26. Epilogue
26
Epilogue
T he Fall Festival was everything Penny had hoped it would be and more. Everyone she’d met in Autumn Lake over the months since she’d moved there had welcomed her with open arms. Now today, she and The Garden Variety Lovers Club girls were all gathered around the Garden Gate Guesthouse’s booth at the corner of Dahlia Drive and Camellia Court right in front of Juniper’s Coffee Bar and The Cracked Spine. Both Juno and Claire had booths of their own outside their shops, flanking Hazel’s with delicious treats on one side and delicious reads on the other.
Rachel St. James opted to share a booth with Hazel and Penny and Judy that year. Because of how sick she’d been, she hadn’t had the time or energy to make such a big stock of her crowd-pleasing tomato jam. She'd brought enough to fill one table of jars that had almost already sold out.
Hazel was out wandering the festival with Judy, and Liz, Candy, and Addison had brought lawn chairs of their own and were ‘helping’ man the booth in Hazel’s absence. In other words, they were indulging in the freebies Juno kept feeding them and fighting off fits of giggles that was a common byproduct whenever the six of them got together.
“Where is Ward?” Juno called out from where she was loading up a tray of individually wrapped pumpkin muffins. “I thought he said he was going to stop by this morning.”
“He’s got his shop open to the public today,” Penny said, her voice ringing with pride for him. “He must be having the time of his life.”
“I know his father is,” Rachel said. She was all bundled up against the chill of autumn that had swept into town the week before. Fortunately, there’d been no rain in the forecast, and with the sun shining overhead and the leaves of the trees along the boardwalk turning all shades of red, gold, and brown, the day of the festival was turning out to be absolutely lovely.
Just then, Penny spotted Hazel moving through the crowds toward their booth. Judy was nowhere to be seen. Penny’s breath caught as she moved around from behind the table, uncertainty filling her at Hazel’s nonchalance. “Where’s Mom?”
“She’s fine, dear. She’ll be here any moment. Here.” Hazel pulled one of the folding chairs over and set it up front and center before their booth. “Have a seat. Catch your breath, Sweet Pea. Everything will be all right.”
Suddenly, it seemed that the crowd parted, and Penny looked up to find Judy, her arm linked with Ward’s, letting him usher her toward the three booths. When they stood in front of Penny, Judy smiled at her and said, “Hello, dear.” She said the words as clear as the autumn day they were in.
Penny stood and gave her mom a quick hug. To her surprise, Judy returned the embrace, then stepped back and patted Penny on the cheek. “My sweet girl,” she said, then spotted Hazel over Penny’s shoulder and headed that way, greeting her with, “Hello, Silvia.”
Then it was just Ward standing there, his shoulders relaxed, his laugh lines at the ready. He’d had a haircut, Penny realized, and she reached up to touch a strand that curled at the back of his neck. “I like your hair,” she murmured, noticing how folks were beginning to gather around, more and more of them standing back and watching her with anticipatory smiles on their faces. “What’s going on?” she asked him in a whisper. “Is everyone here with you?”
From behind his back, Ward brought out a single sweet pea with petals in a raspberry pink that faded to white. It was the most beautiful one she’d ever seen, especially this late in the season. “It’s glorious,” she breathed, reaching out to hug him in gratitude for such a treasure.
But Ward stepped back and dropped to one knee. Behind him, Alex was snapping pictures with a rather large, expensive-looking camera.
Penny suddenly knew exactly what was going on, and she almost laughed out loud at how long it had taken her to recognize the grand gesture that it was.
Ward reached into the inside pocket of his jacket and pulled out a black velvet box. He flipped it open to reveal a delicate white gold solitaire ring with a Marquis cut diamond. It was breathtakingly beautiful, and she was already nodding when Ward took her hand.
“Penelope Eva Anderson, my beautiful Sweet Pea, will you make me the happiest man in the whole wide world, but especially in Autumn Lake? Will you marry me?”
“Yes, yes, yes!” Penny threw her arms around his neck and practically fell against him in her exuberance as the crowd that had gathered burst into cheers and applause. In his desperate attempt to keep them both from tumbling backward, Ward dropped the ring box, but Ted was right there to pick it up. He brushed it off and handed it back to his son.
Penny let Ward stand, and then she let him slip the ring on her finger, and she even let him hand the ring box off to his father, before she launched herself at him again. Ward scooped her up against him and kissed her soundly, staking his claim on her in the grandest gesture of all.
Somewhere in the background, Penny could hear Claire quoting from one of her many favorite books, Victor Hugo’s ‘Les Misérables.’
“How did it come to pass that their lips met? How comes it to pass that the birds sing, that snow melts, that the rose unfolds, that May expands, that the dawn grows white behind the black trees on the shivering crest of the hills? A kiss and that was all.”