Page 40

And I've never been happier.

"Natalia?"

"Hmm?"

"Thank you."

"For what?"

"For seeing potential in a hermit with questionable social skills and a cabin full of wildlife management equipment." His arms tighten around me. "For taking a chance on an accidental marriage and making it into something real."

"Thank you for giving me a reason to stay when every logical instinct told me to run." I cover his hands with mine, noting how my wedding ring catches the last light of day. "For making me brave enough to choose love over fear."

"No regrets?"

"None." I turn in his arms to face him properly. "Well, maybe one small regret."

"What's that?"

"I regret that we can't remember our actual wedding ceremony. I would have liked to remember promising to love you forever."

"We can fix that," Jason says, surprising me. "We could have another ceremony. Here, with the mountains as witnesses. Something we'll both remember this time."

"You want to get married again?"

"I want to marry you properly this time. With vows we write ourselves and rings we choose together and family who can witness us promising to build a life that makes us both happy."

The idea sends warmth through my chest. A real wedding, planned instead of accidental, celebrating what we've built instead of hoping for what we might become.

"I think that's the most romantic thing you've ever said to me."

"Just wait until you hear the vows I'm planning to write."

As the first stars appear in the Nevada sky, I realize that everything I'd feared about losing myself in a relationship was wrong. Jason isn't someone who diminishes me or asks me to be less than I am. He's someone who sees all of me, the ambitious professional, the woman who craves independence, the person who needs both love and purpose—and loves every part.

He didn't ask me to choose between my career and our relationship. He helped me build a life where I could have both.

"I love you, Jason," I tell him as we head inside to our cabin, our home, our shared life. "Accidentally and on purpose and forever."

"I love you too, Natalia. And I'm going to spend the rest of our lives proving that some accidents are actually destiny in disguise."

Forever and always, no matter how it started.