by Jenny Hale
TWENTY-EIGHT
Ben’s jeep was still gone when Hallie pulled into the drive at Starlight Cottage that evening. After the call, she’d gone to Gavin’s house and spent all afternoon there, planning and creating her business.
Wondering where Ben was, since he wasn’t with Ashley, she pulled her phone out to text him, but then thought better of it and slipped it back into her pocket. Hallie went in to find her family and tell them all about her day.
Sydney was playing checkers with Robby on the living room floor when Hallie came in. Mama was in the chair by the window reading a book, and Uncle Hank had dozed off on the sofa. He stirred and sat up when Hallie went over to Sydney.
“How’d it go?” her sister asked, moving a checker piece. Robby jumped over it, taking her checker and giggling. “You got me,” she said to him, and then turned her attention back to Hallie.
“I got Ridley on board, and the call was super fast but really positive. The editor wants to do a piece on me for the December issue of Southern Rush.”
“That’s wonderful!” Mama said from her chair, her finger holding her place in the book. “Oh Hallie, I’m so excited for you.”
“Mama, may I go outside and swing?” Robby asked.
“Of course you can. I’ll be out in bit.”
“You’ve far exceeded your task of becoming a photographer. You’re building an empire instead,” Uncle Hank said as Robby left the room. “Aunt Clara wouldn’t believe it.”
Sydney repositioned herself near the window so she could watch Robby. He ran across the yard, toward the tire swing Ben had hung for him, a little shadow against the waning sunlight of evening.
“I’d like to rent out a small showroom and jump right in, but I’ll have to wait,” Hallie said. “I need to build up some funds to invest. And of course I need to complete the list to find out what else Aunt Clara has in mind for me…” She offered Uncle Hank a questioning look, but he just shrugged.
“What’s left on your list?” Sydney asked, picking up the checkers game and putting it back into the box.
“A bunch of things that’ll take years to accomplish,” Hallie said. “Uncle Hank, the letter’s right there in the safe. Can’t I just have it? I did the most important one.”
Uncle Hank gave a sympathetic pout. “I can’t do that. If Clara wanted you to do those things, as unconventional as they seem, I have to trust that she had some reasoning behind it.”
“But come on,” Hallie said, frustrated. “Have a wish come true? Live somewhere else? Kiss a boy…” A surge of something she’d never quite felt before slid through her veins when she uttered those last words. She tried to label it: fear. Like something was wrong but she couldn’t understand what. “I kissed Jeff—that should count,” she said, ignoring the feeling. After Aunt Clara passed, I was still with Jeff and I kissed him.”
“But you didn’t have Clara’s letter yet, so I don’t think that will work, I’m afraid,” Uncle Hank said. “If you’d still been with Jeff and kissed him after getting the letter, it might count.”
“I kissed Ben,” she blurted. “In the guesthouse.”
Her words came out hurried and quiet, distressed. She was desperate to get them out, to unload them, to read the faces of her loved ones when she told them, in the hopes that their reactions would dilute the fear that was still with her. But as they all stared at her with wide eyes, she finally placed what the fear was. It was the dread that she would go through life and never be truly happy, because Ben was the only person who could do that for her. If only she could be everything to Ben that he wanted from his future too.
“And what happened after?” Sydney asked slowly, as if the question had come out while she was still digesting Hallie’s original declaration. Ben must not have told her sister that part, and Hallie hadn’t let Mama in on her little secret during their talk either.
“I told him about my diagnosis,” she said.
Uncle Hank leaned forward. “Diagnosis?”
Hallie filled Uncle Hank in, but the whole time she was thinking about Ben, wondering where he was, why he hadn’t returned yet, how he was feeling, if he was all right…
“My God,” Uncle Hank said. He looked up at the ceiling as if he needed help from Aunt Clara. But then his focus returned to Hallie. “She never shared this with anyone, but the reason Aunt Clara and I don’t have any children is because she was plagued with the same thing.”
