“You could say, ‘Why, yes, Grant, as usual, you’re right about everything. And it’s all going to be okay. As long as the two of us are together, we can get through anything, including parenthood.’ You could say, ‘I love you and only you, and I want to marry you as much as you want to marry me.’ You could also say—”

She reached for him, wrapping her arms around his neck and holding on to him for dear life. “What you said,” she whispered against his lips. “All of it.”

“Really? You mean it?”

Nodding, she kissed him again. “I’m sorry I didn’t talk to you about this sooner. I should’ve known you’d know just what to say to talk me down off the ledge.”

“I never want you out on that ledge by yourself. You’re not alone anymore, Steph. There’s no need to do this to yourself.”

“I’m still getting used to that. I was alone for so long that sometimes I forget everything is different now, and I don’t have to keep it all inside anymore.”

He held her for a long time, giving her exactly what she needed the way he always did. “You know what the best thing about growing up here was?”

Surprised by the change in topic, she said, “No, what?”

“I know every path and where it leads. That one there,” he said, nodding to a spot on her right, “leads around the neighbor’s house and back to the road where we parked.”

Stephanie smiled up at him as his plan filled her with joy and excitement and relief to have finally shared her deepest fears with him. When he held out his hand to her, she happily gave him hers and let him lead her down the path that would take them home.

Standing with her dad and Betsy, Laura kept an eye on Stephanie and Grant, who seemed to be working things out if the hugging and kissing were any indication. That was a relief. She loved the two of them and loved them together. Her cousin had never been as mellow and happy as he’d been since he met and fell for Stephanie. Laura admired Steph tremendously for the battle she’d waged to free Charlie from jail while working multiple jobs to support herself and pay for lawyers.

Until Grant introduced her to his friend Dan Torrington, none of those lawyers had succeeded in doing what Dan had accomplished with a couple of well-placed phone calls. Speaking of Dan, he walked over to them with his fiancée, Kara Ballard.

“I think you’re the last ones we need to invite,” Dan said.

“To what?” Laura asked.