Page 55 of Fan Favorite

“I can’t choose Bailey,” he yelled back, the facade finally cracking.

“They told me I can’t. It’s you they want.

Everyone wants you . And, Edie, maybe you think I’m an idiot, but I really think you’re the only person I can get through this with.

I know that now. You may be the only person who’s ever really gotten me, you know? ”

“But that’s not true! Bailey loves you! She told us she was falling in love with you.”

He looked away. “Bailey will find her happy ending.” He looked back at Edie and gave her a smile that was clearly forced. “We’ll make it work. America will love us.”

“You’d rather propose to me because you think people will like you for it?” Edie said incredulously. “Charlie, that’s insane.”

“I never said I was a good person.” He shook his head and looked incredibly sad.

“I’ve got a long way to go, all right? Of course, I love Bailey.

She’s incredible. But you don’t understand what it’s been like—no one cares about how I feel or what I want.

I’ve walked every step of this alone . The whole world hates me.

When she sees what the world’s been saying about me, Bailey will hate me. Please don’t hate me, too.”

Edie looked at him, at this man she’d known since kindergarten.

He looked more like Charlie Bennett now than when she’d arrived.

He was thinner, rashier, and his mannerisms were smaller, more humble.

He was scared and anxious, just like he’d always been.

And all at once, she realized her greatest gift, since they were five years old, had been believing in him.

She pulled him into a hug. Shut her eyes and held him to her.

“I believe in you, Charlie,” she said into his ear. “I always have. Do what’s in your heart. It’s the only way.”

When she opened her eyes, a ladder was dangling out of the helicopter. What the hell? Then something was coming out of the door. A foot? A shoe?

A Prada loafer.

Immediately, Edie released Bennett and started running, her strappy sandals slipping in the snow. Peter! Edie fell to her knees but quickly got up again, running toward the ladder hurtling through the sky. And then there was Peter in midair, slowly inching his way down.

“Oh my god, Peter ! Be careful!”

A gust of wind picked up the ladder and flung it to the right.

Peter rode the wave, flying back and forth on a pendulum before the ladder stabilized again.

He lifted a foot to take another step down.

Another gust of wind. And as the ladder twisted and jerked, Peter lost his balance.

One leg stabbed through the empty space between the rungs.

His grip slipped, and with one leg still tangled, he slid.

Edie watched with one hand over her mouth in horror.

Ted hung out of the helicopter, trying to steady the ladder while Peter extracted his leg. Cameramen appeared on either side of Edie. Peter looked down. There was still a good twelve feet between him and the ground.

He jumped.

“Peter!” Edie screamed.

In slow motion, Peter Kennedy fell through the air. Finally, he hit the snow and began to roll down the mountain in just his jeans and gray cashmere sweater.

Edie took off, the snow deeper now. She hiked her feathered skirt to her knees and kept wading in, the fur coat dragging behind.

“Peter? Peter! Are you okay?”

She fell to her knees at his side.

Peter laid in the snow, laughing his ass off.

“Did you see that?” he said, grabbing her hand. “I’ve never been that extreme in my life!”

For a second Edie was speechless. But then, there was the man she loved, who she’d flown across the world for, spent days searching for, who could’ve died trying to get to her, there he was with snow in his hair, his cheeks bright red, laughing, and then Edie was laughing, too, brushing the snow off him, covering his face with kisses, so relieved he was okay.

“It was super extreme,” she agreed, the thrum of the helicopter fading into the distance.

Peter sat up. “You look beautiful,” he said, taking her cheek in his cold palm.

“And I know I’ve been awful, but I love you, Edie, I really do.

And here’s the deal: I’m gonna quit this job.

And I’m gonna go to therapy. And I know I’ve got some learning to do about what it means to be in a relationship.

But I’ll learn. I’m a quick learner. And I’m not going anywhere, okay?

I’m here. And this is exactly where I want to be. With you.”

Edie started crying. Big, heaving sobs that she didn’t quite expect and definitely couldn’t control. She put her hands over her face. “Don’t look at me,” she squeaked.

Peter got to his knees and held her. Finally, her breathing slowed, and she could look at him again.

“I thought you were ‘falling in love with me,’” she said, squinting at him like a detective. Her face was streaked with mascara and one false eyelash was askew. “And now you say you ‘love’ me? Are you sure? How do you know?”

Peter rubbed the mascara with his thumb.

“Well, if you must know, I’ve spent some significant time over the last few days thinking about what love actually means.

Somehow, I found myself circling every single Key cliché I’d ever heard—love comes when you least expect it, nothing made sense until I met you, I can’t imagine my life without you, you make me a better person—and I realized all of it is how I feel about you.

