The beam of Emmett’s flashlight bounced off the terrain in front of them as he navigated the way over the land at the base of Canyon Creek Mountain. They were on his family’s side of the foothill. He’d traveled this path many times and thought he’d had the area memorized. Now, wandering around the wilderness after so many years away, he wasn’t so sure.

“It’s freezing out here,” Elle said behind him. “Where are we headed?”

“It’s a surprise,” he said, pushing through the thick brush littered with patches of snow. “Be careful, watch where you’re going.”

“Good thing you had me change before we left.”

Emmett smirked. Yes, he’d helped her change at her condo. He’d undressed her before doing a few other things that weren’t so gentlemanly. He couldn’t help it. Anytime Emmett saw her bare skin his dick grew rock hard. Who was he kidding? Anytime he saw Elle at all, he was lost.

When his beam of light touched on the mouth of the cave up ahead, he reached back and held out his hand. “We’re almost there.”

Elle placed her hand in his and he marveled at how well they fit together, pieces of a puzzle that had been separated for far too many years.

He thought back to his research and wondered with a smile if maybe their souls had been separated for centuries, torn apart after hundreds of years because of a foolish family feud. This was their time.

“Are we at the Kissing Cave?” Elle asked, coming up next to him.

Emmett stopped at the entrance. “Why yes, Ms. Noble. We are.”

Elle glanced at him. He could barely make out her expression from the downcast beam of his flashlight. “You know what the legend is, don’t you?” he asked.

“Yes.” She smiled nervously.

The entire town knew the story of the Kissing Cave. Legend said that if you kissed someone inside the cave and carved your initials on the walls, your love would last forever. Most guys used it as a cheesy stunt to get girls to kiss them. That much was clear if you looked at the number of initials that had been scratched through. But Emmett was looking for one set of initials, one that had been scratched inside long ago.

Ben had proposed to Maggie here in the cave several months ago. Maggie had told Emmett about the initials she’d found inside after Ben carved theirs onto the wall. The initials, and the date, had intrigued Emmett from the beginning and had probably cast the first stone on his idea for a historical romance novel. Lost love.

Emmett stepped through the opening and shined the light on the walls, searching for the set of initials he wanted to show Elle.

“What are you looking for?” Elle asked, her voice echoing in the cavernous space.

Emmett remained silent, his light flashing along the walls. There were many initials, some scratched through, others with hearts drawn around them. Maggie had told him where to look, but it still took him some time to find the right set.

“There,” he said, walking toward the wall, his hand tracing the stony façade.

“What is it?” Elle stepped closer.

“The initials,” he said, pointing. “ES and EN.”

“Us?” Elle stepped closer to look. “When did you do that?”

“I didn’t. Look here.” Emmett’s fingers circled the numbers underneath the initials. They matched the records he’d found and the dates listed in the journal Ms. Parker had given him a few weeks back.

Elle frowned. “’91. We were only one or two in 1991.”

“It’s not 1991. It’s 1891.”

“1891?” Elle said in disbelief, but stepped closer, as though she might be able to find some evidence of his claim in the initials themselves. “These initials have been here for over a hundred years?”

“Yes,” Emmett answered, understanding her surprise at the finding.

“How did you find out about this?” Elle asked.

“Ben and Maggie told me about the initials. He proposed to her here in the cave. Their initials are somewhere close by.”

“Right here,” Elle said, her finger pointing to the spot where Ben and Maggie’s initials were carved—BS and ML. Emmett could hear the smile in her voice. “So romantic.”

Emmett nodded, surprised by his brother’s display of romanticism. He usually found Ben to be dry as toast in the romance department.

“Did you find out any more about Elsbeth and Emmett? About why they never married?”

“Apparently, their parents, Ezra Noble and Lazarus Sumner, weren’t willing to let go of the feud over the land. The two men were still fighting when Emmett and Elsbeth fell in love, and so they forbade any of their children to marry each other.”

