Epilogue

EPILOGUE

Eight Months Later

“You’ve already shown me this video,” I pointed out to Theo as we rode across the bustling city of Miami. “Like, a dozen times. Before we left New York, on the jet, in the hotel, and now—”

“Just wait, there’s more to it. They added on an extra minute at the end.”

I laughed. “I really don’t think an extra minute is going to show me anything I haven’t already seen.”

“Just watch.”

I rolled my eyes but let Theo tuck me into his side as he showed me the video playing out on his tablet. It was the one the naval architect team put together to show Theo his new yacht, the one he’d had built in supersonic speed. It usually took at least three years, but with money like Theo’s… well, let’s just say he made his own timelines.

It was a gorgeous, albeit humid day in Miami, and we were on our way to see the yacht for the first time in person. We likely wouldn’t be able to take it out just yet, but Theo was so anxious to see all his design dreams in real life that he couldn’t wait any longer. We’d flown in last night, and as of now, didn’t have a date picked for when we’d return to New York.

I leaned into Theo’s chest as the video played on the screen, showing the four-deck mega yacht. As incredible as it was with its beach club extended off the stern, its oragami-like sleek engineering, its sauna and gym and pools and hot tubs and staterooms that made Philautia look amateur, I really had seen it a dozen times, and so I let my mind wander as my eyes watched the screen.

It was easy on a day like today where the sun was high in the sky and there was a warm breeze coming in off the water for me to think back to that first day I saw Theo almost a year ago now. And as if that first summer we had together wasn’t enough of a crazy whirlwind to last a lifetime, the last eight months had shown me that life with Theo would be anything but boring.

We’d made a home in his New York City penthouse, and while I wished every day could be a vacation, it wasn’t long after we returned from the trip to Colorado where Theo met my parents that Theo had to get back to work. And while he spent his days in the Manhattan Envizion office, or flying around the country for different conferences, events, speeches, and more, I started my own career.

With TIME Magazine .

It had stunned me, walking into that office for the first time. I’d been shocked at how kind Mrs. Hammerstein had been when she greeted me and introduced me to her team. And I’d literally fallen out of my chair when she offered me a quarter-of-a-million dollars for one of my photographs I’d taken in Positano.

And that was just the beginning.

Not only had she published that photo on the cover of the February issue, but she had also offered me a job. And ever since, I’d flown to a dozen different countries capturing photographs for what I considered the most influential magazine in the world.

The dream I had always thought would be just that — a dream — had become a reality.

And Theo was by my side the entire way.

It was hard sometimes with both of us traveling and working. At one point, we went three weeks without seeing each other even once. Of course, that made for a memorable night in the sheets once we were together again. And no matter where our jobs took us, we always knew we’d come back home to the other.

That made it all worth it.

It’d also been a dizzying rush getting used to the lifestyle Theo led. He was one of the world’s most eligible bachelors, and when news broke that a college graduate somehow stole his heart enough for him to propose, there was no hiding from the paparazzi and onslaught of reporters begging for an exclusive interview. For the first few months of us being back in the U.S., we couldn’t leave our house without a dozen cameras and microphones shoved in our faces.

But things had quieted since then, especially since we’d kept our lips sealed about wedding plans. The truth was that we really hadn’t made many plans at all , thanks to life being so hectic.

But they didn’t need to know that.

“Okay, here’s the new part,” Theo said, and I chuckled at how giddy he was.

On the screen, the camera panned the master suite for the first time. It had many of the same art deco features that Theo loved in Philautia, like the geometric lines and cold metals combining with the warm wood and pops of color. There was an oversized bookshelf and luxurious sitting area with a blush rug and a navy statement chair that looked so comfortable I knew I’d lose days there reading.

But as much as it had Theo, the room also had bits of me .

On the white couches, there were faux fur throws, and the coffee table looked almost like a sliver of wood from a giant tree that had been varnished and stained and fitted with two industrial-looking metal legs. The comforter on the massive bed was a beautiful southwestern pattern that reminded me of the one my parents had, and there was a glass-covered gas fireplace lining the far wall, nestled beneath three gorgeous photos of the Rocky Mountains.

It was like the interior designer had taken 1920’s New York City and married it with 1980’s Colorado — all with a modern flair, of course.

I touched the screen with my fingertips, shaking my head in awe. “It’s so… us .”

“I thought so. And,” Theo said, unwrapping his arm from where it held me long enough to dig into his briefcase on the floor. “I saved a special spot on the bookshelf for this.”

He pulled out an elegantly framed photograph, but not just any photograph.

Mine.

The first one published on the cover of TIME Magazine .

My eyes watered as I looked from the frame to Theo and back again.

“I told you, didn’t I? That day you found me sitting by the sun deck pool. I told you you’d be published in TIME , and that I’d have it framed when you did. And what was it that you’d said back to me?”

“That even if I ever did, you wouldn’t remember who I was.”

“And how did that theory turn out?”

