Epilogue

“Everybody dressed in here?” Jasper knocked on Emma’s office door one month later, looking like the proverbial cat-with-a-canary as he strode in.

“One time. You caught me undressed one time.” Emma rolled her eyes.

“Happy to catch you again. Just say when.”

Emma laughed. “Go away. I’m busy.”

“It’s your birthday, and you’ve been working all day, and as the father of your unborn baby, I’m insisting that you let me take you to dinner.”

“Kind of imperious, don’t you think?” She pushed her chair away from her desk, rubbing her eyes as he came around behind her and massaged her shoulders. “I don’t know, Jasper. I’m so tired I could fall asleep right here. I don’t think I have the energy for a night out.”

“How about just an hour out?” He leaned down to kiss her ear. “We have to do something special for your birthday. Especially since you can finally eat without turning green, right?”

“One hour? Just one? Promise?”

He pulled away, smiling. “Cross my heart.” Then he pulled something from his back pocket and spun her away from him. “Just one little thing, and we’ll be off. Close your eyes.”

“Close my—wait, what?”

Before she finished her question, Jasper had wrapped a silky blindfold over her eyes and tied it gently behind her head.

“Jasper? Really? In my office?”

He laughed softly, and the sound went straight downward. “Mind out of the gutter, sweetheart. I’m in charge of getting you to your dinner.”

“Blindfolded?”

“Yup.” He pulled her out of her chair and steered her toward the door. “It’ll be worth it, I promise.”

Once they were out of the office, he slid his arm around her and guided her toward the West Wing. The hallways were oddly quiet—no televisions blaring from resident rooms, no scurrying nurse shoes, no…nothing.

“Jasper? What is going on? Why is it so quiet?”

“Hold on. Hundred more feet.”

“We’re not going out to dinner, are we?”

He laughed, finally stopping her, then reaching up for her blindfold.

“Happy birthday, Em.” He kissed her cheek as he pulled the blindfold loose, and as soon as she opened her eyes, a cacophony erupted.

“Surprise!”

Her mouth dropped open as she took in the scene before her—the dining room decorated to within an inch of its life, sparkles and ribbons and balloons everywhere, and what looked like almost every single Shady Acres resident singing “Happy Birthday” and tossing balloons her way.

She turned to look at Jasper, who had a sheepish grin on his face. He put up his hands.

“Don’t look at me. This was their idea.”

Archie rolled up so he was almost close enough to catch her dress in his wheels. “It was mine, actually. I know you’re worrying about taking over for Bette, and thinking maybe your feet aren’t big enough to fill her shoes, so I thought maybe we should throw you a party to show you we think your own shoes are doing just fine.”

“Oh, Archie.” She leaned down to hug him. “Thank you.”

“Watch the ribs. Watch the ribs,” he muttered, but she saw his smile before he buried it. “Now hold on. We have a little surprise for you.”

“Another one?”

“Yep. Katrina, you got the sign?”

Katrina emerged from the crowd, an oblong present in her hand, all tied up with a big blue bow. She handed it reverently to Emma, a huge smile on her face.

“By direction of your new residents’ association, I give you the first street sign for our hallway renovation project.”

Emma laughed. “You made new signs?”

“Well, sort of. We had one new sign made. Reflective of a unanimous decision to rename the West Wing, which holds your two favorite rooms.”

“The dining room and the library,” Archie chimed in, and everyone laughed. “Open it.”

Emma untied the bow, feeling everyone edging closer to see what was inside. When she pushed away the paper and saw the neat blue lettering on the sign, she bit her cheek so she wouldn’t cry.

No. Way.

“Well? Whaddya think?” Archie grinned.

“I—oh, my goodness. I can’t believe you guys!”

Emma laughed through her tears as she turned the sign around so everyone could see the stenciled alligator and new street name.

“Alligator Alley!”

“In our defense,” Archie continued, “we tossed around other Florida stuff like sunshine and beaches and palm trees, but we figured that’d just make you homesick, so we picked something that wouldn’t.”

