Page 120 of Tangled Up In You

"I'm glad you told me."

"I'm glad you did, too."

He gave her a slow, burning smile. "So, we see where this thing goes?"

"Absolutely. We can start as soon as my mother leaves."

"Then I think we should help her pack."

She laughed and moved into his embrace. Their kisses now felt deeper, richer, and filled with emotion. It was exhilarating and terrifying all at the same time. She'd put her heart on the line, but Adam had done the same, and his willingness to do that touched her deeply. Love had always been a risk for them, but together, they were willing to take it.

As they broke apart, she gazed into his eyes and said, "Phoebe told me in her note that Whisper Lake was where I belonged. She was right. Maybe she really could read the tea leaves."

He smiled as he gazed into her eyes. "Maybe she could."

Epilogue

One monthlater

"Fall is definitely here," Molly said as she stepped out of Adam's Jeep. A cool breeze washed across her face as the fall leaves drifted to the ground from the nearby trees. Even the lake looked colder, a strong current churning up the waves lapping against the shore.

"Are you ready?" Adam asked as he came around the car.

"For fall or…"

"Everything," he said, as he gave her a compassionate smile. "Today won't be easy."

"I'm okay. It only took me six weeks to figure out where Phoebe's ashes should go. It was so obvious."

"Only because you looked past all the noise and the secrets to see the truth."

"The truth that Caroline and Phoebe loved each other, even if they never lived that way or publicly acknowledged it."

She'd learned a lot about the two women in the past month. She'd talked to all of Caroline's relatives, even the ones who had tried to steal the diamond, as well as Phoebe's friends in town. She'd also discovered that Caroline's attorney still had Caroline's ashes. Caroline had asked that her ashes be joined with Phoebe's whenever that day might come. She wanted their ashes to fly together from a beautiful mountaintop in Whisper Lake called Dreamspinner. It was where one of their pictures had been taken when they were teenagers, when they were running free on the mountain, the lake in the background, love on their faces.

Ava Washington, Caroline's attorney, had also told Molly that Caroline had placed a caveat on her wishes and only said that Phoebe needed to agree. But since Phoebe had died only three days after Caroline, there had been no time to talk to her, and Ava had been waiting to see what Phoebe's wishes for her own ashes were. That, of course, had been left to Molly.

As she looked at the flat, wide bluff with the magnificent view, she knew she was making the right decision. She turned back to Adam, thinking she'd made another right decision when she'd decided to stay in Whisper Lake.

"Thank you for being here," she told him.

"Where else would I be?" He slipped his arms around her waist as he gazed into her eyes. "I love you, Molly."

"I love you, too, Adam. This past month has been amazing. I feel so blessed, grateful, lucky, happy…"

"And scared?" he asked, with a knowing smile.

"You're beginning to know me too well."

"We are not too good to be true, Molly."

"It feels that way," she murmured. "Old habits are hard to break, but I'm getting better at setting my expectations higher and not waiting for the other shoe to drop."

A smile spread across his handsome face. "And I'm getting better at not trying to control everything."

"Well…"

He laughed. "Okay, but I'm trying."

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