by Sophie Love
She invited him in and led him through the hall toward the ballroom. Trevor was the only person in Sunset Harbor who hadn’t seen the transformation of the B&B yet and he looked around him, stunned. But he was still Trevor Mann after all and no compliments escaped his lips.
As they walked into the ballroom together a ripple of chatter went around the room. People turned and stared. No one could quite believe that Trevor Mann of all people was here.
“Trevor’s brought scalloped potatoes,” Emily said, in an attempt to break the ice.
Karen, who had the most contact with Trevor thanks to being on the zoning board with him, took a fork full of potato. “It’s delicious,” she announced. It was enough to make people warm to him. Not fully, but enough so as not to be hostile.
“Emily,” Trevor said, pulling her aside, “I wanted to talk to you about something.”
“Of course,” Emily said. “What is it?”
“It’s the back taxes,” Trevor said.
Emily felt a coldness wash over her. She’d tried so hard to separate her anger over Trevor’s meddling in the back taxes from her dying neighbor in need of care. Why did he feel compelled to remind her of the enormous bill she needed to have paid by the end of the day? The bill that he had ensured was ten times larger than it needed to be?
“You don’t need to worry about them,” Trevor said quickly, as though noting the absolute panic in her expression.
“Why not?” Emily said, tipping her head to the side with curiosity. “Did you delay the deadline with the bank or something?”
Trevor shook his head. “No. I mean they’ve been taken care of. Completely.”
It took a while for the meaning of Trevor’s words to sink in.
“You’ve paid them off?” Emily said, her voice barely audible, coming out more like a gush of air.
“I have,” came Trevor’s reply. “As a thank you. And a sorry.”
Stunned into silence, Emily gripped the table to steady herself. She felt like she was about to hyperventilate. The back taxes had been like a dark shadow hanging over her ever since she’d arrived in Sunset Harbor. They were the reason she was constantly worried about the business going under, about failing and going bankrupt. And now she’d discovered that Trevor had taken that all away in one instant.
“Why?” she finally managed to gasp. “It’s thousands of dollars, Trevor.”
He stroked his moustache. “You can’t take money with you when you go,” he said. “I wanted to see it do some good. While I still could.”
No sooner had the sentence left Trevor’s lips than Emily threw her arms around him. “Thank you,” she whispered, tears streaming down her face. “You have no idea what this means to me.”
Trevor was stiff at first, then soon relaxed. Emily felt him pat her back. “It’s the least I can do after the way I’ve treated you and your family.”
Emily pulled out of the embrace and nodded. “Thank you,” she said again, wiping the tears from her cheeks.
Just then, Chantelle came in with her centerpiece. It was an enormous bright orange papier-mâché pumpkin set on a silver platter decorated with fall leaves. She’d made little figurines; Emily spotted Alice in Wonderland, Owen at his piano, Serena holding a stick of rainbow cotton candy, Bailey in her pumpkin outfit, and Toby as a vampire. Then there was a small fishing boat. Inside sat three figurines. Emily, Daniel, and Chantelle. The Chantelle character was holding a fish. The boat was called My Family.
Emily felt herself well up at the sight of Chantelle’s creation depicting all the beautiful memories she’d gathered that year. As Chantelle placed the model in the middle of the table, Emily caught many of the residents wiping a tear from their eye. A year ago, Chantelle’s centerpiece would have been of a grubby flat, an uncle and mom on drugs, a sidewalk, a backpack with next to nothing inside of it. To see Chantelle’s transformation laid out in front of them like that was overwhelming.
Daniel appeared at her side.
“It’s amazing, isn’t it?” Emily said.
Daniel nodded. “She clearly has some kind of creative gene in her somewhere,” he said.
Emily noticed that he seemed distracted.
“Is everything okay?” she probed, trying to read his expression. “Has something happened? It’s not Sheila, is it?”
Daniel shook his head. “Emily, will you take a walk with me? Get some fresh air down at the beach. I think we should talk.”
“Sure,” Emily replied, frowning with confusion.
She asked Yvonne to keep an eye on Chantelle, then left the party hand in hand with Daniel, heading down the pathway that led to the beach, her mind turning over a mile a minute as she wondered what on earth it was that Daniel needed to talk to her about.
The sun was just starting to set as they reached the ocean. Emily tightened her arms around her waist, feeling the chill in the air. Snow was definitely threatening to fall.
Daniel reached out and wrapped his arm around Emily’s shoulder. She snuggled into his warmth. She could feel his heart pounding in his chest and wondered what was causing him stress. He had some news, she could tell that much, something he needed to break to her. Perhaps it was something to do with the adoption, some legal hurdle they would have to overcome. Whatever it was, she wished he’d just come out with it and put an end to her constant wondering.