I shoved him playfully just as his eyes snapped to the screen. “Oh! Okay, watch. This is the best part.”

The same drone video that I’d seen time and time again showed us the wide shot of the yacht then, and the way the navy blue water glistened around the fresh teak was just as magical as the first time I’d seen it. But then, the camera cut to a view from the starboard side, and I saw what Theo was so excited about.

Written in elegant white script with gold embellishments was the name of the boat.

Dawn’s Light.

I smiled, glancing up at where Theo was watching me rather than the screen. “Dawn’s Light?”

He nodded. “Do you remember that night in San Marco, when I told you how you have this light about you?”

It clicked together then, and I hid my blushing face in his chest. “Theo…”

He lifted my chin until my eyes met his. “I told you people either want to bathe in it or dim it so it doesn’t outshine their own.” He smiled. “But what I didn’t say was that it was your light that saved me, that woke me up from merely existing day in and day out. I am living now. Truly living. And it’s all because of you.”

I shook my head, peppering him with kisses before I held his gaze, my eyes flicking back and forth between his. In that moment, all that we’d been through, all that we’d accomplished together, and all that we’d shared flooded me like a warm ray of sunshine. The feeling was sweeping, so much so that I felt compelled to pull Theo into me even more and say two words.

“Marry me.”

Theo laughed, kissing my nose. “Hey, don’t steal my line.”

“I mean it. Marry me. Today.”

“Today?”

“Today. On our new boat,” I said, glancing at the screen. “I know we’ll have a big ceremony — I mean, my family would kill me otherwise, and I know your parents would, too. But… let’s get married today, just me and you. No one needs to know. It can be our little secret.”

Theo smirked. “I like the sound of that, but there is one little problem…”

“And that is?”

“Well, we won’t exactly be alone.”

I frowned, not understanding. Sure, I knew the architect team would be there, and maybe the interior designer, but wouldn’t it be relatively easy to ask them to leave for a while?

Before I could press further, we pulled up to the marina, and Theo took my hand in his, helping me out of the car and guiding me down the dock.

We passed sailboat after sailboat, yacht after yacht, each one of them grandiose in their own unique ways. But nothing compared to the sight at the end of the dock where Dawn’s Light rested in all her three-hundred-forty-eight-feet glory, shining in the mid-afternoon sun.

And when we made it onboard, I understood what Theo meant when he said we wouldn’t be alone.

I saw Emma first, standing on the main deck with the same warm smile she’d offered me when I met her last year. My jaw dropped at the sight of her, and then I tore off in a sprint and crashed into her with a fierce hug I didn’t want to release.

“Nice to see you, too,” she said with a laugh.

“Emma! What in the world?” I pulled back, holding her in my hands as I looked her up and down. “What are you doing here?!”

“Getting Dawn’s Light ready to cruise, of course,” she said with a wink. “And I have some pretty good help, too.”

Her eyes flicked behind me then, and Wayland was there, shaking Theo’s hand before offering him a cold glass of champagne.

I gasped, flying across the deck and into his arms — which opened just in time to catch me. He laughed and gave us a little spin before he set me back down on the dock.

“Ah, I see he did manage to keep the surprise, eh?”

“The best surprise!” I said, squeezing him again before I looked at Theo. “I don’t understand, I thought we weren’t going to be able to take the boat out yet?”

Theo shrugged. “So I told a few little white lies… Captain Chuck is here, too. He’ll join us later.”

“What else do you have hiding up your sleeve?”

He tucked his hands into his pockets, looking around with an innocent whistle, but then his eyes locked somewhere behind me.

When I turned, I nearly burst into tears.

Both of our families were sitting in the main salon — his parents talking to mine, and of course, Juniper lounging back behind them on one of the sun decks.

“Go put your swimsuit on, loser!” she yelled, sipping the fruity drink in her glass before she added. “You’re missing all the great sunshine!”

I laughed as tears filled my eyes, and then Mom was up out of her chair and hugging me while Dad shook Theo’s hand. Theo hugged his father next and kissed his mother’s cheek while my dad wiped a tear from the corner of my eye before it could fall.

“I think you’ve got a pretty special one here, Aspen,” he said, glancing at Theo.

As if I didn’t already know .

And as Wayland turned up the music and Emma refilled drinks, the rest of the crew who I’d yet to meet yet worked together to get Dawn’s Light out onto the water for her maiden voyage. Juniper danced in her swimsuit, my parents swapped stories with Theo’s, and all the while, I stared at him from across the salon with a heart fit to burst.

I found myself remarking how beautiful and unexpected life could be, at how sometimes, in the most precious moments, not even a photograph taken by the most talented photographer in the world could truly capture all the magic.

And as Theo crossed the room and put his arm around me, kissing my hair before he looked down lovingly into my eyes, I knew one thing was for certain.

Whether tonight, next week, a year from now, or ten years down the road, I was going to marry that devastatingly handsome man.

And when I did, I’d vow to fall in love with him a little more every day, knowing it would be the easiest promise to keep.