"I'm staying," she says, her voice raw. "For good. Forever."
My chest tightens painfully, hope warring with protective caution.
"Your parents?—"
"Can't touch me anymore." She pushes up to look at me directly, determination hardening her features. "I graduated, Wyatt. Three weeks ago."
Her fingers trace the lines of my face as though memorizing them anew. "I went through with the ceremony because I needed that piece of paper. Then I tore my diploma in half right in front of my parents and told them I wasn't going to law school. Told them I was coming back to the mountains. Back to you. And they couldn't do anything to stop me."
My chest constricts at her words, flooding warmth through veins that have run cold for weeks. Still, fear lingers.
"They called the rangers before?—"
"They can't." Her voice grows stronger. "I'm legally an adult with a college degree. I visited every ranger station between here and town. Told them exactly where I was going and why. Made it crystal clear that any future reports of me being 'missing' or 'kidnapped' would be false."
She sits up fully now, my flannel shirt falling open to reveal her naked body beneath. The sight steals my breath all over again.
"I emptied my bank accounts before they could freeze them. Sold my car. Donated most of my things." Her hands frame my face, forcing me to meet her gaze. "I'm not going anywhere, Wyatt. This is my choice.Youare my choice."
The weight crushing my chest for thirty-one days finally eases. I pull her against me, burying my face in her neck, inhaling the scent that's haunted my dreams.
"When you left—" My voice breaks. Words have never come easily, but now they seem impossible.
"I know." Her fingers stroke through my hair. "I died a little every day we were apart."
We move to the bedroom eventually, unwilling to let go of each other long enough for proper conversation. Beneath the quilts, with her body curled perfectly against mine, Emma tells me everything—the sleepless nights in her dorm, the confrontation with her parents, the strategic visits to ranger stations.
"I showed them our photos," she says, fingers trailing patterns on my chest. "Told them about how you saved me when I was lost. How you taught me to see the mountains through your eyes."
Pride swells in my chest at her courage, at how completely she's chosen this life—chosen me—over everything she's known.
"I thought you'd never come back." My confession is torn from somewhere deep and vulnerable. "Thought you'd realize I had nothing to offer compared to?—"
She silences me with her mouth, the kiss fierce and claiming. When she pulls back, her eyes blaze with certainty.
"You have everything to offer. You have this." Her hand sweeps to encompass the cabin, the mountains beyond. "You have peace. Truth. A life that means something real." Her voice drops lower, more intimate. "You have you. And that's all I want."
My throat tightens with emotions I've never been good at expressing. Instead, I show her—with my hands, my mouth, my body. This time, our lovemaking lacks the desperate edge of our reunion, replaced by something deeper, more reverent.
After, with sweat cooling on our skin, I manage the words that have lived in my heart since she first walked into my life.
"I love you, Emma. Have since that first week. Probably from the moment you took that shot of the elk and threw yourself at me."
"I love you too. Enough to throw away law school and my trust fund and everything I was supposed to be."
"I'll make it worth it. With interest. Every day."
"You already have."
A thump at the foot of the bed announces Cain's arrival, followed closely by Abel. The cats, who've spent a month prowling the cabin in restless search of Emma, arrange themselves possessively at her feet.
She laughs—that full, unrestrained sound I've missed like oxygen. "Even they refuse to let me leave again."
"Smart cats," I say against her hair, finally allowing myself to believe she's truly home.
Outside, Thorne Range stretches under starlight, jagged and beautiful and uncompromising. Inside, Emma's breathing deepens toward sleep, her body warm and real against mine.
This morning, I woke to empty rooms and cold silence. Tonight, I'll sleep with everything I thought I’d lost forever held safely in my arms.
