CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
Harry and Molly took the ferry over to Heart Island together on Thursday morning. Aldwin was pleased as could be to join his friends at doggy day care again.
“Yesterday, when it was just me with him all day,” Harry said as they sped across the water, “instead of being happy he got to stay home with me, I actually think he was missing his new buddies.”
“Don’t feel bad,” Molly said. “Every kid has to fly the coop at some point.”
“Do you ever think about having more? Kids, I mean, not dogs.” Harry didn’t want to overwhelm her, but he also didn’t want to make the mistake of keeping his thoughts from her.
“Before you came back into my life, I figured one incredible daughter was more than enough to be thankful for. But now that you’re here…” She shook her head. “I’m afraid my answer is going to make it sound like I’m getting ahead of myself, even though we agreed to take things slow.”
At his raised eyebrow, one clearly meant to remind her just how not slow they’d gone the night before, she laughed.
“Okay, maybe not slow on all fronts.” He kissed her before letting her finish her thought. “You know I’m still a little gun-shy. I had so many dreams before, and when they didn’t come true, I thought it was going to break me. It didn’t, but the truth is that a part of me is still afraid to believe things can really be this good.”
“They can.” He didn’t have a single doubt, not anymore. “They are.”
“I want to believe that.”
“And if you did believe it?”
She was silent for a few moments. “Then, yes.” She looked into his eyes. “I would want more children.”
That was what Harry had hoped she’d say. But actually hearing it made him speechless. Mostly because he could easily see them with a baby. Or two. Heck, he would happily have enough kids with Molly to make their own soccer team.
“We’re here,” she said, interrupting his vivid daydream.
Molly had promised him a personal tour of the archives during her lunch break. He’d brought his laptop and manuscript pages to work on at the onsite café while she was working. He also wanted to poke around the site a bit, to see if something that would make a perfect birthday gift would jump out at him. He hated that it had come down to the wire like this, with her birthday only one day away. He should have figured out what to give her long before now.
On the dock, Stanley helped tie up the ferry, then said hello. “It’s good to see you back so soon, Harry.”
“I’d like to show him the archives,” Molly said. “If you don’t have a tour booked for this afternoon, I was hoping we could go over there on my lunch hour.”
“Why don’t you go now? Kendra needed more hours to help pay off a car loan, so the store is well staffed today.”
“That would be perfect, Stanley.” Molly paused for a few moments. Harry couldn’t quite read her expression when she looked at him, then said to her friend and boss, “Actually, would you mind coming with us? I don’t want to take up too much of your time, but I wanted to talk with you about something.” She turned back to Harry. “I’d like you to be there for this conversation too.”
Stanley shot Harry a look over Molly’s shoulder that said, Do you know what’s going on?
Harry shook his head. Though he and Molly had shared a great deal since getting their feelings out in the open, he was currently in the dark.
The Boldt Castle archives were stunning. Surrounded by the thick stone walls, the space encapsulated a library on one side, a dozen or so display cases that held maps and plans and other historical documents relating to the castle, and a large wooden desk and leather chair.
While Harry was impressed with the parts of the castle that he’d seen so far, he could happily have moved into this room.
“Stanley,” Molly said, “I was hoping we could talk about your job offer.”
Harry’s eyebrows went up in surprise, a mirror to Stanley’s.
“As you know,” she continued, “I was concerned about the longer hours and added responsibility of managing the archives. But now that Harry’s here—” She smiled at him before turning back to Stanley. “—I’m ready to take on the challenge. That is, if you haven’t offered the position to someone else.”
“Of course I haven’t!” Stanley pulled her in for a bear hug. “I’m so pleased you’ve agreed to take the job. You’re going to be a phenomenal resource and representative for Boldt Castle.”
Harry couldn’t have been happier for Molly. She was the best person for the job, but that wasn’t the only reason he was happy: This decision meant that she trusted him not to leave her in the lurch.
Gaining her trust was the best feeling in the world.
