We follow the moving truck as it pulls away. I watch as Leila, Amie, Oscar, Jordan, and his family, Darla, and her Grandma get smaller and smaller. I continue to wave until they’re out of sight. I’m sad to be leaving them, and I will miss them like crazy, but I am so excited to start fresh with Justin. And like Amie and Leila said. “Planes fly both ways.”

 Justin squeezes my hand. “You ready for this, Kitten?”

 I squeeze his hand back and snuggle Bruce into my side. “Yep, I sure am!”

 The moving truck takes the exit to start heading east, but Justin keeps going straight. I watch as we pass the exit. “Umm… Justin, I thought we were going to follow the truck?”

 “We were. But then I was thinking we could take the scenic route and make a little vacation out of the trip.”

 I’m so excited! I have never had a spur of the moment vacation. I feel like a kid in a candy store. “Oh, this sounds like fun! Where are we going to go? Cut across and see Devils Tower? Mt. Rushmore? Deadwood?”

 Justin laughs. “That’s quite a list, and yes I would love to see all those things. However, I have something else in mind.”

 “Okay. So where are we going?”

 “It’s a surprise. You’ll know when we get there.”

 Poking my lip out. “He’s a party pooper isn’t he, Bruce? Ya know, if you’re tired of driving I can take over.”

 Justin rolls his eyes. “Nice try, Kitten.”

 Bruce could care less where we’re going. All he cares about is that he’s getting to go for a ride. We cross the Colorado, Wyoming border and work our way north-west. We stop at this little restaurant in the middle of nowhere, grabbing a bite to eat and stretch our legs. Bruce isn’t happy with us when we make him get out of the nice warm truck and take a walk in the snow. By the time we’re finished, the sun has set, and the temperature has dropped a lot. It doesn’t take long for the truck to get warm and cozy once we’re back on the road. My eyes grow heavy, and I let out a big yawn.

 Justin glances over at me. “You can sleep if you want.”

 I let out another yawn. “Not until you tell me where we’re going. What if you’re kidnapping me? I need to know what to tell the authorities. It’s not like I’m leaving a trail of bread crumbs or anything.”

 “Yeah, we’re way past that.”

 I stick my tongue out at him. “Fine. Are you sure you don’t mind? I am freaking tired.”

 “No, we have a few hours of driving left. Besides, I have Bruce to keep me company.” Just as Justin finishes his sentence, Bruce lets out a loud snore.

 “Yeah, he’s going to be as much company as I am.”

 I lay my head against the seat and close my eyes for what seems like only a minute.

 “Wake up, Kitten. We’re here.”

 I open my eyes to a stunning building off in the distance. I can’t believe what I’m seeing. “Justin, where are we? Wait! Are we in Jackson?

 He smiles at me. “Surprise.”

 I’m in complete awe. “This is unbelievable. You’re unbelievable. How did you know?”

 “I just thought this was a good place for us to decompress. To stop and take a breath.”

 There’s a low glow of light circling the resort, but beyond that, it’s surrounded by nothing but darkness. The closer we get, I see that the building is made of impressive log and stone. The entrance spans from the ground to the top of what has to be four floors. Each floor has its very own balcony that wraps around the building. Through the rod iron fencing, I see flecks of amber from fireplaces popping up into the air.

The inside of the resort is as impressive as the outside. In the middle of the huge lobby is a massive stone fireplace with a roaring fire. Surrounding the fireplace are oversized leather chairs and sofas. There’s a winding wooden stair case at the far end of the room.

Justin walks over to the desk to check us in as I wait in awe of everything around me. The beautiful colors of a stain glass lamp in the corner of the room catches my eye. Without even looking to see if anyone was coming I start walking towards it. That’s when I smack into someone. Suddenly the front of my shirt is covered with something wet and cold.

“Oh my God! I’m so sorry.” Says the brown haired woman standing in front of me with a half empty iced coffee glass.

Laughing as I pull the freezing cold fabric away from my skin. “Glad it wasn’t hot.”  

“Hi, I’m Ella Stone. Am so sorry. Let me go get you a towel.”

“Don’t worry about it. It was my fault. I wasn’t watching where I was going.” The lamp catches my eye again.

Pointing in the direction of the lamp. “I wanted to get a closer look at that lamp over there.”

“Oh, isn’t is beautiful. It gives of the best light for reading.”

I knew right then and there that Ella was my kind of person. I smile at her. “Good to know.”

Justin comes over with a smirk on his face. “Ya know, all you had to do is ask and I would have gotten you a coffee. You didn’t have to assault this poor girl for hers.”

Ella laughs at Justin and introduces herself. Before she turns to leave she says. “It was nice to meet you both. Maybe we’ll run into each other again.”

