Total pages in book: 95
Estimated words: 92708 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 464(@200wpm)___ 371(@250wpm)___ 309(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 92708 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 464(@200wpm)___ 371(@250wpm)___ 309(@300wpm)
Daylight was fading behind the mountain, and the air was chilly. A few dry snowflakes drifted down from the pewter sky. Luke saw me and waved. “Ready?”
“Ready!”
He and I caught one of the cars going up. As we ascended the slope, I thought about Devlin’s fear of riding the chairlift, how I’d never been able to convince him to ride it up to the top so I could show him the place that was so special to me.
Then again, maybe he wouldn’t have cared.
“How was your Thanksgiving?” Luke asked.
“Low key. Yours?”
“Great. We hosted this year.” He started telling me all about who’d come to his house, what they’d served, how they’d cooked the turkey, the seating arrangements, and the football they’d watched. He talked so much I didn’t even get a chance to ask him what was wrong with the lift.
At the top, we unloaded easily, and I looked around to see what could be wrong. “Seems okay to me,” I said. “Where’s the issue?”
“Right here,” said a familiar voice from behind me.
I spun around and gasped. Devlin had come out from the station house and was walking toward me. Quickly I looked back at Luke, who was already jumping on a car to ride back down.
“Lift will keep running,” he called with a wave. “I’ll wait at the bottom. Take your time.”
Turning my attention back to Devlin, I watched him come closer as the butterflies awakened in my stomach and flew madly about. “Devlin? What is this?”
“This is a lot of things.” He was close enough for me to see the blue of his eyes, which appeared indigo in the twilight. “This is I’m sorry. This is I love you. This is I want you to be my wife.”
My knees buckled, and Devlin grabbed me by the arms to keep me upright. “Sorry,” I said, leaning into him. “But can you say all that again? Starting from the beginning? And maybe go slower this time? Elaborate a bit?”
“Sure.” A grin overtook his face. “I’m sorry for not realizing sooner that staying here is what I want—not just for one year or five years, but as long as you’re here and you want me by your side. If that’s forever, then I’ll stay forever.”
“Oh my God,” I croaked. “Do you mean it?”
“Yes. I want to stay—if that will make you happy. Because I love you.”
“I love you too,” I said breathlessly. “I don’t know how it happened.”
He shrugged. “We’ve got good chemistry. All the sex didn’t hurt, either.”
I laughed. “No, it didn’t.”
“So you’re okay with this? You forgive me for thinking I could walk away?”
“Of course I do.” I tapped his chest with my mittened hand. “But say the thing about wanting me to be your wife again.”
“I will,” he said, gently pushing me away so I balanced on my feet again. Then he knelt down. “But it requires a little choreography.”
I gasped and covered my mouth with my mittens as he pulled a small box from his coat pocket. When he opened it up, a gorgeous rectangular green stone caught the last rays of daylight, shimmering with hues of emerald and sage and forest. On either side, two tiny diamonds rested within a slender gold band. I’d never seen anything like it.
Nor had I ever experienced anything like the dizzying, heart-throbbing experience of seeing Devlin down on one knee, looking up at me like I was the only woman in the world. Snowflakes continued to fall softly around us.
“Lexi, you are the love of my life,” he said. “You’ve shown me that stillness isn’t something to be afraid of, it’s something to be savored. I have so many dreams for us, and I know they will take a lot of work and energy and money and time and sacrifice. But as long as I get to be still with you at the end of the day, it will always be worth it.” He took the ring from the box, and I yanked off my mitten. Slipping the ring on my finger so it snuggled up against my wedding band, his voice cracked as he said, “You are my wife. You are my family. You are my forever.” He looked up at me with shiny sapphire eyes. “Marry me for real this time?”
“Of course I will.” I dropped to my knees and threw my arms around his neck, crushing my lips to his. “Of course I will.”
He held me close and kissed me deeply, gathering all my dreams in his hands. I knew he would make them come true.
Eventually, Devlin helped me to my feet. “When should we get married?”
“You want to actually get married again?”
“Yes. You deserve a real wedding, where you come down the steps at Snowberry wearing Gran’s veil and carrying a real bouquet of roses, and all our family and friends are there to witness it.”