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“It is,” Connor agreed. “I feel like we walked into a movie or something.”
“Yeah. Like a fairytale.”
He slipped his arm around her waist and pulled her against his side, kissed her on the cheek. “If this is a fairytale, you’re the beautiful princess.”
She smiled up at him. “And you’re the handsome prince.”
Just then, the lights dimmed and a spotlight shone on the small stage that had been constructed at the far end of the ballroom.
Mrs. Valentine stepped up to the podium to a round of polite applause from the attendees. Luna noticed that the woman was dressed to the nines and felt thankful once again that she’d had a classic, appropriate LBD in her closet to wear to the event this evening.
“Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to the first annual fundraiser for the pediatric unit at Valentine Bay hospital. We’re raising money so that children will always get the best care, regardless of their parents’ ability to pay. I think we’d all agree that’s a worthy goal.”
She paused while strong applause rang out through the ballroom.
When she continued, she’d tucked her cards into her bag and Luna could see that she was simply speaking from the heart. “What I see when I look out at all of you tonight is the beating heart of Valentine Bay. You are the ones who rush to help those in need. Who value family, and community. You are the people that make this place so much more than a town. You make it a home. Thank you.”
Connor’s arm pulled tighter around Luna, and he whispered in her ear. “Are you okay?”
She turned to him to answer and realized that two tears had escaped and were rolling down her cheeks. She nodded and wiped them away.
But then, when Allison stepped to the microphone and sang the most haunting and beautiful a cappella version of, “I’ll Be Home For Christmas,” that Luna had ever heard, there was no point in holding them back any longer. She decided to just let them flow.
She turned her face up to Connor, smiling through the rivulets of tears running down her face and, in all likelihood, ruining her carefully applied makeup. She didn’t care.
“I’m fine,” she told him. “I’m just home for Christmas. For the first time in a long time, I’m home.”
