Scarlett saw Lauren waiting for her just beyond the Burled Arch. As soon as she’d stepped off from her sled, Scarlett’s friend rushed over to grab her in her arms.
“I was so worried about you. When you didn’t come in… I thought. Oh, Scar. Don’t you ever scare me like that again!” she cried, kissing her friend’s cheeks in an almost maternal way.
Lauren turned on Henry next. “And you!” she shouted before taking him into her arms, too. “You saved my Scarlett. That makes everything else water under the bridge as far as I’m concerned.”
Scarlett shivered. “D-d-don’t say water, please.”
“Oh, oh! We need to get you to the hospital. Are you still in shock? What happened? Tell me everything.” She put an arm around each of them and guided them toward the nearest building. “You, Henry, tell me everything. Scarlett, just rest up, save your voice.”
“I’ll be fine, Lauren. The dogs kept me warm until Henry found me. My feet still feel like giant blocks of ice, but I’m fine now.”
At the hospital, the doctor informed Scarlett that she was lucky to be alive.
“Don’t I know it?” she answered, thanking God once again for how things had turned out. It had taken a disaster to finally bring her and Henry together. Why hadn’t she listened to His still small voice before He’d needed to shout?
She did lose a toe to frostbite, but it was a small price to pay for the adventure she’d had. “Big deal. So I won’t wear open-toed shoes,” she’d told a very concerned Lauren. “My racing days are over anyway.”
“What will you do next?” Lauren and Henry said almost in unison.
“Go to the awards banquet to support my friend. It’s not too late, is it?”
“Don’t you want to enjoy some time out of the spotlight for a change?” Henry asked from his seat beside her in the hospital room.
“Heck no!” she cried. “This is the only Iditarod I’ll ever run, and I want to make sure I’m there for the grand finale.”
The night of the banquet, she wore the same purple, jeweled dress she’d had on when she’d first met Henry at the previous year’s ball. Henry placed a matching silk hankie in his suit pocket to coordinate with her gown and officially declare their newfound couplehood. They arrived together, arm in arm, smiling exhausted smiles but refusing to miss out on the evening by giving an endless series of interviews.
“Henry, is it true you failed the challenge?” a reporter asked.
“I won the only one that matters,” he answered, giving Scarlett a quick kiss on the cheek. She could picture the headlines now: Would-be billionaire trades it all in for love!
“Do you have any regrets?”
“Just that you’re keeping me from this lovely evening. Could we maybe talk later?”
Surprisingly, the press backed off… Only to be replaced by a different mob, and this one was far less happy to see them.
“It’s not just your life you’re playing with,” an elegantly styled woman hissed. “We needed that money, too.”
“So you’ll buy a smaller mansion on the coast,” Henry told his aunt with a shrug.
“How could you?” another family member asked as he shook his head in a more relaxed disappointment.
“Some things are more important than money,” Henry answered before dipping Scarlett and giving her a full, dramatic kiss.
When they both came up for air, they saw his family departing with swift, agitated movements.
“Henry, I’m so sorry,” she said, not knowing what other words of comfort she could offer in that moment. Just as he’d predicted, his family seemed to have disowned him, leaving him both penniless and nameless in the process.
Henry smiled at her and kissed the top of her head, even though he had to stand on tiptoe to do it. “I don’t care. Honestly, it’s a relief. Now we can actually enjoy the evening.”
And so they made their way through the room full of mushers, many of whom wanted a word with Scarlett, Henry, or both. Previously, Scarlett would've been starstruck or just in awe of all the mushers she'd followed for the past several years. But now, she was in a room of friends and colleagues. She belonged to this crowd, and it welcomed her with open arms.
Lauren, who had finished in fifth place and set a new record for top finishing time by a female musher, had also needed to work hard to make her way through the crowd of congratulatory well-wishers.
At last they made it to their table and sat down together.
"Quite the experience, isn't it?" Henry said to them both as they watched the emcee cross the stage.
"Yeah. I'm just in shock,” Scarlett whispered. “I didn't know so many people were rooting for me."
Lauren kept her voice at full volume, however. "People love an underdog story. Heh, heh? Get it?” She held a hand over her mouth to silence her laughs.
“People love you,” Henry said, squeezing Scarlett’s hand under the table. “And how could they not?”
They kept their hands clasped in each other’s as they watched the winning mushers collect their awards. They clapped and cheered, especially when Lauren accepted her prize, and with it, a hefty purse of prize money.
It all made Scarlett wonder what would be next for her. She’d already decided that this would be her last race, and she’d been fired from her job at the library. So what next? Yes, she got the guy, but they were both broke and unemployed, which meant…
Henry interrupted her then by bringing his face close to her ear and whispering, "I can tell you're thinking really hard about something right now, but look alive. It's almost time for our award."
Scarlett blinked hard at him, but the vision didn’t change. “Our award?" she asked.
He kissed her on her forehead and kept his lips there as he growled, “C’mon, bookworm, you can't tell me you don't know about the Red Lantern Award. The prize for finishing last?"
Scarlett still felt foggy and was having a hard time following. ”A participation trophy?"
Henry laughed kind-heartedly at her confusion. “Not exactly. I mean, it started off as a gag gift, but mushers soon started to see it as a badge of honor. Overcoming all obstacles and still finishing the race. That sound like anyone you know?"
Sure enough, in the next moment the announcer boomed, “And the winner of the Red Lantern Award this year… We have a tie between Henry Mitchell, III and Scarlett Cole!”
Scarlett blushed as she and Henry took to the stage and claimed the Red Lantern, their own little light for overcoming the big darkness.
Somewhere deep down, she felt the pride Henry had mentioned. There were several mushers that never made it to Nome. Some lost bits of themselves to frostbite like she had, and some had to drop so many dogs they couldn't complete the race. But she had set out to run the Last Great Race and—by golly—she'd finished it.
The evening came to a close, and Scarlett felt nostalgic for this time in her life already, knowing it had now officially ended. It was time for the next great thing, the next adventure. After a few more interviews and lots of goodbyes, she and Henry made their way toward the exit, ready to call it a night.
“Henry, could I have a quick word?” a man Scarlett hadn’t seen before said as he approached them both.
“Thaddeus, of course! I’m sure my family has already had several with you.” Henry shook the other man’s hand. His smile seemed to suggest that this was a welcome interruption. “Scarlett, this is my attorney. Well, my granddad’s anyway.”
Thaddeus adjusted his cufflinks and chuckled. “Yes, your family did have a lot to say, but they missed something important by leaving early.”
Henry raised an eyebrow in disbelief. “Oh, and what’s that?”
“Well, according to the stipulations of the will, you didn’t need to place in the top ten to complete this bucket list item. You only needed to place.”
Henry looked confused as he tried to follow the lawyer’s logic, but Scarlett understood it perfectly.
“And he did by winning the Red Lantern!” she shouted.
“Yes, he did,” Thaddeus said with a grin. “I always knew you could do it. The estate is yours.” He reached out to shake Henry’s hand again, and then to shake Scarlett’s as well. “You’re a wealthy man, Henry Mitchell, III.”
“Yes, I am,” Henry answered, smiling over at Scarlett. “Yes, I most certainly am.”