While her similarities to Aunt Clara had always been apparent, they were now uncanny. Nearly every aspect of Hallie’s life mirrored her favorite aunt’s. The resemblance was stunning, and Hallie couldn’t speak for a few seconds. Instead, she pleaded with Aunt Clara inside her head to guide her from here. She needed Aunt Clara’s words of wisdom more than ever.
“What was Ben’s reaction?” Uncle Hank asked.
“He wants to take it day by day, but I told him that I didn’t think I could do that.” Emotion rose in her throat. “He’s a family man. He needs kids—little boys with his humor and kind smile, or a girl with the same sparkle in her eyes—and I can’t give that to him.” She wiped a runaway tear. And then she looked at Uncle Hank and saw him through new eyes. He was every bit a family man, just like Ben—they were so much alike, which was why they’d always gotten along so well. How had Aunt Clara managed?
But before she could ponder her question, the front door flew open and Ben rushed in, ignoring them all, a laser focus on Hallie. He came over to her and grabbed her hands. “Come with me,” he said, pulling her up. Robby ran through the door to see what was going on, and Ben gave him a smirk and kissed the top of his head. “I’ll be back, bud. I’ve got to do something with Hallie.”
Sydney called Robby over to her, everyone in the room watching Ben with interest.
Ben took Hallie by the hand and nearly ran out into the yard, down the path, over the walkway that led to the beach, her bare feet moving as quickly as possible, until they reached the sand. Hallie gasped. The entire shore was full of fireflies, just the way she remembered it. She’d waited this whole trip to see them and only now had she gotten her chance. She watched the bobbing lights, like a downpour of diamonds floating above the sand. Ben stood behind her and put his arms around her as if nothing had happened between them, and it felt like none of it had been real. And for right now, she wanted to pretend it hadn’t.
It was as if he wanted to take his time after that rush to get her out there. They hadn’t moved for quite a while, and her pattering heart had slowed to a more regular beat. And then, he leaned forward. “Follow me,” he whispered tenderly into her ear, giving her a shiver despite the heat. She walked with him over to a blanket and a little pile of three gifts. Gifts? They were all wrapped in solid pale blue paper, with silver and white ribbons trailing from the bows on top of each one.
Ben kneeled and lowered her by her hands onto the blanket, the fireflies dancing in the distance. Hallie sat down and stretched her legs out in front of her. “What is this?” she asked.
That affection in his eyes had returned in full force. “What did I promise you when we were kids?” he asked.
Hallie was having trouble coming up with an answer, her head so full of questions.
“I said that we wouldn’t have the problems that other people have because when you’re upset, I’ll always make you feel better.” He grabbed one of the boxes and held it out to her. “Open it.”
Hallie untied the ribbon and ripped the paper off, revealing a white rectangular box that fit in her hand. She took off the lid and peered inside. “A key?” It was unmarked, completely average.
Ben grinned and handed her the second box, a little larger than before. “Open this one and then I’ll explain.”
She tore at the paper and ribbon, eager to find out what was going on. When she removed the lid, she found a folded stack of papers. Confused, Hallie took them out and straightened them. Her hands began to shake, but her mind hadn’t caught up with her subconscious. “Life’s Promise Adoption Agenc
y?”
Ben, still kneeling in front of her, took her hands, those blue eyes swallowing her like they always had. “At the beginning of this trip, you made a wish, and I don’t even think you knew it. We were standing in your mother’s driveway, the car packed for Firefly Beach. You might not remember, but I do, because it was my wish too. You said, ‘I wish we could spend time together with nothing hanging over us.’” He let go of one of her hands and grabbed the key from its box. “I told you that when I thought you loved someone else, I could live with that, knowing you were happy. But I don’t think you’re happy like this, and it’s killing me. Because I can make you happy if you’ll let me.” He held up the key. “This is my house key. I want you to move in with me.”
She opened her mouth to say something but he stopped her with a loving look, and she knew that she needed to let him get all of this out first.