“Thank you,” she said, beaming at Stanley’s praise. “I’m really excited about it. Although I was hoping we could do a slow transition, if that’s okay with you. I don’t want to leave Greta or anyone else at the store feeling like I walked away without making sure they had everything they needed to proceed without me.”
“You can transition however you’d like,” Stanley said, “but Greta has been preparing for this day for some time now.”
“She has? Even after I kept turning down the job?”
“We always held out hope that you would take it. That somehow one of our arguments would sway you. Little did we know it would take this guy showing up—” Stanley gestured to Harry with a smile. “—to seal the deal.”
“You and Greta are both so good to me, and to Amelia. I don’t know how I can ever repay you.”
“You know you’re the daughter we never had, Molly. Your happiness means the world to us. Family doesn’t ever need to repay family.”
Molly reached for Harry’s hand. “That’s exactly what Harry is always saying.”
Stanley’s grin grew even wider as he looked at their linked hands. “Am I right to assume that you have more than one thing to celebrate today?”
Molly’s nod made Harry feel even happier. “Yes. Harry and I are making a go of it. With Amelia’s blessing, of course.”
“All of this good news deserves a proper celebration,” Stanley said after he hugged Molly again, then gave Harry’s hand a hearty pump. “I’m going to find one of those bottles of champagne we stashed away after the last donor dinner. We can all toast you and your new position as head of the archives.”
As soon as he was gone, Molly took both Harry’s hands in hers. “I should have talked with you about this first, since it’s a decision that will impact both of us, but as soon as we stepped off the ferry, it hit me what I wanted to do. What I needed to do.”
“You know how much I want you to take this job. And how I intend to do whatever I can to support you and Amelia as you go after your dreams.” He drew her close. “I’m so proud of you for taking the leap, Molly.”
He kissed her, a kiss full of all the promises he was making to her. To stay. To support. To love.
She drew back, framing his face in her hands. “Actually, this is my day to take not just one big scary leap, but two.” She took a deep breath. “I love you, Harry.”
Harry’s breath caught. “Say it again.”
“I love you. I never stopped.”
He crushed his mouth to hers with a kiss that possessed at the same time that it gave. Gave everything he was to her.
Stanley, Greta, and a good dozen staff members were standing in the doorway when he finally let her go. “We didn’t want to interrupt,” Greta said with a cheeky smile. “In fact, we could come back later if that would be better.”
Molly’s cheeks were pink as she laughed and said, “Come in and pop the cork. I was just about to show Harry the treasures in the archives. You guys can help by showing him your favorites too.”
Soon, they were all enjoying the impromptu celebration, clinking their glasses together and munching on chocolate chip cookies from a tin Greta had found in the break room. Each person showed Harry the map, or book, or piece of original molding that they found to be the most interesting.
Harry had always loved working on a college campus—the intellectual stimulation, the support from his peers, the ability to make his living by digging deep into fascinating subjects. When they were eighteen, Molly had also wanted to be a professor of history who taught and studied her subject with great passion.
The more time he spent at Boldt Castle, though, the more he realized that was exactly what she’d found here. In her own perfectly unique and brilliant way, she’d created the life for herself that she’d envisioned, without letting any hardships or struggles hold her back.
With visitors soon arriving on the island, everyone had to go back to work, leaving Harry and Molly alone.
“I’ll need to leave for the store in a few minutes,” she said, “but there’s something I want to show you first.” She handed him a pair of gloves, then opened a locked drawer and pulled out a fire box. She put on a pair of gloves herself before opening it. “These are George and Louise Boldt’s love letters.”
Harry could see the reason for Molly’s reverence. The paper was faded and wrinkled, the handwriting old-fashioned, and when he picked a letter up, he swore he could actually feel the love in it.
“Aren’t they amazing?”
Her voice was thick with emotion as she silently read the lines she must have read many times before, but had never made her jaded. If Harry hadn’t already been head over heels in love with her, he would have fallen right then and there.
“They’re absolutely beautiful, Molly. Just like you.”