Page 40 of Under the Northern Lights
“As your mother, I should probably be asking about your career,” her mother said with a tender smile. “But I know firsthand that you can have love and still follow your career dreams.”
Aurora returned her smile. “You’ve always been my role model. Both as a mother and as a career professional.” Her mother had taken some time off to raise her daughters, and when the time was right, she had gone back to work.
Her mother leaned in to hug her. “Love you, sweetie.” Then she straightened and looked at Jade. “Both of you.”
“Love you back,” Aurora said.
“Ditto,” Jade chimed in.
It was possible to have it all, Aurora thought excitedly. But you have to be willing to take a risk to make your dreams come true. A future with Gage was so worth the risk.
“Welcome back,” Emmy greeted with a hug when Aurora arrived at her art studio.
“Sorry I’m late,” Aurora said. “I had an unexpected conference call with my editor that ran over.”
“The magazine isn’t having second thoughts on the new arrangement they agreed to, are they?” her best friend asked with a worried frown.
Aurora smiled. “Not at all. Eugene wanted to tell me their online numbers for my article on Gage’s family retreat were beyond their expectations and that they’d like me to do a follow-up article about river fishing on Conley Island in the spring.”
“Oh, Aurora,” her friend exclaimed. “How perfect!”
Aurora nodded. “It was definitely an assignment I couldn’t refuse.” She glanced around. “Great turnout.”
“Beyond expectations,” Emmy replied. “Just like your article.”
Aurora smiled, catching sight of her Into the Alaskan Wilds prints displayed prominently on one of two focal walls across the room.
She crossed over to it, her gaze fixed on the largest framed picture in the center, and her heart tugged.
She would never think about the Northern Lights again without Gage being included.
Oh, how she missed that charming grin of his. Aurora sighed.
“You didn’t have to be here today,” Emmy said as she joined her at the wall. “I would have understood if your heart urged you to leave a day sooner to see him.”
Aurora glanced over at her dear, sweet, always-supportive friend. “I want to be here.”
“But not as much as you want to be somewhere else,” Emmy replied with a knowing smile.
Aurora’s mouth curled upward as she shook her head, answering honestly, “No, not as much.” Emmy wouldn’t take offense.
She knew how Aurora felt about Gage and about her plans to fly out the next morning to Juneau.
There, she intended to take a boat she’d hired to Conley Island to pay Gage and his family a surprise visit.
“I’m glad you came in anyway,” Emmy said. “I know you have packing to do.”
“Of course I’m going to be here,” Aurora said, laughing softly. “I might be in love with Gage, but you will always be my best friend. I’m honored to be a part of your art show.”
“Well, that’s convenient,” a deep voice said from behind, “because Gage is in love with you.”
Aurora spun to face him with a gasp. “Gage?”
Emmy’s smile widened. “If you two will excuse me, I have guests to see to.” Her gaze went to Gage. “Took you long enough.”
Gage chuckled, his focus solely on Aurora. “Too long.”
Stepping forward, Emmy gave Aurora a hug, whispering in her ear, “Dreams do come true.” Then she released her and walked away humming a happy tune.
“Gage?” Aurora said again, still shocked to see him standing there. Was she dreaming this? She looked around. Everything looked real. Felt real.
“Has it been that long?” he replied with a grin. “Long enough that you aren’t even sure it’s me?”
Her hand flew to her pounding heart. “I can’t believe you’re really here.”
He nodded. “I’m here.”
“But I’m supposed to be there.”
“There?” he repeated.
“At your family’s retreat,” she told him. “I have a ticket booked for Juneau tomorrow morning.”
“Your magazine is sending you back for more pictures?”
She laughed. “Not this trip. My going back to Conley Island has nothing to do with my job and everything to do with you.”
He stepped forward, drawing her into his strong arms. “Apparently, great minds really do think alike, because my being here has everything to do with you.” He searched her eyes. “I’ve missed you like crazy, Aurora.”
“I’ve missed you, too,” she said, heart pounding.
“I look at those pictures you sent me, the ones you took when you were staying at the retreat, every morning when I wake up and every night when I go to bed. I remember with so much clarity each and every one of those moments we shared together.”
“I do too.”
His gaze lifted to the picture displayed on the wall behind her. “Your parents were right about the magic of the Northern Lights. That night out on the dock, I knew I wasn’t just falling. I knew I was totally and completely in love with you.”
“Same,” she breathed.
“I never should have let you go without telling you how deeply I feel for you. Even if I couldn’t make any real commitment at that time.” His attention returned to her, love and adoration so clear in his eyes. “Thank you for what you did for me and my family.”
“You know about the article?”
He nodded. “I do. Guests staying at the retreat this past week mentioned they had read about Living the Good Life Fishing Retreat in an online article through your magazine. They were intrigued enough by your write-up and the accompanying photos to book a stay. Despite it being the off-season for most things, we still have guests coming in. Reed showed me the article he found online.”
