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“Where ye be goin’?” she called after him.

“I be goin’ to see me cousins,” he said over his shoulder. “Beggin’ forgiveness for me daugh’er’s fickleness o’ character and findin’ commiseration with ’em due to me daugh’er ruinin’ ’er life.”

Without awaiting a response, he walked toward Marazion.

Conflicting feelings arose within Livvy. Sadness at Father leaving her in such a way. Shock that he was seemingly allowing her to stay on the Mount and marry the man she loved. Gratitude for Father’s love for her, no matter the strange ways he showed it, and sorrow for the damage Mother had done to both of them.

But most of all, she felt hope. Hope for a future where Father would be happy for his daughter and proud to call her his own. Hope for a future with August. And hope that true happiness would be theirs no matter what the future held for them.

“Livvy! Wait!”

Her heart jumped.

August. It was him.

She turned around, her heart catching in her throat at the sight of August barreling down the causeway toward her, his shirt open at the top as his cravat flew out behind him, lost across the exposed sand and rocks of the sea at low tide.

“Livvy!” he shouted again. “Ye can’t go!”

The desperation in his voice filled her parched soul, and tears streamed steadily down her cheeks.

She made her way toward him, fighting the smile on her lips until she could no longer bear it. She started into a swift walk, shifting faster and faster, catching herself more than once on the cobblestones but still moving back toward home. The sight of August, with the Mount behind him was all she needed to keep pressing on.

The sun was finally rising above the sea, casting bright rays of glorious sunbeams across the pink and yellow clouds above, highlighting the Mount in all its beautiful, hazy, magical glory. August still ran toward her, a look of determination across his features until finally, finally, they reached each other.

Without hesitation, she closed the final distance between them, jumping up and wrapping her arms around his neck at once.

“Please, don’t leave,” August said, speaking the words into her neck as he held her against his body, cradling her in his arms. “If ye can’t stay for me, stay for yourself. Don’t leave the Mount. Ye need to be ’ere. The Mount needs ye to be ’ere.”

“I won’t,” she whispered back. “I’ll not leave ye e’er again.”

August froze, pulling back and staring down into her eyes. “Ye mean…”

She nodded, smiling through her tears. “Yes, August. I be stayin’.”

He glanced beyond her to where Father still made his way to Marazion. “With your father’s blessin’?”

She sobered, noting Father’s angered stride as he moved farther and farther away. “No. But one day, I pray it will be.”

She turned to face him again, staring up into August’s eyes.

“Ye be certain this be what ye want?” he asked, vulnerability in his expression.

“I’ve ne’er been more certain of anythin’ in me entire life,” she said. “Other than me love for ye.”

And that was the truth. For even if August could find no work on the Mount, even if they needed to move elsewhere, she knew she could bear it, for with August, she could make it through anything.

“I love ye, August Moon,” she said, raising her hand to his face.

He shook his head, seeming to gulp in her features as he looked at her. “I love ye,” he responded. “Me favorite bush-readin’, list-makin’, hermit.”

She laughed, grasping August by the lapels and pulling him down for a kiss.

Apparently, he needed no further persuasion. He wrapped his arms around her tightly, taking over the kiss with a passion that curled her toes and warmed her very soul.

As their kiss ended, and August pulled away, Livvy sighed. “Must we stop?” she murmured.

August chuckled. “I fear we must. Or all o’ Cornwall will see us.”