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Epilogue
Christmas Day, one year later…
The village of Starry Cove looks like it’s covered in powdered sugar. Even the air smells sweet with baked goods, instead of its usual saltiness that wafts up from the sea. We’re at the opening celebration of Emmie’s new business, Books on the Barge.
All have come from the surrounding villages to celebrate her efforts. There’s food and music and most of all, there’s the once contended barge that serves hot and cold drinks while offering books of every kind, from the classics to the newest trends. Emmie loves her books and wants to share them with everyone.
Emmie laughs while I spin her round and round clumsily as our old friends and new look on. They’re all here, from her Coastal Girls, as she calls them, to her oldest friend, Maisie, who’s now engaged to a nice bloke from Mexico. She calls him Old El Paso. They’re getting married in Mexico in the summer.
I’ve been working in Bend or Bump and painting my portraits and landscapes like mad as I have a long list of commissions. I’ve also been going to AA meetings ever since and haven’t touched a drop for a year now. I don’t need to anymore. Because the sense of guilt and loneliness that were slowly killing me are completely gone, replaced only by sheer love. Love for my Emmie – the kindest and sweetest woman I’ve ever met. And love for our little girl, Felicity. She was conceived exactly a year ago, during that unforgettable night on Tempest Island. The night I knew I could no longer pretend I didn’t love Emmie.
I watch, transfixed, as she bends to her grandmother, Mary, holding our baby, and I’m overwhelmed by the beauty of life. We made a life. A human being! And I’m now a father. After losing my first wife and unborn child, I never thought I’d ever accomplish anything so special. I never thought that someone like Emmie could love – and help fix – a broken man like me. But she did. And she does, every single day, with her kindness and her love.
My heart lurches and my throat tightens at the fact that I had almost lost Emmie’s love. I will never keep anything from her again. And I’m going to make sure Emmie and Felicity are forever safe and happy and that their lives are always as enchanting and promising as this magical snowy Christmas morning.
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