” He shrugged. “I admit it’s very embarrassing to be a walking cliché, but here we are. ”

“Peter.” Edie was smiling the biggest smile she’d ever smiled in her whole life. “That’s beautiful.”

“It’s cheesy.” He laughed and pulled the wonky eyelash from her eye. “But that’s what you do to me, Pepper. You crack me wide open.” And then he kissed her, a long slow kiss that left her breathless.

“Peter, I love you, too,” she said, her forehead pressed against his. “I’m sorry I didn’t say it sooner.”

“Pretty sure I didn’t deserve it sooner.”

Peter helped her up and they stood together in the snow and took in what was left of engagement rock. Candles tipped over, blown out. Jessa yelling into a walkie-talkie. A PA leading Bennett off set. The production crew staring, dumbfounded.

“You’re gonna be in so much trouble,” Edie said, amused.

“And it’s one hundred percent your fault.” And then they were laughing again, and he was kissing her, and she was kissing him, and they were falling back down in the snow, Peter burying his arms in her fur coat, Edie pushing her face into his neck, breathing him in.

“Listen,” he said, pulling back to look at her. “I know you were planning to get engaged today, so that’s a disappointment.”

Edie rolled her eyes. “Obviously I wasn’t. I’ve been looking for you.”

He smiled, brushing the hair off her face before continuing, more serious this time. “And I want to ask you to marry me. But not here, all right? Not like this. When it’s you and me. No cameras, no bullshit.”

“Definitely,” she agreed, on the verge of tears all over again. “I mean, your mom might hate me. We don’t even know.”

Peter slapped a palm to his forehead. “That’s right! You haven’t even met my family. And she probably will hate you. She’s a real shrew.” He dodged Edie’s slap.

“My mom’s going to love every single thing about you,” she said. “I’m not sure I’ll be able to stand it.”

“Don’t worry. She’ll like me less when I’m unemployed.” He took Edie’s coat between his fingers. “By the way, is this real fur?”

“I have no idea. They just put it on me.”

“C’mon, Pepper,” Peter said, pulling her out of the snow. “We gotta get you on camera saying how beautiful you feel in this faux fur.”

“Is it faux, though?”

“No idea. But trust me, you don’t want the PETA people after you. We’ll have enough problems when I’m sued by the network. Will you still love me when I’m penniless?”

“For richer or poorer.”

He smiled and kissed her again, the kind of kiss that made Edie want to tear his clothes off.

“Seriously, can we get out of here?” she demanded when they pulled apart. “I cannot feel my feet.”

Peter looked at her shoes. “Who wears strappy sandals on a mountain? I expected more of you, Pepper. A practical Birkenstock at the very least.”

“All right, Mr. Designer Loafers. Just for that, you’re gonna carry me down the mountain.”

“May I remind you that I just fell out of a helicopter? Surely, I’ve cracked at least three ribs. I’ll carry you to engagement rock, but that’s it. Then you walk.”

“Fair enough.”

And then Peter scooped her up, like a bride crossing the threshold, and they made their way through the snow toward the Alpina Gstaad.

“Let’s get the hell out of Switzerland,” he said.

“Oh my god, yes. But can we do that? Can we just leave?”

“Why not? Let’s go to Paris for a few days.”

Edie looked at him agog. “Peter, are you serious? ’Cause I love you already. My whole heart might explode if we go to Paris.”

“Then Paris it is.”

“You’re gonna have to get me a phone, though. I’ve got to call Lauren. And I can’t be in love in Paris without a phone. We have to take so many pictures .”

“We’ll get you a phone. And champagne, and croissants, and baguettes, and all of the cheese.”

“I thought you were lactose intolerant?”

“Not in Paris, I’m not.”

The production team was scrambling to reset engagement rock, replacing broken candles and adjusting tripods and lighting rigs, preparing for Bailey to arrive on Adam Fox’s arm to start the finale all over again.

Edie’s heart felt warm, thinking about her friends Bennett and Bailey finding the love they both deserved.

Edie rested her head on Peter’s chest, content.

Somehow, against all odds, they’d arrived at their happy ending.

Sure, it wouldn’t be perfect, but Edie felt like she got it now—love was an intention, an action, an acceptance.

And perhaps her optimism didn’t need to be psychotic.

Perhaps it could be rooted in something imperfect but genuine.

In her. And in Peter. However the edit played out, Edie’s journey on The Key was probably going to make great TV.

But all of a sudden, she knew she’d never watch. All the best stuff happened off camera.

And who needs TV when reality is even better?