Page 28 of The Mountain Man's Sweet Treat
While that day at the bank forever changed my life, I didn’t let it derail me. I took a horrible thing and used it to forge a new path. I’ve built a new home in a community I love with a man that I’m going to spend the rest of my life with.
I’m running today because I survived, and that’s worth celebrating. I have so many more things to look forward to. There’s still so much good to come in my life.
Even when the exhaustion sets in, in the hard moments when I want to give up, I think about how hard I fought to get here.
By the time my legs carry me across the finish line, I’m completely exhausted and spent. Tears are streaming down my face, and my legs are shaking from the adrenaline. They give way on me, and I collapse. But before I can hit the ground, Whiskey is there, wrapping his arms around me and holding me up. Emma May and my mom join him, the four of us huddling close.
“I did it,” I croak out as they smother me in kisses and hugs. “I did it, and I’m proud of myself.”
Epilogue
Sophie
* * *
I couldn’t have asked for better weather on my wedding day. The sky is bright blue, the air is crisp and chilly, and birds are singing their love songs in the trees. The sun slants through the blinds as Missy curls my black hair.
For our wedding, I’m wearing it in an updo with a few tendrils loosely framing my face. “Have you seen him this morning?” I ask Mallory who is helping me with my makeup. She hasn’t once gotten frustrated when I’ve paused in our application to talk.
When I told the two of them I was getting married, they both threw themselves into helping me with every part of the ceremony. Whiskey was willing to marry me anywhere, but I already knew I wanted to get married on his mountain. He calls it our mountain now, which always makes me giggle.
“Yep, then my big lug of a husband saw me talking to him and carried me off.” She makes a noise like she’s mad about that, but everyone who looks at River and Mallory knows they’re madly in love.
“He was obsessing about you,” Missy says, giving my shoulder a gentle squeeze.
I smile, adjusting the lighting in the bathroom. The three of us are squished inside the cabin’s only bathroom. “That sounds like my groom.”
Some of the mountain men of Courage County have created an informal support group for military men. They chop wood or fish or whatever it is guys do when they get together. It does seem to be helping Whiskey. He’s sleeping better at night and so am I.
“I can’t believe I’m getting married today! What were your weddings like?” I ask the girls, realizing we’ve never discussed it.
“Beautiful,” Mallory sighs softly. “I hadn’t known River for long. We never even went on a date. But one day, he showed up at my work and told me we were getting married. Then he threatened to drag me to the courthouse.”
Missy laughs softly. “The men of Courage are possessive.”
“And a little over the top,” Mallory says.
“But we love them for it,” I point out.
Missy makes a soft hum of agreement. “I got married in the town church. I don’t have any family and barely knew anyone, yet my whole side was filled. All the people from town came together to support me and celebrate my marriage.”
“Just like they’re doing for you,” Mom says, stepping into the crowded little bathroom. Whiskey has plans to expand our cabin. The moment I told him about my dream to raise a big family in a tiny town, he started making a list of what needs to be done.
I grin at her in the mirror. “What do you think?”
“I think my daughter is beautiful,” she answers with a smile.
I blink back tears. “He makes me feel like the most special woman in the world. Every day, he goes out of his way to show me he cares. He’s good to me, and he’s good for me.”
“I’m glad you found someone just as special as you are,” she whispers.
The alarm on my phone dings, reminding me there’s only five minutes left before the ceremony is supposed to begin.
Missy and Mallory finish helping me with my hair and makeup. Then before I know it, I’m standing on the back porch with my mom. Missy walks down the aisle with Griffin while Mallory rolls her electric wheelchair with her husband walking beside her.
Whiskey is at the end of the aisle with Bella next to him. Someone has put a purple bridal veil on her head that makes me giggle. Beside Whiskey and Bella is Nate, Whiskey’s best man. He’s holding my rambunctious kitten who has been given a purple bow tie to match Bella. Tobias is trying desperately to claw it off.
Hunter, another of the groomsman who also lives here in the mountains, takes my squirming cat from Nate. He says something in a soft rumble that seems to settle him instantly.