“I love it.” Emma smiled, turning to the little crowd. “Thank you so much. You have no idea how much this means to me.”

“All right, all right!” Horace’s voice came from the kitchen door as he wheeled out a food cart. “Cake time!”

The residents headed for him like honeybees to a hive, but Emma held back, watching. Then Horace emerged from the crowd with a plate glowing with a candle.

“Special dessert request.” He raised his eyebrows. “Understand you’ve never had the pleasure of trying this.”

She looked down and realized what she’d thought was cake was decidedly…not. It was sort of shiny, and it wobbled, and it was—

“Green?”

Jasper laughed at her expression. “Green is the best kind of Jell-O salad there is. And I didn’t even let Horace hide fruit in it like my mother used to do. It’s just pure gelatin, whipped cream, and childhood dreams.”

Emma smiled, picking up the spoon Horace had set beside the wiggly dessert. She forced herself to take a bite, because how could she not? The eyes of the entire nursing home were on her, and they had gone to such lengths here, and—

“Oh, my God. It’s good!”

He laughed as she spooned another bite, but she wasn’t kidding. How had she never had this?

“Horace, can you please make this every day until the baby’s born?”

Horace nodded. “You know it. But I can’t make it exactly the same way.” He winked at Jasper, whose face had gone a little tense. Or was she imagining it?

Then her spoon hit something that was decidedly not wiggly. It was something that clanked. Sort of like metal…a sparkly, ring-ish sort of metal.

She looked up, her eyes wide. “Jasper?”

“Don’t say no.” He shook his head. “Not yet. I have a very long, well-practiced proposal here, and I’d really like the chance to deliver it before you refuse me.”

She closed her eyes, letting a slow breath out. “Right here? Right now? In front of—everyone?”

“Just—give me a chance, okay? Two minutes, and you can say no, and we can eat the Jell-O and go home.”

She sighed carefully. “Okay.”

“Really?” His eyes widened.

“Well, I’m pretty sure no one here would forgive me if I didn’t let you at least ask, right?”

“Good point. Okay.” He took a deep breath, pulling a piece of paper from his pocket. “Here goes.”

She nodded solemnly, biting her cheek.

“Emma Winthrop—”

“Yes.”

He faltered, then looked back at the paper. “I have—”

“Yes.”

He looked at her, cocking his head, his eyes narrowing.

“Yes. Yes-yes-yes-yes-yes.” She smiled up at him and plucked the paper out of his hand. “I would be honored to marry you, Mr. Stone. I mean, if that’s the question.”

“Seriously? You’re not just saying that because we have an audience and you don’t want to mortally wound me?”

“Seriously. I thought you’d never ask.”

He shook his head. “You’re impossible, Ms. Winthrop.”

“Noted. Agreed. Sure you want to take this on?”

“I’ve never been more sure of anything in my entire life.”

She put up a finger. “But I do have one little eensy-teensy condition.”

“I’m shocked.” He rolled his eyes playfully. “Name it.”

She took a deep breath. “I’d really like to have your baby.”

He laughed as he lifted her up and spun her in a dizzying circle, the room erupting in cheers and clapping all around them.

“Ooh. One more condition.”

He put her down. “I knew it.”

“We have to get married at Whisper Creek. Please, please can we get married at the ranch?”

“I don’t know.” He shook his head. “It’s a pretty busy place.” Then he looked over his shoulder. “Kyla? Ma? What do you think?”

Emma spun around, and before she could even register how many Whisper Creek family members were waiting just outside the dining room, she was smothered in hugs.

When she finally got her footing a minute later, wiping the tears from her cheeks, Hayley stepped forward with an oddly shaped gift.

“It is now officially a thing,” she said. “Because there really is no other explanation. Jasper is a horrible guy. You have lost your ever-loving mind.”

Emma laughed as she pulled off the wrapping paper, then squealed when she saw the water bottle inside, complete with a child-drawn label.

Come to Whisper Creek, it said. Drink the water, and you’ll never want to leave.