Epilogue
SAGE
The lodge is quiet. Not empty. It’s never really empty anymore.
But at this time of the morning, it’s calm.
A few guests linger over coffee on the deck, but most have already headed out to experience all the ranch has to offer.
The faint strains of laughter drifting through an open window make me smile.
The guest expansion has been open for nearly two months now, since construction delays pushed everything back and opening in the middle of winter made little sense. We held off until the weather warmed again and used the extra time to get my photos out everywhere we could.
So far, the cabins have been busier than any of us dared hope. It’s too soon to know what that will mean for the ranch long-term, but after everything it took to get here, it’s a great start.
I pause near the photo wall, coffee warming my hands as I study the familiar images. The story that made me fall in love with this place.
I often catch guests standing here, tracing the display with their eyes. I love watching them take it all in. My gaze drifts down the wall, skimming past an image before darting back.
Wait.
I step closer. The framed image is one I don’t recognize. It shows a woman on horseback, the wind lifting her dark hair, set against a backdrop of blue mountains. Her face isn’t visible, only part of her profile.
Me. Cozy. Wild Ember.
Emotion swells in my throat.
“That wasn’t there yesterday, was it?” The deep voice sends warmth spreading through my body.
“Holden,” I murmur without turning around.
He slides his arms around my waist from behind, his chin settling on top of my head. “Thought I’d find you here. Beginning to think you like their coffee more than mine.”
“Never,” I say, leaning back against him. “Did you hang that photo?”
“Maybe.”
I laugh. “Who took it?”
“I did.”
He says it so casually, it catches me off guard. I turn in his arms and stare up at him.
He shrugs. “I know how to use a phone camera.”
“How many secret photos of me do you have?”
“Enough.”
I study the photograph again, then look back at him, catching a flicker of emotion in his eyes. Understanding hits me. I’m part of Wild Ember’s story now.
“You put me on the wall.” It comes out almost as a whisper.
He nods slowly, one corner of his mouth pulling up. “Figured that one was safer.”
Suspicion grows. “Safer than what?”
His grin widens. Without answering, he pulls his phone out of his pocket. Three taps later, he turns the screen toward me.
A photograph fills it. It’s a close-up of a barn door. Weathered timber and rusted metal, damp from rain. I recognize it. Of course I do. It’s the photograph I took the morning after the storm.
I stare at it, then at him, then back at it. A laugh escapes me before I can stop it. “Did you steal this off my computer?”
“Yeah. When you asked me to help choose photos for the opening.”
“Why?”
His expression turns smug. “You promised me an album.”
“Oh my god.”
His arms tighten around me. “I’ve been very patient.”
I laugh so hard I nearly spill my coffee. “That’s not remotely true.”
“No?”
“No.”
He lowers his head, his mouth brushing my temple, soft and warm. “No, sweetheart. It’s definitely true.”
My heart does that familiar stupid stumble.
Apparently, in all this time, it’s learned absolutely nothing.
My new studio smells like coffee and fresh timber. Sunlight spills through the tall windows, reflecting off the photos lining the wall. A smaller version of the lodge photo wall. Only this one is more personal.
Trouble racing across the pasture on long legs. Taryn laughing with her head thrown back. Holden leaning against a fence, sunlight catching the blue of his eyes beneath the brim of his hat.
My life.
My story.
I set my camera bag down. My first photography workshop starts tomorrow. Six guests. Sold out. I still haven’t wrapped my head around that.
There was a time when I thought success looked like a gallery opening in New York. Or a recommendation from the right person. Or finally hearing my parents tell me they were proud of me.
Turns out, real success feels a lot quieter than that.
Serenity settles over me as I look around the space—my space. Not because my life is perfect. Life never is. It’s messy and complicated and all the more beautiful because of it.
I feel him enter the studio before I hear him, and when I turn, he’s leaning against the doorframe.
His gaze drifts over me. Unhurried. Completely unashamed. The look has heat flickering to life low in my stomach. “You’re staring.”
“Yep.”
I laugh a little breathlessly. Some things never change.
He pushes away from the doorway and crosses the room. The second he’s close enough, his hand rests on my lower back. Like touching me is second nature. Maybe it is.
My body certainly reacts like it is.
His focus drops briefly to my mouth, then comes back up.
My pulse trips over itself. “Definitely staring.”
“Occupational hazard.”
“Of what?”
“Living with you.”
The answer sends warmth rushing through me. Months later, I still haven’t figured out what to do with the fact that this man loves me.
Not just loves me, but chooses me every day.
The faint lines around his eyes are from smiling now, not from carrying the weight of things he never talked about.
Sometimes I catch him laughing with Chance or arguing with River and Quinn about fence repairs, and it hits me anew how different he is from the man who rescued me from a storm that first night.
Lately, he’s been spending more time helping the younger hands, and it’s not unusual to catch him and Sterling talking late into the evening about where the ranch could be in five or ten years.
These days, Sterling leans on him more than anyone else.
The first time I caught the two of them discussing budgets, I nearly fell over.
Somewhere between coming home and staying, Holden’s become an integral part of the future of Wild Ember.
