Seaside Harmony Part 27

"But . . . why?"

"Caroline, you've always loved him," Sam said. "Even if you won't admit it to yourself, it's true."

"I don't know." Caroline grabbed on to the back of one of the newly upholstered club chairs. "I don't think I do. Not like that."

Caroline couldn't explain it. She knew that from the outside, she and George had seemed like an old married couple for years. But actually marrying him was something that had never really entered her mind. How could that work? Could she really learn to think of him like that? She was grateful her sisters didn't ask her any more. Instead, Gracie gently stepped forward and wrapped her arms around her. A moment later, Sam did the same, and her sisters held her as she cried.

She cried for George, for how horrible it felt to break his heart. She cried because her relations.h.i.+p with her best friend could never be the same. She cried because she honestly couldn't imagine this place without him.

They stood there, all three Marris sisters together, until Caroline didn't have any tears left. Slowly, she pulled away.

"I'm sorry," she said. Gracie pulled a tissue from her pocket and handed it to her, and she swiped it under her eyes. "I don't know how to thank you."

"Of course." Sam steered her toward the sofa and sat down next to her. "We're your sisters. We're here for you." Max got up from his place by the fire and climbed up next to Caroline. He spun around in a circle, looking for the most comfortable position, and then settled down against her leg. "We'll always be here for you."

It sounded trite. And yet, Caroline knew as she looked around the parlor at the grand old piano, the rich upholstery, the ornate wallpaper, it was true. Her sisters would be here for her. They were in this together now. She, and Sam, and even Gracie-poor, uptight Gracie-had given up everything to start a new life together. They were now linked together in ways she could never have imagined a year ago. The inn had done that.

No, Caroline thought, it wasn't the inn that brought us together. It was Mom who did that.

Running this inn had always been their mother's idea. Even though they'd lost her, they had fulfilled her dream, just like she'd always wanted.

"Mom would be so proud to see us here like this," Caroline finally said.

Gracie and Sam nodded.

"She would have sat in that chair, right by the fire," Gracie said, pointing to one of the club chairs by the mantel. A warm orange glow radiated from the fire dancing on the hearth, and the room smelled faintly of cedar smoke.

"And she would have been reading," Sam said. "Or working on a crossword puzzle."

"Or telling stories," Caroline added. She held the tissue to her damp cheeks and wiped the last remnants of the tears away. "She always loved to tell us stories." She looked at the empty chair by the fire. It was easy to picture her mother there.

"I'm sorry she didn't live to see it," Gracie said. Caroline knew she didn't just mean what they'd done with the inn. Their mother's greatest wish had always been to see her daughters together like this.

The fire danced and spun. Max laid his head on her lap, and she stroked his soft fur. She looked at Gracie and then at Sam, their faces illuminated in the soft firelight. No matter what challenges the sisters faced, they would face them together.

And Caroline knew that no matter what happened in the future-no matter what happened with George, or with her travel writing, or how things went when they welcomed their first guest-she was home. "Mom would have wanted us here together like this. And as long as we own the Misty Harbor Inn, she will be right here with us."

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