“That’s horrible,” Elle said.

“It gets worse.”

“How?”

“Elle never married at all. She pined after Emmett her entire life.”

“Did Emmett marry?”

“Yes.” He nodded. “A woman named Isabelle. They went on to have lots of children, including an Emmett, Jr.”

“But Elsbeth never did?” Elle’s voice was filled with longing and disappointment, and something that sounded a lot like fear.

He shook his head, running his hands up and down her arms in the cool cave.

“That’s awful,” she said.

Emmett nodded. “It is.” He stepped closer until their bodies pressed together. “But I don’t want to talk about them anymore. We’re in a cave where true love can be had for a kiss.”

Emmett’s words were playful, but his tone wasn’t.

“I think I’ll seal our fate.” He lowered his head to hers, but she stiffened in his arms and stepped back.

“You can’t.” Elle’s words came on a gasp and cut straight through Emmett’s heart.

He’d thought for sure this time they were both committed. That they were both falling in love. He’d thought they would leave this cave, one step closer to their happily-ever-after ending.

He froze and looked down at the face of the woman he loved and saw nothing but anguish in her gaze.

“What is it?” Emmett asked, taking a small step back from Elle to try to regain his equilibrium.

She drew in a deep breath. “I really want to kiss you.” He felt her hands shake as he took them in his own and she continued. “I want what we have to be forever, but there’s something you need to know.”

Emmett leaned in closer, realizing in the dim light of the cave that she was crying.

“Elle,” he said, his voice only a low croak as he brushed her tears away. “Tell me.”

The words seemed to come at a cost for her, gutting her as she spoke them. “I’m going for my five-year scan in two weeks. To see…” she paused, seeming to need the time before she could say the words.

Emmett’s stomach burned with a knot of fear and he thought he might throw up. “To see what, Elle?”

“To see if the cancer is—”

Emmett pressed his lips against hers to stop the words. Nothing mattered to him other than the woman in his arms. She was his true love and he would never let her go. Cancer or no cancer.

He pulled her close and kissed her deeply, putting all he hadn’t yet said to her into the kiss. When he stopped, he kept his lips against hers as he spoke.

“I love you, Elle.” He drew back, searching her eyes in the dim light of the cave. “I’ll be with you for this scan, and the next scan, and all the others. From now on, if you worry, I worry. It’s as simple as that. I love you,” he repeated, stepping away from her as he pulled a rock from his pocket. “Here,” he said, nodding toward their ancestors’ initials already carved in the stone.

“Really?” she asked, her eyes wide in surprise.

“Really,” he said, nodding. “If you are.”

She smiled wide and nodded then stared down at the rock in his hand. “I am,” she whispered, grasping the rock and walking toward the wall. She glanced over her shoulder one last time.

“True love,” he whispered. “No matter what.”

She nodded as her tears slowed. “No matter what,” she repeated. She raised the rock to the wall and began writing.

Emmett stepped forward, noting that she hadn’t written new initials, instead she’d carved in their own year just under Elsbeth and Emmett’s initials.

“Maybe they live on in us?” Elle said, turning to face him. She kissed the stone and handed it back.

Emmett slipped the rock into his pocket, knowing he would never lose it. It signified a new beginning for them both. “Maybe.” He shrugged.

Elle wrapped her hands around his waist and burrowed her body into his. “Are you going to write their story?”

“No. I’m going to write our story.”

“What do you mean?”

“It’s hard to explain, it’s going to be a contemporary romance, but also historical fiction.”

“With romance?”

He leaned down, his lips a breath away from hers. “Oh, a lot of romance, Ms. Noble. I’ll need to do a lot of research though.”

“Good,” she smiled, leaning forward. “I love you, Emmett” she said, pressing her lips against his before he could respond.

He smiled against her mouth. Elle had always inspired him, in many ways, and he couldn’t wait to start both his new novel and his new life, with the love of his life.