“You did what you had to do. It doesn’t change anything about you. How beautiful you are inside. How good you are. Or what I think of you.”

Heavy tears rolled down my cheeks. Hayden held on until the panic and fear slowly eased off. My grip on his sweater loosened and when I lifted my head, he swooped in and dropped a sweet kiss on my lips, silencing my worries and doubts. With that one simple touch, I knew I was going to be all right.

“Do you remember telling me what you loved most about winter?” he asked me.

“Yeah, I think so.”

His smile turned beautiful. “Let me help you stand.”

Hayden also helped me limp to the door. There, he grabbed a quilt and wrapped it around me. “Close your eyes.”

I raised my brows, but did as he asked. I heard the door open and cold air washed over me. Then, without any warning, I was swinging off my feet.

“Keep your eyes closed, Em.”

“Hayden, what are you doing?”

“Carrying you,” he said, laughter in his voice.

“Yeah, I gathered that.”

He held me close to his chest as he carried me out onto the balcony. I felt his lips brush my forehead. “All right, open your eyes.”

I did, and in that moment, I was blown away by the beauty of the place I had once found terrifying. Flakes of falling snow glistened in the moonlight like a thousand glittering stars. They came down fat and thick, placing a heavy blanket of white over the branches of elm trees, already softening the sharp peaks of Seneca Rocks.

“It’s… it’s beautiful.”

“I thought you’d like it.” His arms tightened. “I love it.” I tipped my head back. “Hayden.”

“Hmm?” He lowered his head, the edges of his hair brushing over my forehead.

It felt like silk on my skinlike his voice, his gaze. I felt close to tears again, but the happy kind, and even though I thought it would be hard to say these words, they came out easily. “I love you.”

Much like the look he got when he saw my sketches of him, wonder flickered across his face. “You have no idea how long I’ve waited to hear you say that.”

My smile spread. “Two years, give or take a week?”

Hayden grinned, his dark eyes like pools of the night sky. “Yeah, that sounds about right. Do you know what I want to do now?”

“Kiss?”

And we did. Our lips touched. The world simply faded away, and it was just Hayden and me. We parted only after we had to, at the very last second.

“I love you, Ember.”

Resting my head against his chest, I smiled and sighed a little. Beyond the edge of the balcony, through the snow-touched trees, and over the rising slope of the mountains, a star broke away from the sky and fell to the earth.

THE END

Acknowledgements