That final pinnacle of rock and ice was tantalizingly close. Each careful step, each secured handhold brought them nearer. Until finally, with one more hoist of their bodies up the last few feet of the spine they were traversing, there was nothing left in front of them. A bit of ground covered in snow and ice, with one solitary granite boulder the size of a small car capping the summit.

“Be careful,” Easton called ahead in warning. “It’s weathering away on the north side.”

River didn’t answer, but as she took those last few steps, she stayed away from the northern edge of the summit. Then she turned, and the expression on her face was one of utter shock.

“Easton,” River breathed. “Look.”

He was looking. And it wasn’t at the stunning vista around them. All these years, he’d led others up this mountain. So many trips, but this was the one he’d never forget.

For Easton, watching River stand on the top of the world, realizing she had accomplished the near impossible, was better than anything.

The reward for her effort was a view so beyond any she could have experienced so far, knowing the mountains she’d climbed. Mount Veil was beneath them now, a sea of ice and snow, of dark rock speckling otherwise pristine white. From here, the glaciers they’d climbed had become frozen rivers cutting wide swathes down through the mountainside, like drips from an ice cream cone. And farther below was the tree line, where they’d taken their first steps into this adventure. The cloud cover hung around them, clinging to peaks on other mountains, climbs yet to be taken, challenges yet to be met.

When River pushed up her goggles and started to cry, Easton understood completely. Setting the camera down, because he couldn’t hold her and film her at the same time, Easton angled it toward the summit and joined her. She’d gone through a lot to get here, more than most. Anyone else would have given up long ago, but not her.

He’d never thought any summit would top his first on Mount Veil. But Easton had never summited with River before. He’d never had someone else’s emotions so deeply tied to his own. Her joy, her pain, her determination…all cumulating in this final moment of triumph. It was a long way down, but right now, all that mattered was that they had made it there together.

No, summiting with River was so much better than it would ever be on his own.

“Was it worth it?” he asked her quietly.

Nodding, it was clear River was beyond words. Slipping an arm around her waist, Easton stood there, letting her fall apart.

“I don’t even know why I’m blubbering like an idiot.”