Epilogue

One month later…

“LOOK AT THEM,” Aggie whispered, nodding her head in Jay and Charlie’s direction. “He can’t take his eyes off her.”

Smokey knew the feeling. “She makes a very fine bride.”

And it was true. Charlie’s dark hair had been swept up in an arrangement of soft curls and the dress she was wearing had belonged to her mother. For reasons that had been kept private, she’d broken with tradition and had her grandfather and brother give her away. Her father had missed the wedding, but had arrived later, with a bit of feet shuffling and a shamed face, at the reception. He’d spoken to the bride and groom and, though Smokey had been afraid there for a moment that Jay was going to be throwing another punch that might end with him incarcerated again, ultimately it had ended fine.

Everything had, really.

Truffles had been returned safe and sound, Josie had taken Jasmine’s place and gone to work for Aggie—and was currently enrolled at the local community college on “scholarship.” Burt—who’d had no clue that everything that had happened was as a direct result of Jasmine feeling he’d been slighted—was manning his station at the front gate, still searching the skies for UFOs, of course, and Taffy and Andrew Betterworth were in jail, unable to make bond. Jay and Charlie had survived the fire and were now married, and Aggie had done Smokey himself the greatest kindness by firing him so that he could court her properly without feeling weird about it.

Which was just as well, because he was about to propose to her.

He was as nervous as a cat in a room full of rocking chairs.

“Aggie, would you walk with me?”

She smiled up at him and threaded her fingers through his. “Of course.”

“Have you ever been to Cade’s Cove?” he asked.

Her eyes lit with warmth and nodded. “Once,” she said. “Many years ago.”

“It’s my favorite part of the Smokey Mountains,” he said. “It’s peaceful, serene, and the wildlife thrives there, more so than in any other part of the park.”

They strolled into the church parlor and he led her over to a little Queen Anne sofa. “Really?” she said. “I didn’t know that. This is a lovely room,” she remarked, looking around. “How did you know this was here?”

“I saw it earlier,” he told her. Only because he’d gone looking for it. He’d wanted a quiet place to make his plea. “Anyway, there’s a white clapboard church over there that’s still in service today.”

“I had no idea.”

He slid down onto one knee in front of her and pulled the ring from his pocket. “How would you feel about marrying me there?”

Aggie’s mouth rounded in a silent O and she looked from him to the ring then back again. “Y-you want to marry me?” she repeated.

He grinned up at her, took her hand and slipped the diamond over her left knuckle and into place. “Fervently.”

Aggie placed both hands on his face and drew him to her for a kiss. She smiled against his lips. “If I’d known the way to get you to propose was to fire you, I’d have done it a long time ago.”

“It’s a shame I don’t know how to be insubordinate,” he teased.

“That’s because you’re a good man, Smokey Burkhart, and it’ll be an honor to be your wife.”

And it would be an honor to be her husband.

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