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“I loved Alex too much not to.”She took another sip of tea and, with a shaking hand, set the cup down on the end table.“Mr.Milsrise was insistent that Alex marry and give him heirs to the family fortune.At that time, their business was thriving.They started spending more and more time up at Merry Falls Inn, entertaining suitable families and candidates for marriage.”
“Like an arranged marriage?”Maureen didn’t bother hiding her surprise.Even for the time, it seemed extremely old-fashioned.
“Not quite.”Elise shrugged.“But not too far off.There were plenty of suitable marriage candidates for Alex.Mr.Milsrise made sure of that.”
“And Alex just agreed to it?Just like that?”
“There was no other choice,” she said sadly.“Not back then.It didn’t take long until the wedding was announced and my heart broke.”
Maureen’s heart broke for her new friend and the pain she must have been in so many years ago.
“For a while, I thought about leaving the inn altogether and finding a new job far away, where I wouldn’t have to witness the love of my life marry another, but by then, this was my home.I didn’t know anything else.And I think part of me decided that it was better to be near Alex, in at least some small way, than not at all.”
“That’s heartbreaking.”
“It was.”Elise smiled sadly.“But it was a long time ago.And I was right.It was better to have pieces of Alex, even if from afar, than nothing at all.Especially when their little girl was born.I can’t imagine not having had Susan in my life.”
Maureen’s eyes widened as she put the pieces together.“Your niece?”
Elise winked.“It was Alex’s greatest gift to me, allowing me the space to be close to Susan.When she was born, I knew I would never move away.”
“That’s so sad.”
“Is it?”Elise looked her straight in the eye.“Isn’t it better to be surrounded by love than to be alone?I had little Susan.She filled my heart in ways I didn’t know were possible.It was a kind of love I didn’t know existed.If I would have left, I never would have had that.”
“But…what about Alex?To just stand by and watch them be a family while you—”
“I was family, too.In a different way.”She nodded and clasped her hands together.
For the first time, Maureen noticed the gold band on her left hand.She didn’t have a chance to ask before Elise started speaking again.
“After a while, I left the inn and moved down into town to work for a different hotel.Over time, I became the general manager there and held that position until I retired just over twenty years ago.But the Merry Falls Inn was always special to me and held a piece of my heart.”
“Which is why you come back every year?”
Elise nodded.“But the most important position I ever held was being Susan’s aunt and Alex’s best friend.I supported the marriage.How could I not, when little Susan was the product of such a union?So I simply shut off that part of my heart and focused on all the other parts.And there were many.It was a full life I had.With more love than I ever could have imagined.”
She finished talking and laid her head back against the chair, as if telling her story had taken all her energy.Maybe it had.Elise’s eyes were closed for so long, Maureen thought maybe she’d fallen asleep.
She waited and sipped at her tea, thinking about what Elise had said.
The older woman wasn’t wrong.There were plenty of kinds of love.She, too, had experienced them.After Adam…there’d been a time when Maureen was sure she would never love again.But if she had let that feeling take hold and take over, she never would have had her boys.And that love was one that was greater than any other.
“Tell me more.”Elise spoke, startling Maureen.“About Adam.And your perfect summer.”
“Perfect?”
She opened one eye.“Nothing is perfect.But it sounds like it came close.”
“You’re right,” Maureen said.“Nothing is perfect.”
“But?”
“You’re right.It was as close to perfect as you can get.”
Six Months Earlier
June
