EPILOGUE
ONE YEAR LATER
CARTER
“Who would want to live in a city when you could have this?”
Wren and I are sitting together on the swing chair on the porch, Wren in about fifty layers of clothing given how cold it is out tonight, cold enough for a thick quilt of snow to cover everything in sight.
She burrows into my side, Zeus II asleep at her feet. “Would you move to the city, for me?”
“We’re moving to the city?”
“It’s a hypothetical question. Your coaching is going well. Sure, they’re not a major league team, but you’ve worked wonders with them so far, right?”
The last thing I ever imagined I’d be doing was coaching, but Wren’s right. So far it’s working out. Coach Williams even peppered my name to the NHL heavies. “I suppose, and you’ve just about got the charity up and running.”
Wren smiles. “I think I’m going to have to take on a staff member soon, to handle all the admin.”
“Wow, employees and all. You are moving up. Soon Star Bright’s going to be real sorry they let you go.”
“It’s not a competition. If I can help just one kid…”
I cup her face in my hand, will never get sick of her doe eyes, those lips. “I know, I know, and the answer is yes. I would move to the city for you. Hell, I’d move to fucking Antarctica if you wanted.”
“We’d have to live in an igloo.”
I brush my hand over her chest. “And share body warmth.”
There’s a flash on the horizon, a boom following. “Look,” I point. “They’re starting.”
Another firework from the local fair explodes into the sky, neon magenta and blue, the crack of it ringing through the woods.
I stand us up and move to the edge of the porch for a better view, Wren’s head falling on my shoulder. “It’s pretty.”
“It’s not exactly New Year’s Eve,” I reply, “but they put on a good show.”
The fireworks continue to explode and bloom in the sky, Zeus barking up a storm, the smoke drifting away to the south.
“I’m just going to duck inside,” I tell her. “I won’t be a moment.”
She wraps her arms around herself. “Sure.”
I head inside, keeping one eye on her through the kitchen window. Standing there lit by the kaleidoscopic bursts beyond, she is more than beautiful.
She’s an angel.
She’s my redemption.
The finale starts, reports firing up together, the sky awash with color, a rat-a-tat of sound echoing out.
Wren starts to turn around. “Carter, you missed it. That was actually prett—”
She freezes.
I’m down on one knee on the porch, the small box I’ve been hiding under the bed for the last three days hot in my hands. I’m not nervous. I’m not having second thoughts, because I know this is completely right, exactly how it should be.
“Carter?” she queries, her voice rising on the second syllable of my name.
I’ve rehearsed this for days. “Wren Banner,” I begin. “I’ve loved you for a long time. I missed my chance once, but I’m not going to miss it again. You are my world, my everything. I’m not saying being with me is going to be easy, but I know—no, I’m certain—that together we can achieve anything. You make me happier than I ever thought I could be, and if you let me, I will spend the rest of my life trying to make you feel the same way.” I take a breath. “Wren, will you marry me?”
The last firework lights up the entire sky with a solid boom.
Wren has her hands over her mouth. She’s shaking, her eyes glassy. She looks down at the ring.
I hold it up higher so she can see. “It’s a real diamond, and those little rocks around it? They’re amethyst.”
“They’re purple.”
“Your favorite color.”
“How did you even afford this?”
I smile. “All those nights I said I was down at The Dirty Duck, I was actually putting in overtime at the rink.”
She shakes her head. “You got me.”
“Well?” I say. “I did ask you a question—the question.”
Zeus barks at my heels.
She clicks. “Oh, right. Yes!” she screams, running forward and bowling me over until she’s lying on top of me, the open ring box beside us and the snow that has swept on the porch melting through to my back, but I don’t care, because everything is perfect.
“What now?” asks Wren, fingertips playing with my lips, a question I recall her asking me almost a year ago. If what follows now is anything like that day…
I roll her over. “Now I satisfy my real addiction.”
“And what’s that?” she asks.
I smile. “You.”