“And if you want a family, we can still make our own. Things like hair color and height don’t make a child yours. It’s the love you share with them that matters. Our family is out there. There’s a baby on its way to us right now, waiting for his parents. Or her parents.” Ben’s eyes glistened with emotion. “We can’t let them down.”
Hallie could hardly manage the emotion she was feeling, but she couldn’t say anything yet. It was clear that Ben had more to tell her.
“Your list is now complete, Hallie. But there’s something still on my list.”
Ben pulled her up to a standing position and gave her the last gift. She could barely see through her tears to unwrap it, the paper and ribbon falling like feathers onto the sand. In her shaky hand, she held a small box with a single hinge on one side. She lifted the lid and in one moment, all her fears melted away. Nestled in white satin was the most amazing emerald-cut solitaire diamond she’d ever seen in real life. When her eyes found Ben, he was on his knee in front of her.
“Marry me. Grow old with me. I can’t guarantee that everything will always be perfect, but what I can promise you is that whenever we face the hard stuff, I will always do everything in my power to make you feel better.”
Hallie couldn’t stop the tears from falling. Ben’s love and the lengths to which he would go for her were overwhelming. She couldn’t get the answer to move from her throat to her lips. “Yes,” she said, a tidal wave of relief engulfing her, knowing without a doubt that everything was going to be okay as long as she and Ben did it together.
Ben stood up, took the ring from the box, and slid it onto her finger. Then he put his hands on her face, and in the midst of a storm of fireflies against the lavender sky, he kissed her.
TWENTY-NINE
“You’re gonna be my uncle?” Robby said, throwing his arms around Ben’s neck as they all sat at the kitchen table.
“Yep.” Ben laughed and then gave Hallie a look. This time she could read every single thought in those eyes of his, and they all pointed toward their future.
“I still can’t believe it. I’m so happy,” Mama said, dabbing her eyes with a wadded up tissue. She’d been crying tears of joy since Hallie and Ben had come in to tell them all everything. They’d asked them to gather in the kitchen, and before they’d announced their news, Hallie had called to invite Lewis over. He’d come right away. Then, she pulled Aunt Clara’s chair out from the table just enough to give her room in case she was there with them. Hallie liked to think she was.
Uncle Hank walked in and handed Hallie the envelope from the safe, then took his seat. Hallie drew it to her slowly, her name scrawled across the outside with the message “Open once you’ve finished what’s in your first letter” in parenthesis.
“Will you all stay with me while I read it to you?” Hallie asked.
No one moved a muscle. They were all there for her. Ben put his hand on hers and kissed her cheek, nuzzling over to her ear for a second, making her smile. Not wanting to wait a minute more, Hallie ripped open the envelope and pulled from it the pink lacy paper that matched the first letter.
Dear Hallie,
If you’re reading this, then you’ve finished the list. Congratulations! But do know the list wasn’t important. What meant something to me was the knowledge that you were moving forward, changing up your life. I watched you sinking into the monotony of a nine-to-five job, settling for the first man who offered you security, and I saw you losing your purpose, your God-given talent; it was being chipped away with every punch of your work clock. I don’t know if you got married, but if you did, I pray it was for love. I pray that you know the kind of heart-stopping, intoxicating, mind-altering love that I found with your uncle.
Hallie, you are strong. You are capable of everything your heart desires. You deserve to have it all…
Hallie started to read the rest of Aunt Clara’s message but then she stopped, her eyes scanning the next sentence, and looked at everyone around the table.
“What does it say?” Sydney asked.
Her inheritance would not be like everyone else’s. She read the remainder aloud.
I’m not leaving you money. Instead, I’m giving you another task. I’d like you to call the phone number at the bottom of this letter and introduce yourself. What you do with your life is entirely your choice, Hallie. I hope that I’ve done my part in helping you realize what you’re capable of. I can’t wait to hear all about it when we meet again on the other side. I’ll be waiting.
