Epilogue

EPILOGUE

Noelle

Three months later

M istletoe Mountain's Holly, Jolly Diwali Festival is in full swing. The name may be a groaner, but the festival itself is lit. Literally and figuratively. This year the Festival of Lights coincides with Halloween, so the town is illuminated with string lights, lanterns, candle-lit jack-o'-lanterns, as well as glowing bats, witches, and ghosts that decorate windows and doors. Children zig-zag across the lawn, laughing and chasing each other, their glow-in-the-dark neon bracelets blurry streaks as they run by.

I let out a contented sigh and snuggle into Nick's side. He nuzzles my neck. The porch swing he installed on his— our —back porch sways as we sit and watch the festivities. I have boxes still waiting to be unpacked in the house, but they'll just have to wait. I'm taking Dickens and Carol at their word. Every day, I find at least one opportunity to grab with both hands. It's funny how easy they are to find when you're looking for them.

Like, for instance, saying yes when Nick asked me to move in. Ivy's moved out and convinced Merry to give up her apartment. They're living in my cottage, not because we don't want Ivy here, but because she got tired of walking in on us making out. I can't help it. I can't keep my hands off her father.

His neck nuzzling turns into nibbling, and I giggle, pulled out of my reverie.

"Are you okay?" he asks.

I know he's asking about my deposition. I nod. He must've offered to come with me a thousand times, but I had Holly and Marley, and, honestly, I think he was offering in part to get a break from his sister. MJ and Bart came up for a weekend visit. They would've stayed longer, but their parole officer wasn't amused and made them return to New Jersey, pronto. I have a sneaking suspicion he might have tipped off the Fields' PO.

"Hello?" he prompts.

"Right. The deposition. It was fine, honestly. It was a video thing, and I didn't have to see Dante's disgusting face." And it means I won't have to go to Italy for the trial, either.

Dante Bianchi was extradited to Italy because the person he kidnapped there was a judge's daughter. So he's definitely getting the book—or, in this case, il libro —thrown at him. And as the result of some legal mumbo-jumbo that Holly and Marley told me I didn't need to understand, the crimes he committed here will be taken into account when he's sentenced. And the judge is reexamining the police complaint I filed in Ravenna back when dinosaurs roamed the earth as part of Dante's psychological assessment. Long story short, he's going to be in prison for a long, long time. Probably the rest of his life.

"Really fine?" He cups my face in his hands and studies me.

"Better than fine," I promise.

He drops a kiss on my nose. "Good."

Delphina and Holly cruise by with sparklers in hand to pass out to the kids before the fireworks start. Holly seems to be weathering the aftermath of finding her dickweasel fiancé shagging his (and her) boss in a closet. But I'm keeping an eye on her, just in case.

"You know," Nick muses, "it's fitting that you testified today."

"Why's that?"

"Because Diwali celebrates the triumph of light over darkness, good over evil, hot librarians over Italian creeps."

"I think you made up that last part, but your erudition is sexy."

In response, he smothers me with kisses.

Of course, Griselda picks this precise moment to walk by and shake her head. "Don't you two have a room?"

"We don't want to miss the fireworks," Nick tells her. I wait for it. "But don't worry, Grizzy, we'll be making our own fireworks later, if you know what I mean."

"Everyone knows what you mean, Nick." She rolls her eyes, but she's smiling when she walks away.

"Speaking of the fireworks, it's almost time."

He nods, then he says, "We forgot to do three things at dinner." His voice is strangled and weirdly high-pitched.

"I guess we did. What's wrong with your voice? "

"Nothing," he squeaks. Then he coughs and pitches his voice lower, "Nothing."

"If you say so."

"Let's do it now while we wait for the fireworks. What's one thing you're grateful for?"

"That I got back to town in time to see the parade. You?"

"That I woke up to your beautiful face sleeping next to me and that I get to do it every day."

Wow, okay. His is better than mine. I need to take it up a notch.

"One thing you regret?" he asks.

I think for a minute. "I regret that I tried to discourage you from joining the Lords of the Mountain. You're sexy on your motorcycle, and I get a friends of the club discount from my ophthalmologist now. Win, win. You?"

"No regrets today."

I narrow my eyes. "I thought you said that's not allowed?"

He huffs. "Fine, I suppose I regret reporting my sister and her husband to their parole officer."

"I knew it!" I poke him in the ribs, and he catches my hand between his.

"What are you going to do to make tomorrow a brighter day?"

I whisper in his ear. "I've been taking private lessons with Griselda. I've got something to show you involving that pole you had installed in the bedroom."

"That sounds like a thing you're going to do tonight."

"And tomorrow. And the next day and the day after that," I tell him. Assuming I don't fall on my face the first time. But Grizzy says my gyrations are almost acceptable now, so I'm hopeful.

I look at him expectantly, waiting for him to tell me what he's going to do. But he's staring at his watch.

"Nick?"

"Just checking. Less than a minute until the fireworks start."

As he says the words, the sky lights up with pinks, golds, and purples. I keep my eyes on the pyrotechnics display over the trees and say, "What are you going to do to make tomorrow a better day?"

Another firework explodes. This one's my favorite kind—a white spray that reminds me of a weeping willow tree.

Nick still has my hand trapped when he says, "This is what I'm going to do."

I drag my eyes away from the sky in time to see him slip a dazzling emerald onto my ring finger.

My heart thumps so loudly it could be a firework.

"Noe, will you make every day for the rest of my life better and brighter by marrying me?"

I launch myself into his lap and kiss him greedily. "Yes, of course. Yes."

He pulls me against his chest and, together, we watch the fireworks celebrate light over darkness, good over evil, love over hate.