AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I take Janey’s hand, and we walk down the steps off the back deck of the cabin and into the surrounding woods together. I told her to let me figure out the honeymoon, and I knew exactly what to do, especially when we decided to get married in the larger cabin next door. So our family and friends are getting back in the van to return to the city, but Janey and I are going back to the place it all began.
The little cabin with a loft bed, a hot tub on the deck, and a surprise waiting for Janey.
“Watch out for poison ivy!” Kayla shouts after us, and Janey laughs as she throws her a thumbs-up.
Far out from the cabin, where we can still see our family watching us, I pause and wrap my arms around Janey.
“This spot is when I knew,” I tell her as I look around, smiling. “You sought me out and came to check on me. Nobody’d ever done that before. But you did, with your smiles and sunshine. Right here is when I knew I loved you.”
“You did not,” she argues, laughing. “You thought I was an annoying nutjob who wouldn’t shut up when you were trying to work.”
I tilt my head and grin. “Okay, that too. But deep down...way deep... I knew.”
She looks overhead like she’s searching for the owl we saw that first day, but it’s nowhere to be seen. “I didn’t know here. I thought you were handsome but stupid, going out without bear spray.” She shrugs like she’s embarrassed by the truth. “I figured it out at the cabin on the porch. You didn’t kick me when I was down. You fed me. That’s when I knew.”
Such a small gesture, but to Janey, it meant everything.
I place a kiss to her lips, both of us smiling. “Come on, I’ve got something to show you.”
She thinks I mean my dick, and yeah, we’ll definitely get to that. I can’t wait to be with her as husband and wife for the first time. But I really do have a surprise for her.
We walk up the back stairs of the little cabin to the deck Janey was talking about, and she makes eyes at the hot tub, pointing at it. “I’ve got plans for you,” she tells the water. “Lots of plans.”
I lead her inside to the living room and place her directly in front of the fireplace where she can see the new, huge photograph hanging there.
“It’s our owl!” she exclaims as she whirls to face me. “Is that the picture you took?”
I nod as I glance up at it. “I’m no nature photographer, but I thought it was pretty good.”
It wouldn’t matter if it was blurry as fuck. I think Janey’d still love it. And because she does, I do too.
“Does Anderson know you changed out his artwork?” The devil in her eyes says she doesn’t care what Anderson does or doesn’t know.
But I shake my head and pull her closer. “No, because it’s ours.”
She looks at me, tilting her head in confusion. “What is?”
“The cabin,” I explain, lifting one hand to gesture to the space around us. “It’s ours. I bought it. Happy Wedding Day.”
I sound a bit gruff, even to my own ears, but it’s because this place is our escape now. When life gets busy or our family gets too needy with all the mandatory dinners, we can come here and it’ll just be us. Janey and me.
Forever.
And there won’t be a single bear in sight. Other than my grumpy self. But even that bear is a rare sight now that I have Janey.
My sunshine.
Thank you for reading! If you enjoyed Cole & Janey’s story, you can read the extended epilogue, 6 months later with Janey pregnant,here!
And don’t forget, Kyle’s book is already on preorder!