“Yeah, that would be nice. Maybe next time we’ll be able to drink the coffee.”

Justin grabs the bag at my feet and winks at me. “Let’s go get you out of those clothes.

Sliding the glass doors open, I step out onto the icy stones. The fire from last night has burnt itself down to nothing but embers and ash. My cheeks warm when I think about the love we made out here under the stars just a few hours ago. Steam rises from my cup of coffee as I walk toward the edge of our private balcony. When I look out, my breath is taken away. Even in the dark of the night, I could tell that this place amazing. But now that it’s light, and I can see. Oh my God. This place is picturesque. The resort is encompassed by majestic snow covered mountains. I watch as the clouds move elegantly, dancing around the tops of the mountains. Off in the distance, there’s a bald eagle flying high.

 Justin startles me when he wraps his arms around me, pulling a blanket around us. “What do ya think?”

I turn around to face him. “This is the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen in my life. It’s more than I ever could have imagined.”

 Standing on my tip toes, I place a soft kiss on his lips. “Thank you so much.”

 “It’s my pleasure. What do you say we go in and get a little more than this blanket on and go for a walk?”

Justin wraps his arms around me as we walk inside. I start digging through my bag for a sweater or hoodie to put over my T shirt. I know that it won’t take long to be freezing with just a jacket. I wasn’t planning on a mini vacation so I didn’t pack a lot. I guess I’ll just have to layer what shirts I have.

Justin looks over at me. “What are you looking for Kitten?”

“Just something more than a T shirt.”

Suddenly I get smacked in the head with something soft, causing my hair to fly everywhere. I grab whatever just assaulted me off the floor.”

Holding the sweater up. Smiling sweetly at him “Thank you.”

Just nods his head. “Anytime.”

We make our way through the lobby and outside of the resort. It’s so quiet that the sound of the snow crunching under our feet echoes as we walk arm in arm along the path that leads us through an area of beautiful pine trees. We talk, making plans for our fresh start in Detroit.

 I stop walking and tug on Justin’s arm. “Did you hear that?”

 Justin gives me a strange look. “What?”

 “It sounded like someone giggling.”

 We both stand quietly for a few moments.

 “Kitten, I don’t hear anything.” We start to walk again when he stops me. “Wait! I did hear something. I think it was a mountain lion. I heard that they giggle when they’re rabid and about ready to attack.”

 Smacking him in the arm, I reply, “Smartass!”

 We continue walking and come upon a small snow-covered opening. When we are about half way across it, Justin stops.

 I look all around to see why he stopped. “What! Did you hear something?”

He bends down a little bit and points off toward the edge of the opening. “Yeah. It sounded like it came from over that way.”

 I mimic his stance, looking over in the direction that he had pointed. “What did it sound like? I don't see anything.”

When I turn around, Justin’s no longer standing next to me. He’s down on one knee, holding a little black velvet box in his hands. When he opens the lid, nestled on top of a dark, purple pillow of satin is a beautiful pearl and diamond ring. Clasping my hands over my mouth, tears of happiness begin to stream down my cheeks.

 “Sarah. The very first moment I saw you, I knew I loved you. That my life would never hold true meaning without you in it. That with you is where I belonged forever. Will you do me the honor of becoming my wife?”

 Nodding my head frantically. “Yes! Oh my God, yes!”

 He pulls the glove from my hand and slips the stunning ring onto my finger. The diamonds around the beautifully polished pearl sparkle in the sunlight.  Picking me up off the ground, he begins to twirl me around in circles.

 Even after he sets me to back down, I’m still crying. “Kitten, why are you crying?”

 Swallowing the giant lump in my throat, I ask, “This was your mom’s pearl, wasn’t it? “

 I catch a brief glimpse of a tear in his eyes. “Yeah. It was. And if she could only see the amazing woman who’s wearing it right now, she’d be so proud.”

 “Thank you, Justin. Just like you, I will treasure it forever.” I start to bounce with excitement. “I just can’t believe that someday I’m going to be Mrs. Justin Troma.”

 He has that smirk that I love so much on his face. “Well, now that you brought that up. What if someday was today, and today was right now?”

 “What do you mean?”

 He points back in the same direction as he did before. From out behind the trees one by one walks Leila, Amie, Oscar, Jordan, and his family, Darla and her Grandma. Each of the girls are carrying small bouquets of wild flowers. A man I don’t know follows them out. By the way, he’s dressed, I’m guessing he’s going to be officiating the ceremony.

I shake as I place the band that Leila hands me onto Justin’s finger. Justin’s hands are sure and steady when he places the band that Jordan hands him onto mine.

 Justin smiles at me. “I do. Always and forever.”

 Smiling back at him, mirroring his promise, I say, “I do. Always and forever.”