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“Why don’t you finish that omelet before Cameron has a conniption fit,” Hazel said with a laugh. “If it’s okay, I’d like to pray over your food. Why don’t we sit down for a minute.”

They sat down at the table. Hazel reached for their hands, and they made a circle at the table as she prayed over Declan’s meal. “Dear Lord, please bless this food. And please bless and protect Declan as he makes this flight to Homer. May his skill and precision as a pilot shine today brighter than ever. Amen.”

Once breakfast was finished, Annie rode over to the pier with Declan in his truck. Afterward, she would make the short walk from the pier over to the library to open it up and begin her shift.

“You’ve got this!” Annie encouraged him as he walked toward Ethel, followed closely by his clients, a mother-daughter duo who had been sightseeing in Love.

Declan turned around and flashed her a thumbs-up sign. “You know it,” he said. “I’m right where I need to be, thanks to you.”

Once he settled himself into the cockpit, Declan felt a surge of adrenaline pounding through his veins. He fingered the controls and smiled at the excitement rising up within him. It was always like this when he was about to take one of his planes up in the wild blue yonder.

As he soared into the sky, Declan cast his gaze out the window. Usually he focused on what was above and around him. Endless sky. Cotton ball–like fluffy clouds. What lay past the horizon. This time he found himself looking down and searching for a glimpse of Annie. He spotted her, a small speck of red in a sea of white. A feeling of joy fluttered through him. He was soaring. Gliding. And it felt invigorating to be sitting in the cockpit, at the controls, flying his beloved Ethel. None of this would have happened today if it hadn’t been for Annie. Plucky, adorable Annie. She had forced him out of his comfort zone this morning, all because she cared about him and O’Rourke Charters. Annie wanted the best for him. And she had just proved to him that she would go the extra mile to make sure that all was right in his world.

As he soared higher and higher up in the sky, past the clouds and the mountains and on toward Homer, he rejoiced in the sensation of being on top of the world. At the same time he suspected he was falling...tumbling...headlong over the edge for Annie.

* * *

Annie looked around her at the library patrons who were browsing the shelves. It made her smile to see people enjoying the library with such enthusiasm. These days it seemed as if she wore a perpetual smile on her face. Ever since Declan had reestablished his flying routine a week ago, things between them had been better than ever. Declan seemed to radiate a confidence that took her breath away. More and more it seemed as if he believed in himself. And she was beginning to believe in them, even though it went against her nature to hope for things that were out of her grasp. The very words she’d tossed at Declan were beginning to resonate deeply within her.

Living your life with one foot in the past isn’t really living at all.

She had been guilty this whole time of the same exact thing. Her past relationship with Todd had jaded her about good-looking men like Declan. Being duped by him had left an emotional scar on her heart. Her desire not to repeat the cycle in her family of unwed mothers had made her overly cautious. It shamed her to realize that she had judged Declan based on his looks and his flirtatious ways.

She had always been a fair-minded person. Had she been just in her view of Declan?

Declan was handsome and charming. That in itself wasn’t a crime. They were simply two of the many reasons she loved him. Loved him?

Annie stopped in her tracks and placed the books she was holding onto the shelf. Her legs were trembling underneath her.

Love! Did she really love Declan? Yes! She loved him with every fiber of her being. Wholly. Devotedly. Without reservation.

He was coming over tonight for dinner. She was putting her best culinary foot forward and making him Gram’s famous chicken parmesan. And she was going to talk to him about Gram’s journal and her plans to approach Mayor Prescott about his relationship with her grandmother. It was time! The longer she waited, the more explaining she would have to do about why she hadn’t introduced herself as Aurelia Alice Murray’s granddaughter when she’d arrived in Love.

A feeling of excitement thrummed in her veins. Everything was falling perfectly into line. O’Rourke Charters was back on track, and her quest to find her family would soon come to an end. By the time Declan arrived at her cabin, she had put the finishing touches on dinner and set the table to create an intimate, romantic vibe. She bit her lip as she surveyed the vase of flowers and the woodsy scented candles. She didn’t want Declan to think she was trying too hard. A sudden knock on the door made it a moot point. Declan had arrived, bearing a box of pastries from the Moose Café.

“Wow. This place looks terrific. You’ve really transformed it,” Declan said as he looked around. She followed his gaze as he surveyed the cabin. She had put a lot of love and care into creating a chic vibe in the once-drab cabin. New curtains, rugs, throw covers, lamps. The whole nine yards.

“Thanks. Hazel almost didn’t recognize it when she came inside the other day. And Sophie wants me to refurbish her room when I get some spare time,” Annie said with a chuckle.

Declan winked at her. “Sounds like you might have a good side business going there.”

“I have something to tell you,” she said. She could barely contain her excitement. “It’s about Gram’s journal.”

“Oh. Before I forget, I brought it back.” He reached down to the inside pocket of his jacket and pulled it out.

“Thank you,” she said, placing the diary down onto the table. “I’ve decided to approach Jasper about being his granddaughter.”

Declan’s eyes went wide. He frowned at her. “What are you going to say, Annie?”

“That we’re related,” she said with a wide spreading motion of her arms. “The town council has requested my presence at their meeting tomorrow to discuss the literacy program, so I was thinking I might pull him aside afterward and tell him.”

?

??Annie, I don’t think you should say anything.” Declan’s tone sounded somber.

Perhaps she had misheard him? What was Declan hinting at?

Annie cocked her head to the side. “What? Why, of course I should. That’s been my plan this entire time. Jasper has a right to know who I am and that I might be his granddaughter.”

Source: www.allfreenovel.com
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