Epilogue

EPILOGUE

SIX MONTHS LATER

Diana’s hiking boots had gotten a lot of use over the past year, but today, they were going to serve their original purpose and carry her to the summit of Crescent Peak. The forest around her was a kaleidoscope of green and brown, the trees all decked out in their brand-new spring leaves. The air smelled fresh and earthy, invigorating her with each breath.

In the end, she and Emily had been exploring the mountains of North Carolina when the Adventurers hiked to the summit last fall, and then the weather had quickly gotten too cold and drab to enjoy the hike, so they’d decided to wait until spring. Now, it was finally time. Today, she and Emily would enjoy the view from the top…together.

“Oh look, there’s the rock you painted. I remember that from my first attempt.” Diana pointed at the rock beside the trail, adorned with a colorful daisy. “We hadn’t even met yet, and you were already encouraging me to stop and smell the roses, so to speak.”

“Aww,” Emily nudged her shoulder playfully. “The forest service commissioned me to paint five of them along the trail system, but that’s the only one we’ll see today.”

“I want to see them all this summer,” Diana told her. “An Emily Janssen scavenger hunt.”

Emily’s smile was luminous. Since last fall, she’d quit her job at the inn and painted full time. She’d invested a lot of time and effort into growing her website—with Carter’s help—and now she was living her dream, supporting herself with her art.

Her mom had indeed come to town for Thanksgiving, and they’d all spent the holiday together at Eva and Mary’s new house. Emily and her mom would probably never have a traditional mother-daughter relationship, but they were talking more frequently now, mending old wounds while they got to know each other.

Diana was doing pretty damn well these days too. She’d successfully purchased two more hotels, bringing Aster’s current portfolio to three properties. It was headquartered right here in Crescent Falls in an adorable little office on Main Street. Last month, she’d hired a full-time office manager, and Diana worked there whenever she was in town.

She tried to make sure she was here the second Monday of every month for the women-in-business meeting. Through that group, she’d met so many other female entrepreneurs in the area. Her people. Some of them had even become friends.

She and Emily were still splitting their time between Crescent Falls and Boston, sometimes spending a whole month in one location before returning to the other or setting out to scout new properties for Diana to purchase. Both of their homes were filled with Emily’s paintings and Diana’s plants, a cheerful combination that Diana loved .

Aster’s new office space had come with a studio apartment upstairs, a space Diana initially hadn’t known what to do with, but it had turned out to be a perfect first apartment for Carter while he finished his degree. He and Drew had gone from casual to serious, and it made Diana so happy to see him thriving like this.

She’d finally told Carter about her anxiety, and he confirmed what she’d suspected: he’d been struggling in that area too. He’d gotten it under control on his own now that he’d switched schools, but he promised he’d get help if he needed it. They were both making an effort to be more open with each other about things their parents had discouraged them from talking about.

Ironically, things were okay with Diana’s family too. She and Emily had had dinner with her parents several times now, and they’d been cautiously accepting of their relationship. It was as much as she could hope for.

“Diana…”

When she looked over, Emily’s brow was pinched. “Yes, darling?”

“What if we don’t make it to the top?”

“Then we’ll try again next week, but we’re going to make it.” Diana knew she sounded as confident as she felt. She was even more motivated to make it to the top today than Emily knew. “We’re going to have a picnic at the summit, take one of those silly kissing selfies, and you’re going to paint the tower.”

“Okay,” Emily said, but her face was the picture of self-doubt.

Diana gave her a reassuring smile, confident enough for them both. Her backpack contained their picnic lunch while Emily’s was filled with painting supplies, an empty canvas strapped to the back. But Emily didn’t know that Diana had a surprise tucked into the side pocket of her pack.

“This is where I got lost last time,” Diana commented when they reached the ridgeline. Today, she could easily see where she’d gone wrong. The trail diverged from the ridgeline early on, heading back into the trees. This time, she followed the markers. She had plenty of water. Her legs were stronger, toned from almost a year of Vermont’s steep inclines. And she had Emily, who—despite her doubts—was more than capable of guiding them to the top.

About an hour and a half into their hike, they reached the infamous ravine. Diana stood at the edge, staring into the opening. The bottom, about ten feet below, was strewn with loose rocks and tree branches, plus a hat, sunglasses, and other items hikers had dropped. It was deeper and more ominous looking than she’d expected.

“Ready?” Emily asked.

Diana nodded, swallowing over her sudden fear. It was only a two-foot gap. She could almost step across. She wouldn’t hesitate to make the same jump in another situation where there wasn’t so far to fall.

Her pulse spiked. This was her fatal flaw. She got tunnel vision when she focused on a successful outcome, to the point that she often failed to consider the possibility of failure. She underestimated the obstacles she’d have to overcome along the way.

What if she fell? What if Emily did?

“Diana?”

She resisted the urge to reach for the calming strip dangling from her backpack. Instead, she leaned over and gave Emily a kiss. “Here I go.”

And then, she jumped.

“Oh shit!” Emily screeched as she leaped after Diana. Her stomach swooped, her head spun, and then her feet slammed into the ground on the other side of the ravine. The weight of her backpack threw her off-balance, and she stumbled into Diana, both of them laughing as they staggered forward.

“We did it,” Diana panted, relief visible in her blue eyes, and only then did Emily realize she’d been nervous about the jump.

