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Once we were inside, I explained about my deal with Mr. Barnes as she looked around the empty cottage. “This is where Flynn and Shannon lived with their family,” I said.
“He’s the one who opened the mountain for skiing, right?”
“That’s right.” I took her down the narrow hallway, showing her the two bedrooms and then the kitchen, which had not been updated since the seventies. Remnants of the pink flowered wallpaper remained, but the avocado-green appliances had been hauled away. “Out back, they had the prettiest garden, according to Mr. Barnes. Flynn liked to build things, just like me.” I explained to her about how I would take out the wall between the living room and kitchen to make a great room. “And upstairs there’s another bedroom and a small space that would be perfect for my office.” I showed her some of the details, like the hardwood floors that I planned on keeping and refinishing. There were arched entryways, and the fireplace was made from river rock.
“Can you do all this yourself?”
“I’ll need a little help from my friends,” I said. “But Huck and Breck have already volunteered. Isn’t that the best?”
“They are, yes.” Jamie smiled. “I’ll be happy to help you pick out interiors, but we’ll get my brother to help too. He’ll do it for my boyfriend.”
“Come on. Let’s go outside. I want to show you the garden before it gets covered with snow.”
We went down the hallway and out through the kitchen door. The garden was contained behind a sagging wooden fence. A fire pit and the brick patio remained.
“Strangely enough, this has all held up really well for a hundred years,” I said. “We can landscape this out here and maybe even put in an outdoor kitchen.”
Jamie’s eyes lit up, obviously pleased for me. Her gaze traveled to a picnic basket I’d brought out earlier that day. “What’s that for?”
“I thought we’d have a picnic.” I gestured toward the fire pit, where I’d made a tepee of kindling over some newspaper. I’d brought two camping chairs out as well. “We can sit out here if you’d like?”
“This is very romantic.” She put her arms around me and kissed me before taking a seat.
After lighting the fire, I brought over the picnic basket and took out a bottle of bubbly and the sandwiches I’d picked up from Brandi’s bakery. Amazingly enough, despite the falling snow, the fire burned hot. I tossed a few logs on and then set the basket by her feet. “Oh, that’s strange. There’s something else in here.” I opened both flaps to show her the small blue box tucked into one of the wine glasses. “What do you think that is?”
Her eyes widened. “Um, I don’t know.”
I took the box out and knelt at her feet. With the sky dropping fat, dry flakes that caught in her hair, I proposed with the diamond I’d bought her with some of the money my dad had left me.
“Will you marry me and come live with me in this cottage and raise a family and grow old together?”
“Darby, really?”
“Yes, really.”
Her eyes glistened. She nodded, clearly unable to speak. “Yes,” she managed to croak out.
“Thank God. I was worried maybe I was jinxed when it came to proposals.”
Her laugh rang out in the quiet yard. “You had the wrong girl before.”
“And now I have the right one. Give me your hand, please.” She did so, and I slipped the princess-cut solitaire on her finger.
“It’s beautiful,” she said. “But it’s so nice. Should you have spent the money?”
I reminded her about the money my dad had left, along with Arianna and Rob’s guilt money. “There was enough to get the one I wanted for you. I figure it’s something good from the money of a man who hurt me my entire life. The only nice thing he ever did for me. This is a fresh start.”
“For me too,” Jamie said, still admiring her new diamond. It looked even better on her delicate hand than it had in the box. The diamond sparkled as brightly as her eyes.
We had our picnic and talked about the future and what kind of wedding we would have. “Small and at the inn,” I said. “Maybe in the gazebo.”
We had a good laugh about that.
The snow ceased, leaving us in silvery light. Warmed by the fire, we snuggled close together and dreamed the dreams of lovers. I hadn’t thought it possible to be this content, with our whole lives ahead of us. Together. That was the best part of all.
22
JAMIE
