“Look who finally arrived,” my annoyingly sweet sister said from her perch at the kitchen island where she swirled a piece of bread in a dish. She shoved the starchy goodness in her mouth and made her way over to us. “You must be Autumn,” she said with a mouth full of food.
“Yes, and you’re Sadie. I’m so excited to meet you.” In true Autumn fashion, she wrapped my sister in a tight embrace and I wasn’t surprised when Sadie returned it.
“You made it back just in time for dinner. Everyone have a seat,” Mrs. Easterly called out to the room as she poured noodles into a dish.
Autumn’s hand trailed against mine as she went to take a seat at the table, making sure my sister had the open chair between her and Nash. I watched in fascination as the Easterlys welcomed us at their table as if we were old friends, not mere acquaintances.
“You going to join us, son?”
Nodding, I made my way over to the table and the open seat on the other side of Autumn. I glanced around the table, watching everyone interact. This was all I’d ever wanted growing up, and by the look on Autumn’s face, she did too. All we needed was to take the time to find it.
Epilogue – Autumn
I hung the last of the decorations for the open house event we were hosting at The Easterly Barn. It was a chance for the town to see what we created and drum up some word-of-mouth marketing.
Not that we needed much. After Colton had allowed cameras in his fully furnished 1800s home, he not so slyly mentioned that the now bed-and-breakfast was available for those booking events at The Easterly Barn. Our calendar was booked up for the next two years from the single mention.
In the last six months, we’d completely overhauled the space and instead of looking like a rustic wasteland, it now appeared like a well-loved space with exposed wood and stone. It was romantic.
“Hey, Sadie, can you hand me that string of twinkle lights, please?” Colton’s sister was here on spring break and was helping us with the event tonight. It seemed like everyone was chipping in. Vendors from across the state were interested in contracting with us and we now boasted a slew of options for our guests.
All of our hard work was coming to fruition.
The girl, who just celebrated her twenty first birthday held out the thin strand and I casually draped it around one of the beams that ran across the three-story roof. Apparently, I was the only Easterly sister that wasn’t terrified of heights as I stood on scaffolding just to reach the beams.
“You’re making me nervous. Can you get down from there?” It seemed it wasn’t just the Easterly sisters affected.
“Yeah. I need to get the crew to tear this all down, Alex,” I called out. “What time will the catering staff arrive?”
“In thirty minutes. Plenty of time.”
The caterers we partnered with in Knoxville had been so gracious when we reached out. They were another family-owned business and had been looking for a new venture. The timing had been perfect.
The father was a bit of a hockey fan, too, so he was thrilled to potentially work with Colton, who took the recognition in stride.
When I descended the last ladder, I asked Alex where everyone had scurried off to, but she shrugged and assumed everyone was getting ready for the event back at the house. We’d converted most of the rooms in the barn into spaces for bridal parties to get ready and relax.
“Why are they at the house?” I asked, confused. We’d brought everyone’s clothes over to the barn this morning.
“Um. . .I don’t know? Something about Mom’s forgetting a pie.”
It didn’t make sense, but I’d been frantically trying to get the space perfect that I must have missed everyone getting ready earlier.
“I’ll be back,” Alex declared and then dashed away before I could question her further.
“Hey, Colton,” I said as my boyfriend walked into the barn. He was dressed to the nines in a tuxedo that fit like a glove. As he got closer, I reached out and adjusted the bow tie, whispering how I hoped he wanted to play with it later.
“We’ll see,” he said as he took my hand and asked for me to show him all the final touches. He’d been in Knoxville most of the day for something his agent had set up with the hockey team. It was a game I still didn’t understand fully, but I’d learned that Colton was one of the best players in the league.
As we walked around the space, I rambled on about the last-minute changes, like swapping the pub tables for seated round tables instead and how we moved some of the food stations to the other side of the main floor.
Just as I was about to go into detail regarding the twinkle lights on the beams, Colton tugged at my hand.
“Hey.”
“Hey,” I said as I nestled up against him. This was my favorite spot in the entire barn. Dad had hung three oversized chandeliers that lit up the entire space. But this one in particular would be where the wedding arch would stand. It was at the opposite end of the entrance to the barn and we’d installed glass paned windows that climbed from the floor to the third-floor ceiling, giving an outstanding view of the fields and mountains. The windows weren’t originally in our budget, but Colton surprised us with them one day.
All I knew was that the man had a great financial advisor.
Colton released my hand and slid it up my arm to cup my face. “I want to have you here one day.”
“Have me where?”
“Here. Where the ceremony takes place.” My brows furrowed as I titled my head. Colton was spewing riddles I didn’t understand.
“I’m confused,” I told him.
Filling his chest with air, Colton slowly bent down to one knee and then everything made sense.
“Autumn Easterly, you are the best thing that has ever knocked into me,” he began and I found myself giggling as I remembered the day we met and I crashed into him while he was looking for flowers. “We had a rocky start in the beginning, but there isn’t a single person I would have wanted to spend the last seven months with. Be my wife and we can share the next seventy years together. Will you marry me?”
He opened up a black box with shaking hands, but I couldn’t pull my gaze away from his eyes. The same eyes that hypnotized me the first time we met. There was no one else for me in this world. Colton was not just my best friend; he was my soulmate.
“Yes!” I exclaimed as I sunk down to my knees and wrapped my arms around his neck.
My family scurried out from their hiding places in the barn when he placed the ring on my finger, but I was too focused on my now fiancé to acknowledge them right away.
Pressing a kiss to my lips, I found my cheeks aching from how hard I was smiling.
