"What don’t I understand?" he asks. "You’ve given so much of your time and your energy and your effort to taking care of that man. Don’t you deserve something that’s just yours?"
"I don’t know," I admit, and I mean it. I wanted to be a little selfish when I came out here, but I hadn’t imagined that that selfishness would lead me to the bed of a man like Cliff. To a man who made everything in my life feel a little more clear, a little more open.
I can still remember the way that he held me down in the cave, held me close as though I am the most precious thing that has ever come into his life, and I don’t know if I will ever be able to forget that.
Maybe this is less about the fact that my father is here, and more about the reminder that I have a life back in Cherry Falls – a life that Cliff isn’t a part of.
"What’s really wrong?” Cliff asks, and I look up at him. He can tell that there is something that I am not being honest about, and it makes my heart melt a little to realize that he understands me as deeply as that.
"I don’t want this to be over," I confess, finally. "I don’t – I don’t want to go back to my life in Cherry Falls. Not without you. And I know that this was only meant to be a fling, a short-term thing, but I – I think there’s something here between us, Cliff. I don’t know if you can feel it too, but I can, and I don’t think I can walk away from it that easily."
He lets out a sigh, as though I have touched on something deep inside of him that he had been hoping to keep to himself. I scan his face, looking for answers – looking for an explanation as to what is going on in his head right now. I need to know. Every word, every detail. I want to. I want to get to know every part of him that he will let me and I know that I will not be able to rest until I have.
"You really thought this was just a one-time thing?” he asks as he smooths his thumb over my cheek, his touch gentle, so tender and careful that it makes my heart sing. "I don’t do one-time things," he says in his perfectly gruff voice. “I hope you know that."
"What do you mean?” I ask him, though I can tell from the catch at the back of my throat that I understand what he is saying perfectly. I might not be able to accept it yet, but I can hear the words that he is trying to speak, even if he hasn’t said them yet.
Because the two of us – we're on the same wavelength. We work on the same frequency. From the first moment that I laid eyes on him, I have known that we understand each other, and I have felt that sureness ever since.
But now, I know that he is about to speak it into being, and I am ready to hear it.
"I mean," he murmurs, and he takes my hand in his, kneeling before me. "That I want you to marry me, Harper Higgins."
My heart feels as though it explodes as soon as I hear those words come out of his mouth. I can’t keep the smile off my face.
Marry him?
When I first saw him, the very last thing on my mind was marriage. But now, as we sit here, in the soft morning light in his cabin, I know that I will not be able to return to Cherry Falls without him there beside me.
"I want to marry you, too," I tell him right back, and I feel an explosion of joy coursing through my body. I clap my hand over my mouth, feeling the rush of glee as it hits me, and he pulls me off the couch and into his arms as the tears start to stream down my face.
And we have nothing more to say to one another, at least, not yet. We have other things to think about right now. Like the fact that he has just asked me to spend his life with him – and that I have said yes, without a second thought.
Because I know it’s right. I know he is the one. And I know I want nothing more than to pass the rest of my days by his side.
Epilogue 1
Harper
Two months later…
Juniper appears in the doorway, in the pink-printed maid of honor dress that I picked out for her – she looks lovely, even picked out a frame for her glasses that matches the pink of her dress.