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Once she’d finished tackling him, the hug propelling them against the work desk, chisels and gouges hitting the floor.

Once she’d finished kissing him senseless. Once she’d finally tugged her mouth from his, and he pulled her close, both of them grinning. Once they’d done that, she said,Yes.

Although this noble and timber girl came from different classes, they received a Royal blessing to wed. And soon after that, in a midnight glade, in a lantern-lit treehouse colony, the knight slipped that ring onto her finger, and the timber girl slipped a replica onto his.

In that woodland, they exchanged promises. In a bungalow that night, she straddled him naked, and he lost his breath.

Later, there would be an apartment in the castle, where the noble knight and his timber girl would live. She would establish a forge of her own in the citadel but still work beside her mother during frequent visits to the workshop.

Although the timber girl and her knight couldn’t conceive, there would be an orphaned child, a little girl who needed a home. And there would be another orphaned child, a little boy who needed a home.

In the future, there would be lots of things ahead. Because the timber girl had earned the knight, and he had earned her, so it wasn’t just her story anymore. It wastheirs.

It was mine and his. It was me and him.

And we lived truthfully ever after.

Well, okay...most of the time.

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