The Woods | Harvey #1

Epilogue

Nicole -

I haven't been able to get a few things out of my mind, like when you came by after the news report and without realizing it you cheered me up. I had gone down into depression, but you pulled me up and out. No one has ever done so much for me so fast. My friend, Trisha, has always been able to bring a smile to my face, but it didn't last. You, though, are like a perfect drug that induces the kind of happiness nothing else has ever been able to bring to me in that state. It still hasn't gone away.

There's so much to tell you about me, and so much for me to learn about you, but what I know is more than enough for me to feel so deeply about you that, for maybe the first time in my life, I can honestly say I love you. As my friend. As my family. As my girlfriend. I've been thinking about a future without you, and I have to say, it's not right. Without you, I might end up with a different girl, but she'd never be as right for me as you are.

Nicole-

Everything I wrote the last time I started this letter still rings true. But now there's so much to add. I love you as my friend, my family, my girlfriend, but above that, as my wife. That's the only way I see a permanent future with you here. I hope I won't ever hurt you, but I have. By mixing you up in all my troubles I've done just that. I know you, though. I know you volunteered. I never had to ask. That almost makes it worse for me. To know you willingly put yourself in this situation and then I nudged you in a direction that would aid me further, only to watch as someone takes me away from you.

You once wrote that sometimes when I look at you it makes you feel like you're my world. The simple reason behind that is this: You're what makes my world turn. Everything I see that's good in the world is in you. I hope that by now you know how much I love you. My grandmother's ring is one of the things I've saved from when I was younger. Mom gave it to me years ago and I thought I'd never use it. I figured I was better off alone, but then I met you and suddenly it wasn't as appealing anymore. I hope you like it as much as she did. One day I'll tell you their love story. It impressed me the first time I heard it, and it still does to this day.

Remember one thing besides how much I love you: you can do anything. I know you can. How do you think we've been able to do what we have? Mason told me about how fast you learned how to pick locks. I know how you used that to break into my old home. I figured out how you got into my new home when my doors were locked before you learned to pick them: you climbed in the window. Next time (I hope there's never another time, but just in case), remember to remove the evidence. (Those branches under my window? Yeah.) Hold on to my computer. Follow my evidence. You'll know what to do.

Love you to the moon and back,

Ashton

Nicole held the letter for the longest time as she lay on her bed that night. Hailey was going home in the morning. She didn't want to stay. Nicole found she was okay with that. She sat up and looked at the packed bags. A small weight on her neck reminded her of the ring Ashton had given her. Her fiancé. She smiled. He may be in the city jail waiting to be taken to Columbia where he'll stand trial, but for the moment he was still in Harvey. She had a chance to save him, even if she had a very short time to do it.

Her gaze landed on her bag poking out of the closet. She had a chance. That was what she needed to focus on. That and the fact Ashton believed she could do anything. She had to do this. She could do it. There wasn't a second chance, a reset button. If she didn't succeed in this, there were lives at stake. She could lose Ashton forever. If she lost him, she would lose herself.

There also was no going back.

To be continued...