“Nothing’s going to stop us now,” Emily decided, taking her hand as they hiked on. “The hardest part is behind us. We’ve conquered most of the elevation, and the ravine, but…oh no.” She’d forgotten about the cliffside walk, which had just come into view ahead of them.

Here, the path had been carved into a particularly steep and rocky part of the mountain, where the ground rose almost vertically to their left and dropped off treacherously to the right. The path widened to accommodate the dangerous terrain, about three feet across, but still…

“Don’t look down,” Diana said. “Walk behind me and keep your left hand on the wall. You can use my backpack as a focal point if you need one. Got it?”

“Yes.” Emily gulped as she put her left hand against the rock face, her gaze flitting briefly to the drop-off on her right. If one of them stumbled…

“Here we go. One minute and we’ll be on the other side.” Diana walked at a brisk pace, not giving Emily time to falter.

She kept her gaze on Diana’s back, placing one foot in front of the other, and before she knew it the landscape had leveled out, tall trees rising on both sides of the path. Now, they really had made it past all the most difficult hurdles, but Emily didn’t want to jinx herself again by saying it out loud.

The last stretch of the trail was steep and rocky. They were both struggling for breath by the time Emily glimpsed a distinct stone shape through the trees, the shape she’d dreamed of seeing in person her whole life.

“The tower,” she gasped. “I see it!”

“So do I. We’re almost there.” Diana had started to lag slightly behind Emily over the last few minutes, but she picked up speed again, surging forward now that the end was in sight.

Wordlessly, they scrambled to the top of the incline and entered the grassy clearing where the tower stood. The ground around it was gently curved, a sloping hillside that marked the summit. To their right, the landscape opened up with sweeping views of the valley. The waterfall the town was named for poured over a rock face below, mist glistening in the sunshine.

From this vantage point, they could see the falls’ distinct crescent shape. Hell, from this vantage point, they could see the whole world. The town lay sprinkled below them in the valley. Emily could even see the inn, although her cottage was shrouded by the surrounding forest.

Tears flooded her vision. “It’s everything I hoped for.”

Diana wrapped Emily in her arms, and for a few minutes, they just stood there, holding each other as they caught their breath and took in the awe-inspiring beauty of their surroundings. The tower indeed looked like it had come from a medieval English castle, gray stones reaching toward the sky. Emily could almost imagine Elizabeth Abington in her long flowing dress standing in front of it after she’d had it built.

They posed for several kissing selfies, and then broke apart for a much-needed drink of water. Diana set her backpack down on a patch of grass with a perfect view of both the tower and the valley below. While she started spreading out their picnic blanket, Emily wandered over to the tower. Its doorway was just an arch-shaped opening in the stone. She stepped through it, pausing to look up at the circle of sky visible overhead.

“This is so cool,” she murmured as she took a picture looking up. Then she moved to the window in front so she could peek out and catch Diana by surprise.

“Hey, look—” Emily’s words got stuck in her throat as she stuck her head out the window and saw Diana kneeling in the grass in front of her.

On one knee.

With a ring box in her hand.

“Oh…oh my God…” Emily’s voice wavered. Tears rose in her eyes.

“Emily Janssen, I had no idea when I met you last June on this very mountain how much you would change my life. Of course, you literally saved my life that day, so maybe that should have been a hint. I’ve always had big plans for myself, but they didn’t always involve having a partner at my side. With you, I feel safer, happier, and more loved than I ever knew possible. I’m a better woman with you beside me. Will you do me the incredible honor of agreeing to be my wife?”

Emily was still head and shoulders through the window of the tower, tears wetting her cheeks, and now she wedged herself a little farther through the opening, trying to reach Diana. “Yes. Oh God, yes. A hundred times, yes. Please get over here and put that ring on my finger because I think I might be stuck.”

Diana smiled as she stood to slide the ring onto Emily’s finger. The ring sparkled and shone as the diamond solitaire caught the sun overhead. It was set in a silver band engraved with delicate flowers. Simple. Beautiful. And so Emily.

“I love it,” she whispered, dazzled. “I love you .”

“It looks good on you.”

Emily beamed at the ring before pulling Diana in for a kiss. “When I was a little girl, I dreamed about this moment, the romantic engagement and the fairy-tale wedding. I always knew I wanted to get married at the inn just like my grandmothers, but the rest was less certain. Prince? Princess? Someone else? I never could have imagined anyone more perfect for me than you, Diana. You complete me.”

“We complete each other.” Diana gave her a tender kiss, her own eyes suspiciously glossy. “And I’d love to marry you at the inn, if that’s what you still want. I can’t think of anything better.”

“It’ll be perfect.” Emily clutched at her, hampered by the stone window.

Diana chuckled. “Come out of there before you get stuck for real, Rapunzel, and let’s celebrate properly. I brought champagne.”

“On my way.” Emily yanked herself back through the window, chafing her sides against the stone in the process. She rushed out of the tower and into Diana’s arms. In her excitement, she lifted Diana right off her feet and spun her in a circle.

Diana wriggled free, but she held tight to Emily’s left hand. She lifted it so they were both looking at Emily’s diamond ring against the backdrop of the waterfall and valley below. A tear slipped over Diana’s cheek. “I knew I wanted to see the view from the top, but this…this is a view I didn’t know I was waiting for.”