And somehow, so have I.
I go up on my tiptoes and brush my mouth along his jaw.
“You starting something, City?”
I breathe a laugh against his throat. “And what if I am?”
With his hands on my ass, he lifts me so I can wrap my legs around him. “I think I can accommodate that.”
His lips find mine, and I whimper as our tongues tangle.
Without hesitation, he takes two steps and drops me onto the sofa.
Then he reaches behind him, grips the back of his collar, and drags his T-shirt over his head.
But instead of lowering himself over me, he pulls his phone from his pocket and holds it up.
The click of the camera shutter makes me blink.
“Did you just take a photo of me?”
His lips curve into a smile so sexy that my core clenches. “If you’re not going to work on that album, I’ll have to do it myself.”
I lean forward and slide his phone from his grasp. “Maybe we can both do it.”
I center him in the frame as he looks down at me, every smooth, hard line of his body on display. “You know, this would make great marketing material.”
“Yeah?” He slowly unbuckles his belt.
“Oh, yeah, definitely.” I snap another photo as he drags his zipper down.
His smile turns a little feral as he leans down and braces his hand on the back of the sofa. With the other, he tips my face up. And as he kisses me soft and slow, he takes his phone back.
“That’s enough photos for now,” he growls.
Tossing it onto the cushion next to me, he straightens and shoves his jeans down his thighs.
And suddenly, photography is the last thing on either of our minds.
It’s still dark outside when I wake to Holden’s mouth moving against the sensitive skin behind my ear.
“Mmm,” I murmur. “I know you have stamina, but you can’t possibly be ready to go again.”
His chuckle vibrates through me. “You should know better than to challenge me.”
I angle my head back toward him. “Maybe I do.”
His eyes glint in the moonlight filtering through the curtains. “I want to show you something.”
I hum. “This is giving me a strange sense of déjà vu.”
“Yeah, it’s going to get worse.”
I turn to face him, more awake now. “Why, what is it?”
“You’re just going to have to trust me.”
I bite my lip and smile. “Seems to be working out for me so far.”
Forty minutes later, we guide the horses along the familiar trail up the mountain. The air is cool, the world around us peaceful.
It’s not the first time we’ve returned to the ridge, but we don’t usually head out this early.
At the stables, I pressed him for more information, and he finally admitted he wanted to celebrate the first day of my workshop.
A smile tugs at my mouth. Holden has never needed a reason to be proud of me.
We reach the top just as the horizon begins to lighten, the mountains stretching endlessly before us in blues and shadows, with the slightest hint of gold.
Stunning.
Instinctively, my hand drifts toward the camera bag I usually keep strapped to my back. Then I remember it isn’t there. For a second, I almost regret leaving it behind.
But as I glance over at Holden, at his profile against the growing light, the feeling fades. I don’t want to experience these moments through a lens. I want to be present. To just live them with him.
He helps me down from Cozy, his hands lingering at my waist. Mine stay on his shoulders. Neither of us seems in much of a hurry to move.
Eventually, he takes my hand and leads me to the overlook. We don’t speak as we watch the sky gradually brighten while the valley below stays wrapped in shadow.
Then Holden exhales, as if he’s steadying himself. When I look over at him, I nearly stop breathing.
He’s holding a ring.
“Oh.” It’s all I can manage through the emotion choking me.
“I had a speech.” His voice is rough.
I blink. “You had a… speech?”
“Yep.”
“What happened to it?”
His jaw flexes. “I forgot it.”
A startled laugh escapes me, and the tight line of his shoulders eases. Then he glances out across the valley, and a smile ghosts across his lips. “For a long time, I thought loving someone meant risking losing them.”
The sunrise catches the angles of his face, turning him gold. Beautiful, familiar—mine.
His gaze finds me again. “Then you showed up.”
My eyes sting. Damn it.
He reaches for my hand. “You showed me this place again.” His voice drops lower. “You showed me my family again.” The ring glints between his fingers, scattering the colors of the sunrise. “You showed me a future.”
A tear slips down my cheek. I don’t bother wiping it away.
“I don’t have a perfect speech, Sage.” His smile is small, tilted, completely Holden. “But I know I love you. I know every future I want has you in it.”
My breath catches.
“I know I want to share every one of your sunrises.”
The mountains blur behind tears.
Then he drops to one knee, and my heart absolutely shatters in the best possible way.
“Sage Emerson.” His voice roughens. “Will you marry me?”
I barely let him finish. “Yes.”
A laugh breaks out of him. Disbelieving. Relieved. “Yeah?”
I make a sound somewhere between a sob and a laugh. “Obviously, yes.”
The next thing I know, the ring is on my finger and I’m in his arms. Our mouths meet as the sunrise spills golden light across the valley below.
Finally, I pull back and look up at him. “I love you.”
Emotion flashes across his face, raw and unguarded. He rests his forehead against mine, eyes closing. “I love you too, sweetheart.”
For years, I chased the life I thought would make me happy. It took coming here to discover what actually does. Not just the work I love. Wild Ember. Holden. This life we’re building together.
I chose it.
And I’m home.