Amazing Book Ending

Today I rediscovered a book ending that I loved once.
The book was Forbidden Sea.
It pretty much made me feel giddy.
I wrote it all by hand one night.
Sometimes I wish life was like this. :D

I’d never seen anything as sad and pitiful as the battered-looking figure sitting on the damp beach, his back hunched, head buried against his knees. In an instant, I recognized the old cap and the mass of red curls hanging in wet ringlets about his head. His clothes were heavy and wet upon his body, as if he’d jus come from the water.
“Denn?” I spoke softly, not wanting to startle him.
His head snapped up in surprise. He looked at me with blurry, red eyes, his freckled cheeks a raw pink. I stared in amazement. Had he been crying? Never in my whole life had I seen Denn Young cry. As I watched, his expression changed from one of complete wretchedness to utter amazement.
“Adri? Denn said in a disbelieving whisper.
I nodded.
“ADRIANNE!”
Denn sprung up with the speed of a cat, sweeping me into his arms. Encircling my waist, he lifted me high into the air, spinning me around and around. I clutched him around his neck in surprise. When we finally drifted to a stop I felt dizzy—not all of it due to spinning.
Denn set me on the ground and gripped me by the shoulders, as if to reassure himself I wasn’t a figment of his imagination.
“Is it really you, Adri?” Denn’s voice had a breathless quality, as if he’d been running a long distance. “How can it be? I jumped in—diving and searching for you for yours—but you were gone. Gone forever. I couldn’t go home and face your mother. I’ve been sitting here all night.” He stopped dead, a troubled look rippling over his handsome features. “You’re not going back, are you? I mean, it’s not like Lady Lauretta?”
I looked into Denn’s face and saw true fear lurking in his eyes. Fear of losing me. He’d missed me after all.
“I’m not going back, Denn. This is where I belong.”
Denn hugged me against him, my chin pressed snug against his shoulder, his left hand cradling my head, the right hand pressed deep in the small of my back. His heart pounded hard against mine. Never had I been so close to Denn. Never had he touched me with such fierce tenderness, as if I were a treasure too valuable to let go. It felt so right.
I slipped my arms around his waist and let myself melt into his embrace, not caring what might happen next. For this one moment, Denn was completely mine.
I heard a familiar voice, a simple whisper in my mind.
Why not?
Denn jumped, jarring my chin painfully from its comfortable place. Drawing back from me, he looked around in confusion. I gazed up at him, my pulse racing. Had he heart Jendayi’s voice, too?
“What’s the matter?” I asked.
“It was nothing. I just—” He looked at me. A look unlike any he’d given me before—tender, full of possibilities. He rested his strong hands on my shoulders, squeezing them between his fingers. His eyes narrowed. Releasing me, he moved backward a step, his gaze moving over me slowly from top to bottom. What was he looking so gob smacked about all of a sudden? I looked down at myself and about swallowed my tongue.
Oh blessed day, I’d completely forgotten I was still trussed up in that horrifically fancy blue dress. Water dripped from its hem as it clung to my body in a most improper fashion. Denn tried not to stare, but failed utterly. I touched the top of my head in alarm and discovered the golden combs were still in my hair as well. I must have looked like some sort of waterlogged royalty washed up from a shipwreck.
As if in a daze, Denn took off his hat, and twisted it nervously between his hands. I’d always imagined Denn removing his hat for me someday, but now that it had happened, I felt strangely nervous.
“The mermaid was right,” Denn said lowering his gaze. “I’ve been a fool.”
“What else is new? Put your hat back on, Denn. I’m not Cora Lynn,” I said.
He stared at his cap as if he’d never clapped eyes on it before, but he didn’t put it back on. “No, you’re not Cora Lynn. Putting on for her was so easy for me. That should have been my first clue something wasn’t right. I need to have my head examined for being such a dashed idiot.”
“You’re not that much of an idiot. Cora Lynn is awfully beautiful.”
“So are you,” Denn risked another glance at me, his eyes lingering on my face. “I don’t know why I couldn’t see it before.”
“It’s this silly dress. It’s gone and made you feverish in the brain. If you keep this up, Denn, you’ll turn spoony on me. I don’t think I could stand it. I’ve always loved you exactly as you are. No frills.”
“I didn’t exactly return the favor, did I?” Denn asked.
“No. you never did.” I could feel the traitorous unshed tears burning in my eyes.
Denn cupped my chin in his hand, tracing his fingers along my cheek. There was something new in his touch. Something I’d long given up hope of ever finding there. Now that it had come, I found myself trembling.
It was exciting but uncharted territory for Denn and me. Something inside us wanted to boldly sail forth, but neither of us quite knew how to begin.
Not yet, anyway.
Denn reluctantly dropped his hand. Fumbling awkwardly with his hat for a few moments, he placed it crookedly back on his head. Without thinking, I reached up and straightened it. Denn smiled down at me, ridiculously pleased. I knew then I would never be sorry for leaving behind the handsome Sea Prince in his perfect palace. He was not my Denn. My wonderful, red-headed best friend. We grinned at each other as if the whole world was a brand-new delightfully wonderful place.
Denn bowed low before me, his old teasing smile returning. “I will see you home, lovely lady.”
I grinned mischievously up at him. “Yes, you may walk me home Mr. Young.”
I watched as his ears turned pink. He looked a little uncertain as he spoke. “Uh, I meant—I mean—may I walk you home?”
“I said you could.” I admit I enjoyed the moment far too much.
Denn lifted the edge of his cap for a moment to scratch his head, completely baffled about how to proceed on such uncertain ground.
“You’ll have to let me sneak inside the cottage alone, though,” I said. “this dress will be hard enough to explain away. Can you imagine Auntie Minnah’s reaction if I also had to try and explain why I was supposedly out with you all night?”
Denn blinked in dumbstruck silence. I don’t think he’d thought of it in quite that light before.
“Oh, come on you dolt. Let’s go before my family wakes up and finds me missing.” With a playful toss of my head, I ran up the beach, my bare feet kicking up soft sand. Denn’s heavier boots soon pounded after me.
I ran, laughing with pure joy into the salty wind. The sound of the ocean roared all around us. I felt like singing.
Finally I was where I’d always wanted to be.

I love it!!