Epilogue (Mandy)

One year later.

Spring had always been my favorite season. There was just something so beautiful about the growth of new life, especially here on the mountainside.

Jasper had left early in the morning to check on something at HQ. Recently, he had been going back more often, finding a good balance between work and personal life. While we lived in the mountains, away from all the city excitement, we still went back from time to time to enjoy a night out.

Beside me, Wolf tramped happily, tail wagging, wondering what I was up to. “Do you want to help me plant some flowers?” I asked him.

He barked in response.

Even though the woods were brimming with flowers, I had still started my own garden, picking and choosing at my delight. Most of them ended up being blue but since it was my favorite color it certainly made sense.

I kneeled down and started attacking the weeds that had already sprouted up among the buds. I shook my head. “How do you guys manage to grow so fast?” I asked myself.

Wolf tilted his head before he pounced on the dirt and started to dig and dig and dig, getting dirt everywhere.

“Wolf! No!” I screamed, trying to get him to stop but he was much too excited. “You’re going to ruin everything.”

He looked up at me with a playful look. Then, suddenly, he grabbed my basket and ran off.

“Hey! Come back here!” I shouted, chasing after the dog.

This was exactly what he wanted me to do.

We ran around the house a few times. I tried to outsmart him but he was too fast and cunning. “Goddamnit.” Feeling winded, I stopped to catch my breath.

“Is everything alright over here?” Jasper’s voice sounded out of thin air.

I looked up to see him standing there in his juice jacket, shirt slightly unbutton, tie undone.

“You look like you just ran a marathon.”

“Your dog ran off with my gardening tools.”

Jasper chuckled. “Wolf’s quite the handful.”

“Tell me about it.”

“ he’s a good dog.”

At those words, Wolf came bounding out of the bushes, nearly knocking Jasper to the ground. He barked excitedly. He jumped on his back legs and placed his ginormous paws on Jasper’s shoulders so he could lick his owner’s face.

“That’s enough,” Jasper ordered but the dog did not listen. He continued to slobber all over my boyfriend’s face.

I laughed.

“Oh, you think this is funny?” As soon as he managed to pry the dog off his body, he ran toward me.

My eyes widened. “Shit.” I tried to run away but in an instant, I was caught in his arms.

He pulled me into his embrace and kissed the side of my neck. “God, I missed you today. You should have gone to the office with me. I could have used you in some of those meetings.”

“I’m sure you did just fine without me,” I said, placing my hand on his chest.

“Maybe.  it didn’t help that I was thinking about you all day long.”

“Oh, why’s that?”

“You’ll see.”

“Huh?”

“I want to show you something. It’s a bit of a hike but I promise it’s worth it. I’m going to change and then we can go.”

“Alright,” I answered.

In the meantime, I played with Wolf, trying to expend some of his excess energy knowing if I didn’t, he would never let us sleep later that night.

When Jasper returned, he was wearing some loose-fitting jeans and a plain black t-shirt. “Let’s go.” He held out his hand.

I took it in mine, lacing our fingers together.

Together, we made our way through the woods. Even though we both had a horrible sense of direction, I always felt so safe when I was with him. He had this air of confidence that made me feel relaxed even when we walked around in circles for hours.

But, today, Jasper seemed to be paying special attention to his surroundings. He barely spoke, keeping his eyes on the ground.

Soon enough, we walked through a clearing.

Up ahead was the lake I had seen on my first day. It was just as beautiful as I remembered. “Hey, you finally found it!” I exclaimed.

“Yup. It only took us two years.” He laughed.

“It’s a miracle that we find the cottage.”

“That’s the truth.”

We sat down on the lake bed and just enjoyed the view for a little while.

Wolf settled himself underneath the shade, falling asleep. Soon, his sores echoed through the air.

I leaned my head on Jasper’s shoulder, a smile on my face. “Do you remember the first day I met you?”

“Yeah, you wanted nothing to do with me.”

“I was having a rough day.”

“I could tell but there wasn’t much I could do. I felt like if I got any closer, you’d bit my head off.”

I chuckled. “I wasn’t that scary, was I?”

“You were pretty scary.”

We fell into a pleasant silence before Jasper reached into his pocket pulling out a little black box.

I gasped as soon as I saw it. Was that what I thought it was?

You know, I’ve been agonizing about how I would ask you this. I made a million one plans that never worked out. I wanted to make this moment special – to make it something you’d remember for the rest of your life but when I found this place, I knew exactly where I had to ask you.

I looked at him, heart beating a mile a minute. “Jasper…”

“Mandy… will you be my wife and make me the luckiest man in the world?”

“Yes!” Without thinking, I lunged into his arms, feeling like my life couldn’t get any better.

Behind us, Wolf barked, landing on top of us.

I knew, from that moment forward, that we were meant to be one happy little family.

THE END

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