Epilogue - Dominic
It takes a couple weeks for Mara to get strong enough to fly, but I don’t mind. Tim and I take turns at the hospital, and otherwise I explore the nearby area.
Southern California is nice, but it’s not home. I miss the lush pine trees and jagged peaks. I gaze over the Pacific Ocean and take in the rolling hills, and I sigh. I turn away from the ocean and get back in the rental car, heading towards the hospital.
Tim and Mara are waiting for me at the entrance.
“Wheelchair!” I exclaim as I get out of the car.
Mara rolls her eyes. “They made me take it. I don’t need it,” she says.
I put my arm under her shoulders and help her up. I see her wince as we move and a pain passes through my heart. The wheelchair seems like a good idea to me. Tim nods to me and jumps into the driver’s seat as I get in the back of the car with Mara.
She rests her head against my shoulder and her eyelids close. I watch her chest rise and fall, and my own chest squeezes when I see how small she is. She’s lost so much weight in the hospital, and her cheeks look almost sunken in. She looks so weak. My heart starts beating and I worry that it’s too soon – that we shouldn’t be moving her yet. It’s a long way to Lang Creek. We have a five hour flight and then a three hour drive before we get home. It’ll be a full day of travelling.
“Are you sure you’re okay?” I whisper to her.
“Shhh,” she says as she pats my leg. “I just want to go home.”
I watch her like a hawk until I’m laying her down in her bed at the back of the hotel. Mara’s face is worn and she looks at me through sleepy eyes.
“Don’t go,” she whispers to me. “I want to wake up with you here.”
I manage a smile and nod. I kick off my shoes and lay next to her, feeling her frail body drift off to sleep next to me. I hold her close, stroking her arm up and down until sleep takes me too.
The next few weeks are rough. Mara is weak, and I worry that she should be under someone’s care. She should have a nurse here, and she shouldn’t be moving as much as she is. I can see her stubbornness though, in the way that she swings her legs over the side of the bed every day, and forces herself to walk up and down Main Street until she looks exhausted. She grits her teeth and tries to hide her pain, but I see it when she thinks I’m not looking. I sleep next to her every night, and wake up next to her every morning.
On one chilly autumn afternoon, I load up the last of the headboards into my truck and drive over to the McCoy Hotel.
Mara is waiting for me outside, wearing a big grin on her face. She still has a boot on from the knee down, but she can walk almost normally. Her scars are fading, and she gives me a big wave as I pull up to the hotel.
“Congratulations, Mr. Clarke,” she calls out to me. “That’s the last of the furniture for the hotel! A few finishing touches and the renovations will be complete!”
“Better late than never,” I respond as I jump out of the cab and smile to her. She wraps her arms around my neck and plants a big kiss on my lips. I pull away and drag my fingers through her hair, inhaling her sweet perfume and getting lost in her eyes.
“You’re so beautiful, Mara.”
Her eyes crinkle as she smiles and she sticks her tongue out. “Even now?”
“Even now,” I reply with a grin. I rub my nose against hers and she laughs.
Tim appears behind her and he nods to me. “Looks great, Dominic. Thank you for your work.”
“No problem at all,” I reply, helping him unload the last headboard. We carry it upstairs as Mara follows us. I take a step back and sigh in satisfaction once it’s installed. Mara slips her hand around my waist and leans her head against my shoulder. I squeeze her against me and she smiles. She looks over to her dad.
“See, Dad, we don’t need Mom here. The hotel looks better than ever before. We’re already doing 15% better than we were last year at this point in the season!”
Tim smiles sadly. He puts his arm around his daughter and kisses her temple. “I’m just glad you’re okay,” he replies. I can see the pain in his eyes whenever Margaret is mentioned. Ever since she left, we haven’t heard a word from her. She disappeared with the insurance money, and she hasn’t been back since. She took all their savings, and I had to finish out the contract without being paid.
Sometimes, Tim stares out through a window and I know he’s thinking of her. It makes my chest ache for him. She took more than just money when she left. She took something from Tim, too.
Tim shakes his head and puts a smile on his face. Mara pulls away from her dad and nudges him. Tim smiles and pulls something out of his breast pocket. He hands it to me.
I frown, looking down at the paper. I unfold it and shake my head.
“For your work,” Tim says. “I know we couldn’t pay you, and I appreciate you finishing the job. You’re a good man, Dominic.”
“Tim, I can’t accept this,” I say, staring at the agreement for part ownership of the McCoy Hotel. “It’s way too much. You can pay me the rest when you have the money,” I answer, handing him the papers.
Mara smiles and shakes her head. “I told you he wouldn’t accept,” she answers with a laugh. “Come on, Dominic. It’ll be yours eventually anyways.”
I glance at her frown. “What are you talking about?”
She laughs. “When we get married and live happily ever after!” she says. I look from her to Tim and a smile spreads across my face.
“Are you proposing to me? In front of your dad?”
“I’d propose in front of the whole world,” she says, wrapping her arms around my waist. “You’re mine, and I’m yours. Everything I have is yours too – including this place. You’ve put enough work into it to own part of it.”
My throat tightens and my eyes start to prickle. I try to swallow as I pull her in tighter to me. Tim smiles at me and nods his head.
“Welcome to the family, Dominic. I never thought I’d say those words,” he adds with a chuckle.
“I never thought I’d hear them,” I answer. Mara lifts her chin up and wraps her arms around me a little bit tighter. I dip my lips down to hers and taste that sweet kiss one more time.
You’re mine, and I’m yours.
Mara’s voice rings in my ears. I never thought I’d hear those words, either, and I never thought they’d sound so good.