All my love,
Aunt Clara
“Uncle Hank, do you know this number?”
Uncle Hank squinted down at Aunt Clara’s writing and shook his head. “No idea.” Lewis leaned over and then shook his head, baffled.
“Call it!” Sydney urged her, excited.
Ben encouraged her with a nod, so she pulled out her phone, and with everyone around her for support, she tapped out the numbers and hit the call button. Then she put it on speaker and set the phone in the middle of the table, her hands trembling.
The phone pulsed, everyone waiting on pins and needles to find out what Aunt Clara was up to in the final request of her life. Everything about Hallie’s inheritance had been unique, and this was no exception. For an instant, she thought about how Aunt Clara’s money would have helped her get her business up and running, and how her savings weren’t big enough to support the grand plans in her head, but with every ring, she trusted Aunt Clara’s judgment, now more than ever.
“Hello?” a woman’s voice said from the other end of the line.
“Hello. This is Hallie Flynn.” Hallie didn’t know what else to say, but she didn’t have to say anything more because the woman clapped and laughed on the other side.
“I’m delighted to hear from you, Hallie. I’m assuming you’ve read your second letter then?”
“Yes.” Hallie’s curiosity was killing her. She squeezed Ben’s hand and he affectionately rubbed hers with his thumb, calming her racing heart. “With whom am I speaking?” she asked.
“This is Sasha Morgan, your aunt’s business partner. We’ve met a few times when you were visiting, remember?”
“Oh, yes. I do. It’s nice to talk to you.”
“Nice to talk to you too. You see, your aunt has something she wants me to give you.”
“Oh?” Hallie looked around the table at the happy faces of her family.
“It seems that you’re now the proud owner of fifty percent of Morgan and Flynn Design. And since I’m nearing retirement, if you’re interested in maintaining the company, once you have enough capital I’d be willing to offer a full buy-out. The company will be entirely yours one day if you want it, and you have my blessing to run it your way—Clara said you’d almost certainly have some ideas of your own. Is that something you’re interested in?”
Hallie clapped her hand over her mouth, tears surfacing yet again. Hallie owned half of the business. That was half of every showroom across the world, all their eighteen offices worldwide, the Morgan and Flynn branded lines, half of Aunt Clara’s multimillion-dollar company. It was hers. She would have a team of people
supporting every idea she had. She could employ multiple companies to produce her designs. Morgan and Flynn had a client list as big as a phone book…
“Hallie?” Sasha said through the phone, her voice amused. “Clara said it would probably be a shock to you. What do you think?”
“I couldn’t be more thrilled,” she said, as she took in the adoring faces of all her loved ones together. Aunt Clara had helped Hallie to see how her aunt had viewed her own life, how vivid and full of possibility it could be. Hallie had absolutely no idea what the future would hold for her, and she didn’t mind a bit. As she sat among her family, she could hear Aunt Clara’s words: Your life is a blank slate. Dream it up just the way you want it, and then go get it.
Hallie couldn’t wait to do just that.
EPILOGUE
“Ben!” Hallie called, rushing into their house, dropping her handbag on the floor and nearly knocking into him, her copy of Southern Rush wedged between their bodies.
Ben chuckled at her excitement and held Hallie steady, before leaning down and kissing her lips. “What do you have?” he asked, but his doting eyes didn’t leave hers until she pulled back.
“The article is published,” she said, waving the issue of Southern Rush in front of him before taking off toward the living room. Ben chased her, making her giggle as he scooped her up and they collapsed onto the sofa. She and Ben had been waiting to read it for months since her phone interview. Hallie had asked Ben to check the newsstands every day this week, and she’d done the same.
She’d used the Southern Rush article to break the news of her transition to Morgan and Flynn, and to unveil her plans for moving the company forward. With an entire staff of creatives, she’d found her first board meeting incredibly inspiring, and she was blown away by the possibilities. Sasha loved her ideas and was open to allowing her to move in the direction that she felt was right.