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“You’re the one who granted me three wishes,” she reminded him solemnly.

He nodded, his expression somewhat disgruntled. “You’re right, I did, and if you want to squander one of your wishes, then far be it from me to stop you.”

“It’s too lovely a night to dredge up the past, especially when it’s so embarrassing. Let’s just look forward—”

“Fine,” Charles agreed quickly and turned to thank their waiter when he brought two cups of steaming coffee to the table. “We’ll just look ahead. Now, remember you have one remaining wish.”

Steffie hesitated. “Do I have to claim it now?”

“No, but the wishes expire at midnight.”

Steffie laughed softly. “You make me feel like Cinderella.”

“Perhaps that’s because I’d like to be your prince.”

His gaze was dark and unguarded. Steffie lowered her eyes, for fear he’d read all the love that was stored in her heart.

“Do I frighten you?” he asked after a moment.

Steffie’s eyes flew back to his. “No. I thought I frightened you!”

He laughed outright at that. “Not likely.”

They drank their coffee in silence, as though afraid words would destroy the mood. After Charles had paid the bill, he drove toward Multnomah Falls, managing the twisting narrow highway with ease. Steffie had visited the Falls many times, but had always been a bit scared of the drive. However, Charles took the sharp turns in slow, controlled moves, and she relaxed, enjoying the trip.

The rock walls along the road were built of local basalt more than seventy years earlier, during the Depression.

“I love this place,” Charles said as they reached the parking area across the roadway from the waterfall. Because it was a weeknight, there were only a few cars in the lot.

Dusk was settling, and the tall, stately firs bordering the falls were silhouetted against the backdrop of a cloud-dappled sky. The forested slopes were already dark as Steffie and Charles began the gradual, winding ascent to the visitors’ viewpoint.

A chill raced down her arms and Steffie was grateful she’d brought a thin coat with her. Multnomah Falls was Oregon’s highest waterfall, plummeting more than six hundred feet into a swirling pool, then slipping downward in a second, shorter descent. The force of the falling water misted the night.

With his hand at her elbow, Charles guided them to the walkway that wove up the trail. When they got to the footbridge that spanned the falls, Steffie stopped to gaze at the magnificence around her. The sound of falling water roared in her ears.

“If we wait a few minutes, the moon will hit the water,” Charles told her. He stood behind her, shielding her from the wind that whipped across the water’s churning surface.

Steffie closed her eyes. Not to the beauty of the scene before her, but to the sensation she experienced in Charles’s protective embrace.

“I’ve dreamed of holding you like this,” he whispered. “Of wrapping my arms around you and feeling you next to me. I love the way your hair smells. It reminds me of wildflowers and sunshine.”

Steffie couldn’t speak. She couldn’t get even one word past the knot in her throat. She swallowed and slowed her breathing, hoping that might help, because there was so much she longed to say, so many things she yearned to tell him.

“I don’t ever want to be separated from you again,” Charles told her, his voice raw.

She didn’t understand. Charles had all but sent her away. He’d all but cast her out of his life. She turned in his arms until they faced each other and raised her hands to his face.

Charles smiled then and gently gripped her wrists. He moved his head until his mouth met the sensitive skin of her palm, and he kissed her there.

“You know, three years ago there was so much I couldn’t tell you,” he began.

“I have one wish left,” she reminded him. “I want you to kiss me. Now.”

“With pleasure.” She could hear the smile in his voice.

They’d kissed before, but they’d never shared what they did in those moments. Charles’s lips found hers in the sweetest, most loving exchange she’d ever experienced, and Steffie’s emotions exploded to life.

Steffie wanted this, wanted it more than anything she’d ever known, yet at the same time she felt overwhelmed by confusion. Charles had ordered her out of his life, laughed at her declaration of love, humiliated her until she couldn’t bear to live in the same town. Now, he seemed to be suggesting that he hadn’t wanted her to go, and that he never wanted her to leave again.