"Jessie, please tell me you're not leaving. You're not going back to New York."

"No. I want to stay here with you. I want to try to have a life together, if that's what you want. That is what you want, isn't it?"

"Yes. I want you here with me always."


Epilogue

Annie paused to catch her breath, leaning against a large cedar. It had been over seventeen years now since she'd hiked up Ridge Trail and it was steeper than she remembered. She looked out over the canyon, thinking how much had changed in the last year.

Jessie had built a new home in the early summer, not far from Annie's. She had given Jessie half of the acres that her own house sat on and Jessie and Chris had hiked all over, looking for the perfect spot in which to live. They found it on the down slope of the mountains, butted up against Sierra Peak. A green, lush valley spread out in front of the cabin, and they watched herds of elk and deer in the evenings. Annie joined them often for dinner, traveling down the bumpy dirt road in the old Jeep that Chris had found for her.

She took a swallow of water from her canteen and moved on, leaving the shade of the cedar and continuing up the trail. She had not told the girls that she was coming up here and she had not signed in at the trailhead. Should Chris happen along and find her name there, she would be up the trail in an instant to check on her. She glanced at her watch and frowned. It was taking her longer than she had planned and she was supposed to be at Jessie's at five to help with dinner. They were having a cookout and Roger and Ellen were joining them, along with Matt and that nice girl from the cafe. Oh, and Bobby. He was quickly becoming her favorite, with his boyish good looks. They were all good friends and none of them seemed the least bit shocked when Jessie and Chris moved in together. Well, times had certainly changed.

Annie was lost in her thoughts when she stopped suddenly. She had thought that she might not remember, but here it was, the ledge with the gap in it. She jumped it easily and took a deep breath, seeing the sheer cliff underneath her, the deep drop into the canyon below. She felt her life had come full circle. That was why she had come up here. Or so she told herself. Maybe she had come up here for the same reason Jessie had last August. To talk to Jack. To shake his ghost.

Why she had ever come up here with him at all, she'd never know. Perhaps she thought him to be sincere, even though all her instincts told her he wasn't. After Jessie had gone off to school, he had come to her. He said they needed to talk, that she should accompany him on the trails. She had been dumbfounded. Never before had she been allowed on the trails with him. But she had agreed. They needed to talk about their marriage and about Jessie. They didn't speak on the hike up and she had to race to keep up with his long, purposeful strides. At this very ridge, he had jumped the gap and stood near the edge, looking over.

"Come take a look," he had said.

And she had, jumping the gap as easily as he had. She was wary of him though. Something wasn't right, she knew. The way he looked at her with those piercing black eyes. The way his lips were pressed together in grim determination.

He had turned to her, a sneer on his lips. "You thought I wouldn't find out about your old man in San Francisco, didn't you? How could you? How could you betray me and Jessie that way?"

She remembered standing tall, unafraid. For too long, she had cowered to him. "The same way you've betrayed me for twenty years," she told him.

"Men are different," he spat at her. "I'm different. You're nothing but a slut. You're not fit to live in the same house with us."

She instinctively took a step back. His eyes were so very black. He looked crazed and she was suddenly so very afraid.

"You're not really fit to live at all, Annie. You know that, don't you?"

He had turned to her and she knew immediately what he planned. She backed up a step, her hands outstretched. She remembered his wicked smile when his long arm had reached out to her and his hand had captured her small wrist.

"Jack, no," she had pleaded with him. "You don't know what you're doing."

"I know perfectly well what I'm doing. I'm getting you out of our lives for good. You don't deserve us. You've never been a wife to me, never a mother to my Jessie. I should have done this years ago."

He pulled her to him with such great force, her feet left the safety of the ledge, and she was suspended in air, thinking briefly that it would all be over quickly and it wouldn't hurt too much. One push by him and she would be over the side and into the canyon.

Thinking back now, she knew it was his smile and laughter that had done it. He had already thought he'd won again and she was tired of losing to him. She curled her hands into claws and angrily struck his face, her nails cutting into his skin, drawing blood. He dropped her forcefully and she landed on her back, just feet from the edge of the cliff. He frantically wiped at the blood on his face and she quickly stood, and without thinking, kicked him in the groin, her hiking boot hitting him squarely between the legs. So hard, he fell to his knees, air whistling from between his teeth. He had looked at her then, eyes so angry she knew he meant to kill her with his bare hands. How he was able to stand, she never knew. But he did, very slowly.

"Bitch!" he screamed at her. "How dare you? You'll be sorry now, Annie."

She looked out over the canyon, seeing it all so clearly now. Seventeen years ago, it had all been a blur. How had she jumped out of the way? She never knew. But now she saw it all as if it were happening again.

His face was red with rage and their eyes met, locked together in fight. He had lunged at her, so quickly she didn't have time to think. She simply dropped to her stomach, intending to protect herself, but he sailed over her, stumbling at the edge of the cliff, one foot hanging over, suspended. He had screamed once, a high, girlish scream, and seemed to catch his balance. Annie had turned to look at him and he had reached out to her as he teetered on the edge.

"No! Please..."

She reached for him without thinking, but it was too late. Their eyes met for an instant. Shock and disbelief flashed across his face as he tumbled backwards over the cliff and into the canyon below.

How long she sat there, she didn't know. Still didn't. She had walked home. No one saw her. She was in shock, she knew that much. She had bathed and washed her clothes and simply waited for Roger to come tell her the bad news. And he had.

Sitting on the edge now, she breathed a sigh of relief. Over the years, she had often wondered if maybe it would have been better for her to have gone over the edge instead of Jack. Her life had been so empty for so long.

Then Roger had moved back and had drawn her out a little. Then, of course Chris. She was the one who made Annie feel alive again, made her look forward to life again. Finally, her sweet Jessie had come home. All those lonely years were worth it. Now, she had everything.

She stood up and looked out over the canyon and smiled.

"Goodbye, Jack," she said softly, her words carried away by the wind. She turned and headed back down the trail, a smile firmly on her face. She needed to hurry. The girls would be waiting.