Epilogue
Six months later
Everyone had come for the groundbreaking of the new spa and farm shop at the Cassian Inn, made possible by a generous loan from Jenny’s father. This was just the beginning—they had grand plans, Jenny and Edan, beginning with a wedding that would take place in the summer.
“So soon?” Bethany asked. She had come along with Vanessa and Brooke for the party.
“Why not?” Jenny asked. “We’re going to do it here, in the new salon.” After much discussion, and a desire not to live where Edan had once lived with Audra, Edan and Jenny had taken the cottage up on the hill and had turned the private quarters into a premiere suite and a new, larger salon. They’d hung crystal chandeliers, had painted the paneling a soft gray, and had replaced the carpets and furnishings.
The best part of their work so far was the addition of a small bar in the new salon. It was now Jenny’s favorite room in the old mansion.
“Did I tell you about the woman who is going to marry us?” she said to her friends. “She’s a mystic. She read our cards and she said—”
“You’ve told me, like, one hundred times,” Bethany said, and smiled at the others. Jenny supposed that look was because she hadn’t stopped talking since they’d arrived. Could they blame her? She was deliriously happy.
She glanced at her watch—the ceremony would begin shortly. “I’ve got to get out there and greet people. You know how Edan is,” she said with a warm smile. “He’ll say hello and think he’s done. I’ll probably have to carry the whole event.”
“Thank God you’re so good at this sort of thing,” Vanessa said with a laugh.
The four women walked out of the inn and around to the first tee, which, to the consternation of the four seniors who met every Saturday to play, was being used today for the groundbreaking ceremony. The crowd was thick—people around Lake Haven and from East Beach had come to have a look at the plans and witness the ribbon cutting, arriving on the shuttle Jenny had negotiated with the village of East Beach. A shuttle that ran all around the lake had proven so popular that the village was going to expand the service from two to three trips a day during the high season.
After the short ceremony, there would be a reception to showcase the things that would be available in the new farm shop. Who knew that Sandra had been desperate to open one? Edan hadn’t realized it, but Jenny had. Sandra was in her element and had baked so many cakes that Jenny had been haunted by the scent of chocolate all week.
A pregnant Rosalyn and Hugh were in attendance. They’d decided to give the inn another year before deciding if they’d move to the city. Jenny and Rosalyn had become very good friends, and Jenny was certain they would stay. Ned and Sandra had come, the two old friends who still shared the farmhouse. It seemed Ned was not ready to retire just yet, and Sandra had not wanted to leave the spot where Clara was buried. Edan had arranged for Mr. Finlay to be brought down from the senior home. “I donna know what he recognizes, but he was as much a part of the inn as anyone,” he’d told Jenny. The old man didn’t know where he was, but he was enchanted with Wilbur and Boz, they, in turn, were enchanted with his attention to them.
Jenny’s father had come with Cathy and her teenage son, who skulked around Vanessa and Brooke most of the time. Even Lorenzo had come back for the ribbon cutting. Not with his one and only true love, Elizabetta, but with his new one and only true love, the doe-eyed, slinky Tatyana. “She is the love of my life, this girl,” he’d whispered to Jenny.
Jenny walked up to Edan, who was reviewing some note cards. He looked magnificent in his formal kilt. “How do I look?” he asked as he took her hand and kissed her cheek.
“Sexy,” she said. “So sexy. You should wear that to bed.”
He frowned. “I hoped to appear a bit mayoral.”
“That’s totally what I meant,” she said with a laugh. “Are you ready, Mr. Mackenzie? People are dying for champagne and nutballs.”
“Och, donna talk dirty to me now, love,” he said. With a squeeze of her hand, they walked to the little platform Ned had put up and signaled that the ceremony was to begin.
“I’ll start,” Edan whispered to her.
“Okay, you do that,” Jenny said. She would fill in when necessary as she always did.
“Thank you all for coming today,” Edan said when he’d gained everyone’s attention. “This,” he said, gesturing to the place where the shop and spa would be built, “was an idea only a few months ago.” He paused.
Jenny shifted forward, prepared to fill in, but Edan put his hand on her arm.
“Like all good ideas, it needed time to germinate, aye? For roots to sink and grow.”
Again, he hesitated, and again, Jenny tried to step forward. But Edan’s hand was still on her arm, and he squeezed it.
“But the time has come for new growth and tourism around Lake Haven. We at the Cassian Inn intend to be a part of that growth and continued history. What we mean to do here will only enhance what we all do, together, as a community. We’ve a plan for it...”
Edan continued to talk about growth and change. Jenny watched him, amazed at his many words. Amazed that this was the same man who had scarcely spoken a word the night she had arrived. She was so proud to be by his side. So bloody proud, as he would say. So thoroughly in love.
When he ended an amazing eight minutes of speaking, she and Edan cut the ribbon to enthusiastic applause.
“Come on, then, the lot of you, to the courtyard for champagne!” Rosalyn called to the assembly.
Edan and Jenny stood back, watching their neighbors and friends and staff make their way to the courtyard. “That was fabulous,” Jenny said. “You were fabulous, Edan.”
He smiled at her with such adoration that her skin began to tingle. “I could never have done this without you, lass. To think of all the years I muddled through, trying to please those who could no’ be pleased.”
“I know,” she said. “That’s just what I was—”
“To think I might have gone on that way for the rest of my bloody life,” he interrupted, and shook his head. “God, but I love you, Jen.”
“And I love—”
“We will fill this inn with babies and dogs and friends and family, aye? You belong here, with me, and we belong together, always. Do you know what? I believe in fate. You’ve made me believe in it. Come, we best have a bit of champagne before they drink us dry. I know how your friends are.” He gathered her in his arms and kissed her fully, then hand-in-hand, they went down to the courtyard.
Jenny was so happy that she didn’t care she hadn’t managed to get a single word in today.
Life was so lovely, and the best part was that she finally knew where to start.
# # #
Dear Reader:
I hope you have enjoyed this shorter entry in my Lake Haven series. I received so many tweets, notes and letters about the people living around the fictional village of East Beach on the shores of Lake Haven that I decided I wasn’t quite ready to it all behind. Edan and Jenny are the sort of couple with whom I’d want to have a glass of wine, and for sure I’d want a tour of that old Victorian mansion to see what they’ve done with it!
If you enjoyed the book, I hope you’ll consider leaving a favorable review .
If you’re looking for more novels set at , I have written three full-length (longer) novels that have preceded this one. I wrote the series for Montlake Publishing, an Amazon imprint, and as such the ebooks are only available from Amazon. But you can purchase a paper copy of any of the novels through your favorite etailer.
If you’re looking for a change of pace, I have a new contemporary romance series starting 2019, both in paperback and ebook, wherever books are sold. Look for The Princes of Texas, about the powerful Prince family and Three Rives Ranch, set in Texas, a place near and dear to my heart. The first book, Charmer in Chaps, will be available at the end of February 2019.
Thank you so much for your interest in my work!
Keep up with all my news at .
Sign up to follow me on and you will be notified when I have a new book available for preorder, being released, or sales on older titles:
You can find me on the web at:
Can’t get enough of Lake Haven? Check out this excerpt from the first book in the series, , the third book in the Lake Haven series: