Page 59 of Snowbound

I lean down and kiss her, this time her lips tasting salty from tears. I relish every moment of it. I get to kiss her again and again. It makes my heart soar.

“I’m not going to wake up and find this is some sort of cruel dream, am I?” I eye her suspiciously. She shakes her head.

“For me, this is completely real. This is the realest thing that’s ever happened.”

“Good,” I say and give her a smile, perhaps the most genuine smile I’ve ever given anyone. “Come on, then. Let’s go inside. Let’s go home.”

With that, I take her hand, unlock the front door and gesture for her to go in.

I follow and close the door behind us as we start our new life together.

EPILOGUE

EIGHTEEN MONTHS LATER: CARLY

“Were you this nervous?” I ask Ruth. “Before you walked through the doors?”

“No, sweetie,” she says. “I was excited. What are you nervous about?”

“That it’s all going to go terribly,” I say, flapping my hands and walking in a circle. “That everything’s going to explode. That Gabe’s not even going to be there.”

She takes both my hands and hers, and I stare down at her perfect manicure. “Okay, hon, listen to me. Everything’s fine. Gabe is there. I know this for a fact because I’ve checked. You look stunning. Your dress is not going to fall off. People are there. This is going to be just fine.”

“But—”

She interrupts me before I can spiral any further. “No buts. Just because you didn’t plan it yourself doesn’t mean this wedding is going to be terrible. Little Henry is out there right now, delighting everyone. John’s holding him, and everything is absolutely fine. I promise.”

“You promise?”

“I promise.”

She says it with such certainty that I can’t do anything but believe her.

“I didn’t realize getting married was stressful,” I say.

Ruth laughs heartily, the sun sparkling off her own wedding ring. “You’re a wedding planner.”

“Yes, wedding planner. Not wedding haver.”

“If you want to run now, I’ll hold the door open.”

“No,” I scoff. “Of course not.”

“Well, then. You’ll have to go through that door.”

When Gabe proposed to me, I thought it was the most romantic thing that had ever happened. Henry was born in October. A month later, Gabe unplugged the battery from my car. He made me panic about it being broken, dragged it off to his shop, and surprised me with a flash proposal. Phoebe was there filming the whole thing.

No doubt most of this was her idea.

It was obvious that he was nervous because he was shaking as he brought me into the shop. Before I realized what was going on, I thought he must have been coming down with something. But then the light dimmed, and he dropped down on one knee, and of course, I said yes, there and then.

How could I not?

Now it’s August and the sun is shining over Mullen Falls, the winter nothing but a freezing memory. I told Gabe that I was not getting married in the winter, and he agreed completely. August seemed like the perfect time — almost a year since our son’s birth and a beautiful time to be outside.

We’ve reused the benches from Ruth and John’s wedding, and everyone else in our lives has come together to help us plan.

Even Jensen came to lend a hand, helping us to arrange flowers after he realized his previous behavior was out of line.

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