder and looked into the camera. “I’ll leave you ladies alone but wanted to thank you for embracing Madison.”
“It was a group effort,” Rosie said.
“And our pleasure,” Emma added.
“We gained our new mayor,” Elsie said. “Well worth it.”
“And I’m going to have a new daughter,” Ruth said.
The self-appointed matchmakers of Deer Creek Falls all nodded, satisfied.
A tiny cry sounded through the phone. Eve looked down and laughed softly. “That’s my cue.”
“Bring the baby north soon,” Rosie ordered. “Before he’s walking.”
“We fully intend to spoil him,” Linnie added.
Mason appeared behind Eve again.
“We’ll see you soon,” Eve promised before the screen went dark.
Linnie watched her son Roman down on the beach, lounging lakeside beside Garrett and watching his girls playing in the water. The sight softened her face. The others followed her gaze.
“That man’s due for a little happiness of his own,” Elsie said to her daughter.
Emma reached for a cookie from the shared plate. “I heard there may be a veterinarian coming to town.”
“Might even know Roman from back in the day,” Elsie added.
Linnie narrowed her eyes slightly. “You ladies know something.”
“We know a lot of things,” Rosie said smugly.
The five of them shared a look.
Then Elsie clapped her hands once. “Which is why,” she continued briskly, “You and I should take Nikki and Nora somewhere warm over the holiday break. Somewhere with sunshine. And umbrellas in drinks.”
Linnie blinked. “You’re trying to get me out of town?”
Emma sipped her coffee innocently. “What? No.”
Rosie snorted.
“Purely for the twins’ benefit, of course,” Ruth said, adjusting her shawl.
Elsie said, “Pure coincidence if anything happens while we’re gone.”
“Of course,” Emma agreed.
Below them, Roman glanced up toward the deck as if he sensed he was being discussed. The women immediately looked innocent.
It fooled absolutely no one.