Total pages in book: 17
Estimated words: 16116 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 81(@200wpm)___ 64(@250wpm)___ 54(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 16116 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 81(@200wpm)___ 64(@250wpm)___ 54(@300wpm)
Outside, loading supplies into the truck, Wyatt notices my distraction.
"What's that?"
I examine the return address. "It's from the photography contest I entered before..." I pause. "Before I came home to you."
His eyes soften at my choice of words. Home. With him.
"Open it, baby."
I tear the envelope carefully, my heart hammering in my chest, sliding out a formal letter. My eyes scan the text, widening with each sentence.
Oh my God. Is this for real?
"Wyatt." My voice comes out strangled. "I won."
He chuckles and pulls me to him. "Of course you did, baby."
"First place. Overall." I can barely speak. "They want the photo for their annual showcase. There's a cash prize of ten thousand dollars, plus a five-thousand-dollar camera equipment package and—" I have to stop and breathe. "And an all-expenses-paid trip for two to photograph the Alps."
Wyatt's face breaks into that rare, full smile that transforms his features. He lifts me off my feet in an embrace that spins us in circles right there in the parking lot.
"I knew it," he says against my hair. "I knew you were brilliant."
When he sets me down, I'm dizzy with more than the spinning. "You're not surprised?"
"That you won? Not even a little." He tucks a strand of hair behind my ear. "Which photo was it?"
I check the letter again, though I already know. "The one of you. Looking at the stars that first night."
"Me?"
"You." I touch his bearded cheek. "The judges said it captured 'the profound human connection to wilderness.' They have no idea how right they are."
He kisses me then, right in front of the general store, unconcerned with the townspeople who might see. When we finally break our kiss, both breathless, Mrs. Perkins is watching from the doorway with an approving smile.
"We should celebrate," Wyatt says. "Get something special for dinner."
We add wine and ingredients for a proper feast to our supplies. The entire drive home, I can't stop looking at the letter, the ring, the man beside me—all pieces of a life I never dared imagine.
After dinner, we settle onto the porch with glasses of wine. The mountains transform in the dying light—silhouettes against a sky painted in deep purples and midnight blues. Stars emerge one by one, pinpricks of silver in the vast expanse above us.
Cain and Abel weave between our feet, their eternal rivalry temporarily forgotten as they stalk the shifting shadows cast by moonlight through the pine branches.
"The Alps," I say, rolling the word around my tongue like the wine in my glass, savoring both the taste and the possibility. "I never imagined I'd see them. Snow-capped peaks that scrape the sky, glacial lakes so blue they look like someone spilled heaven into the valleys."
Wyatt's arm tightens around my shoulders, drawing me closer against his warmth as the mountain air snaps its familiar bite. His cheek comes to rest on the crown of my head, his beard catching strands of my hair.
"When do we leave, baby?"
That casual "we"—as if my dreams automatically include him, as if there's no question he belongs in every adventure I might chase—sends warmth spiraling through my chest. Still, after everything we've weathered, I need to hear him say it clearly.
"You'll really come with me?" I tip my head back to search his face. "Leave all this behind, even temporarily?"
He looks surprised by the question. "Of course."
"But your cabin, the mountain—"
"They'll be here when we get back." He sets his glass down, taking both my hands in his. "Emma, I spent years building this place, thinking it was everything I needed. Then you showed up, and I realized it was just waiting for you."
"The cabin's home because you're in it," he continues. "The mountains are special to me because I now see them through your eyes." His hands tighten on mine. "I'll follow you everywhere, baby. Alps, Amazon, Antarctica—wherever your camera and heart take you."
I lean into him, overwhelmed by the certainty in his voice. "I never thought I could have both—adventure and home."
"You can have everything. We both can."
"I love you so much. You know that, right?"
"I love you too, baby. Forever and ever."
I think about the path that led me here. One wrong turn in the wilderness changed everything—or maybe it was the first right turn of my life.
I'm not lost anymore. I'm exactly where I'm supposed to be, with exactly who I'm meant to love. Tomorrow we'll wake in this cabin. Next month we might be photographing Alpine peaks. After that?
The possibilities stretch endlessly before us. This mountain taught me who I truly am. This man showed me I could be loved for it.
And together, we'll follow each other everywhere.
The End