They strolled toward the harbor with the sun setting before them. When they reached the dock they saw ice glittering on the water. Winter was fast approaching and the frozen water looked beautiful with the setting sunlight refracting off it.
“There’s your snow,” Daniel said.
Emily looked up just as a snowflake hit her nose. It was beautiful. A flurry of snow fell toward her. Emily thought again of the transformation her life had gone through from the last time it had snowed to now. Her dad’s disappearance was still a mystery, but one she felt closer to solving. What wasn’t a mystery was the love she had for Daniel, for Chantelle, and for their life at the inn. The life she’d created here was better than anything she could have imagined.
So she braced herself for whatever bombshell Daniel was about to drop on her, before turning back to look at him. But when she turned back she realized he was down on one knee. She gasped.
“Emily,” he began, “I know I’ve gone about this all wrong so far. But I want to marry you. I love you and want it to be you forever.” He rummaged in his pocket and pulled out a small box. As he spoke the next words, his voice cracked with emotion. “Please, do me the honor of becoming my wife.”
He opened the box and Emily realized with shock that the ring inside was the very same one she’d wanted from the jewelry store, the unique ring with pearls.
“You went back for it?” she stammered, touched, overwhelmed by the romantic gesture.
Daniel nodded. “So? What do you say? Will you marry me, Emily Mitchell?”
As the snow fell around them, Emily dropped to her knees and clasped Daniel’s face in her hands.
“Of course I will,” she said. “Of course!”
Shivering from the snow falling around them, Daniel slid the ring onto Emily’s finger. Emily laughed between her happy tears and wiped away the glittering tears that rolled down Daniel’s cheeks.
Then their lips met and they kissed, passionately, tenderly, excited for the new future that lay before them.
NOW AVAILABLE!
IF ONLY FOREVER
(The Inn at Sunset Harbor—Book 4)
“Sophie Love's ability to impart magic to her readers is exquisitely wrought in powerfully evocative phrases and descriptions….This is the perfect romance or beach read, with a difference: its enthusiasm and beautiful descriptions offer an unexpected attention to the complexity of not just evolving love, but evolving psyches. It's a delightful recommendation for romance readers looking for a touch more complexity from their romance reads.”
--Midwest Book Review (Diane Donovan re For Now and Forever)
IF ONLY FOREVER is
book #4 in the bestselling romance series The Inn at Sunset Harbor, which begins with book #1, For Now and Forever—a free download!
35 year old Emily Mitchell has fled her job, apartment and ex-boyfriend in New York City for her father's historic, abandoned home on the coast of Maine, needing a change in her life and determined to make it a B&B. She had never expected, though, that her relationship with its caretaker, Daniel, would turn her life on its head.
Emily is still reeling from Daniel’s proposal. As all seems to finally fall into place in her life, she looks forward to an exciting engagement year ahead, from shopping for a venue and a wedding dress, to creating her invite list, to setting a date.
But all does not goes as planned. The endless events of the engagement year add more stress than joy, putting pressure on their relationship as they are forced to make hard choices. Adjusting to life as parents doesn’t make it any easier, as Chantelle runs into problems at school and as a custody battle looms over them. As Christmas and New Years approach, the stress is only compounded.
Meanwhile, as the B&B adds new guests and staff and as they find more priceless antiques, Emily discovers a shocking secret that just may bring her one step closer to finding her father.
Will she and Daniel get married? Or will the stress of the engagement break them apart forever?
IF ONLY FOREVER is book #4 in a dazzling new romance series that will make you laugh, cry, keep you turning pages late into the night—and make you fall in love with romance all over again.
Book #5 will be available soon.
“A very well written novel, describing the struggle of a woman (Emily) to find her true identity. The author did an amazing job with the creation of the characters and her description of the environment. The romance is there, but not overdosed. Kudos to the author for this amazing start of a series that promises to be very entertaining.”
--Books and Movies Reviews, Roberto Mattos (re For Now and Forever)
IF ONLY FOREVER
(The Inn at Sunset Harbor—Book 4)
Sophie Love
A lifelong fan of the romance genre, Sophie Love is thrilled to release her debut romance series, which begins with FOR NOW AND FOREVER (THE INN AT SUNSET HARBOR—BOOK 1)
FOR NOW AND FOREVER (THE INN AT SUNSET HARBOR—BOOK 1) is a free download on Kobo!
Sophie would love to hear from you, so please visit www.sophieloveauthor.com to email her, to join the mailing list, to receive free ebooks, to hear the latest news, and to stay in touch!
BOOKS BY SOPHIE LOVE
THE INN AT SUNSET HARBOR
FOR NOW AND FOREVER (Book #1)
FOREVER AND FOR ALWAYS (Book #2)
FOREVER, WITH YOU (Book #3)
IF ONLY FOREVER (Book #4)
FOREVER AND A DAY (Book #5)