“I wanted to repay your family’s kindness,” she told him.
“I’d say you went above and beyond,” he told her with an appreciative smile. “And my whole family is indebted to you for it.”
“When you care about someone, you want the best for them. If there was any chance I could help, I had to try.”
“You helped us more than you’ll ever know, and for that, I’ll be forever grateful. But I’m not here because of my gratitude; I’m here for you,” he said, smiling tenderly down at her.
Tears filled Aurora’s eyes, blurring Gage’s handsome, hopeful face.
“When you left Alaska, I thought I might lose you to Ben, but he never came up in our conversations, so I didn’t know where the two of you stood. I was too afraid to ask.”
“Ben?” she repeated in surprise and then shook her head.
“I never had any intention of getting back with him. In fact, he’s going to be proposing to Charlene—that’s his girlfriend—over Christmas.
He wanted me to meet her, which was why he’d called when I was in Juneau.
But our schedules didn’t line up until recently for him to tell me his good news.
I met her, Gage, and I really like her. I’m so happy Ben found her. ”
“That day our phone call was cutting out ... I thought ... oh, geez,” he groaned.
“I’ve been going out of my mind at the thought of you reconsidering your decision not to marry Ben.
And then, while you were at your family’s Early Thanksgiving, I discovered the article you’d done for your magazine.
The one about having left your heart with a mountain goat of a man on Conley Island.
” He smiled. “I also knew I had to put my heart out there before it was too late, and you married for something other than true love. So here I am.”
Before Aurora could respond, Gage knelt before her, pulling a small, navy-blue satin ring box from his coat pocket.
She gasped.
Opening it, he held it up for Aurora to see.
The ring nestled snugly inside the satin lining wasn’t the traditional diamond-focused setting.
Instead, there were two thin gold bands woven around each other to form one single band.
Mounted at the top, surrounded by small, sparkling diamonds was a beautiful oval-shaped opal.
One that held all the colors of the Northern Lights.
“Gage,” she said, her gaze lifted to meet his.
“Marry me, Aurora. Let me be the man to love and support you as you travel around the world on assignments, living your dream. Together, we’ll find a way to make this work.”
“I’m not going to be traveling as often as I first expected to,” she told him.
“You’re not?”
Being able to tell him that filled her with so much joy.
“I spoke to my editor while I was in Oregon, and we were able to come to an agreement about the amount of time I’m away on assignments.
Better yet, they loved my Alaska photos.
They have several articles coming up that they’d like me to cover there.
One is on discovering wildlife on the move from a floatplane. But I’d need a pilot with a plane.”
“You’ve got him.”
“I was hoping you’d say that,” she replied. “I was going to tell you all of this when I got to the retreat. I’m not about to give up on my heart’s dream for the sake of my career dream. Not when I can have both.”
“I love you, Aurora,” he told her. “I would move mountains for you.”
“Or climb them,” she teased. “Being the mountain goat you are.”
“Or climb them,” he agreed with a chuckle. “If you’re willing to relocate to Conley Island?—”
“I am,” she blurted out. “I can’t think of anywhere else I’d rather live than where you are.”
Gage smiled. “I was going to say I would move to Seattle if that’s what it takes.”
“No need,” she said excitedly. “I happen to love everything about Conley Island. Especially this handsome floatplane pilot I met while staying there.”
“He loves you too. So much so, I drew up plans to add an actual gift shop onto the lodge. One that I thought could carry some of your incredible prints. Maybe even some of Emmy’s artwork, if she’s interested.”
Her heart was bursting with happiness and love. Aurora looked at the ring box Gage held in his hand.
“I know it’s not the traditional diamond a man gives to a woman he’s asking to marry him, but I knew this was the ring for you as soon as I saw it in the jeweler’s display case. That opal in the middle carries all the breathtaking colors we saw swirling across the sky that last night.”
“It’s so perfect,” she breathed. “I love it so much, Gage.” Her tear-filled gaze lifted to meet his. “I love you so much.”
“Then say yes!” The crowd’s impatient chant echoed throughout the gallery. Aurora glanced around to find Emmy and every person in her art gallery standing there watching them. Heat flooded her cheeks.
“I like their way of thinking,” Gage told her with a grin.
“I do too.” Aurora’s smile bloomed, and her heart threatened to burst with the happiness she felt inside. Just as her parents had done, she too had found true love under the Northern Lights. “Yes!” she told him. “I will marry you, Gage Weston.”
Cheers rose up around them as he lifted the opal engagement ring from its velvety nest and slid it onto her finger.
It fit so perfectly, just like Gage did into her life.
He stood, drawing Aurora into his arms for a kiss that promised a lifetime of happiness and adventures, and, more importantly, love.