Brian smiled and his dark eyes sparkled. “Good,” he said. Then he stretched out a gloved hand for me to shake. “Brian Carr. I expect we’ll be seeing a lot of each other.”
“Yeah,” I agreed, letting the rightness of it wash over me. “I expect you’re right.”
“Francis.” I turned and found old Hen Lattimer picking his way through the snowbanks toward me. I hadn’t seen the man since Grandpa Sid’s funeral, and as I recalled I hadn’t been very kind to him.
I regretted that now.
“Hen, wait! I’ll come to you. Hang on.” I tromped through the snow to his side. “You’re looking good. It’s, ah… it’s good to see you.”
“Is it?” His bushy eyebrows lifted. “Last time we met…”
“I was angry,” I admitted. “I’m sorry. What I should have said was, ‘Thank you for taking care of Grandpa when I couldn’t. Thank you for respecting his wishes.’”
Hen’s mustache twitched. “And here I was gonna tell you that you were right. I should’ve told you about your grandpa. I’d’ve wanted someone to tell me. But the man was so dang proud of you, and so determined not to be a burden. He wanted you to be happy.”
“Iamhappy.” I looked back at Mark. “Happier than ever.”
“Then I expect things worked out the way they ought to have, hmm? And neither of us needs to be sorry?”
I grinned. “I like the way you think.”
“Ah, Francis. And yet so few people appreciate it.” He shook his head sadly.
“Maybe you could come inside the house and get warm. I could—” I began, just as Phoebe apparently discovered that she’d been left unsupervised in the workshop with the door open.
She ran around in a circle, clearly debating whether to inspect the people first or go find the rabbits… and in the end, the rabbits won. She leaped through the open field happily.
I closed my eyes and sighed.
“Why don’t you get her, baby, since you probably have a better idea where she’s going, and I’ll go make coffee for everyone?” Mark offered.
“And I’ll come with you to find the dog.” Dare clapped me on the shoulder. “Just in case.”
“And you know,” Hen said, “I’ve got plans back at the hardware store for a dog run. Caelan and Ash used them for their dog this past fall. I could print ’em up for you, once the snow’s melted. And I bet Ash and Gideon Mason would be happy to lend a hand while I supervised.”
I swallowed, overwhelmed. “I… yeah. Thank you. That would be amazing.”
Mark slid his hand into mine, like he knew I needed him, and smiled up at me, so I took his face in my hands and kissed him hard, simply because I could.
Dare and I finally found Phoebe guarding the rabbit warren—of course—after a long, companionable walk, during which I’d somehow volunteered to draft some renderings for an educational program he wanted to do at the state park’s nature center in the spring. Dare took a rope from his pocket and tied it around the dog’s collar as a makeshift leash to prevent her from running away again, and I decided having a friend like Dare might be a handy sort of thing.
As we made our way back through the tree break close to the house, the winter sunset had already begun and the edges of the sky were tinged with fire. But unlike yesterday when I’d looked back this way, today my little cabin was neither cold nor dark. Today, every window glowed with warmth that spilled across the white snow, and the sight was so beautiful I had to stop for a second to take it in. Because today my little cabin wasn’t just a house, but a home thanks to the kind, generous people inside it... in particular, the brave, gorgeous man waiting for me on the back porch.
My Mark, my own personal North Star, who brought light back to my life.
“Everything okay?” Dare asked, nudging my arm.
“Yeah,” I said softly. “Everything’s great.”
And for the first time in a long time, I believed it.
