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“You’re right,” Grandpa Hank said. “I never could.”
Charlotte spotted Charlie’s shadow out on the front porch. He was leaning against the railing, gazing out at Main Street. Sometimes over the past year, she’d caught him like this, lost in thought. She knew he was thinking about Sarah and Melissa. In falling in love with Charlie, she’d learned to fall in love with both of them, too. They would always be a part of him.
“Hey, stranger.” Charlotte came onto the front porch with two glasses of wine and handed one to Charlie. As he turned to look at her, he smiled, and Charlotte shivered with recognition. They were in love— but it was a different kind of love than she’d ever known. It was supportive. It was quiet. It nourished her soul.
Charlie took the glass of wine and kissed her, wrapping his arm around her waist to draw her closer. Charlotte was lost in his warmth, and her mind’s eye filled with hundreds of images of the previous year. Not everyone got to fall in love during the refurbishment of their grandparents’ inn. It was her own personal fairy tale.
“Grandpa Hank is going to tell his story soon,” Charlotte said.
Charlie tapped his nose against hers. “I wonder when you’ll tell your story.”
“What do you mean?” Charlotte’s heart swelled.
“The story of us,” Charlie said. “Of how we found each other here in the fantastical land of White Plains. Of how we found a way to start over in our very own castle.” He tilted his head toward the Cherry Inn.
Charlotte closed her eyes, overwhelmed with a wave of love for him. “That’s the story I’ve been telling myself ever since I met you.”
“Who says fairy tales aren’t true?” Charlie kissed her again.
Charlie and Charlotte held one another on the front porch of the Cherry Inn as a sharp draft came down Main Street, peppered with snow. The Cherry Inn was all lit up, its eaves lined with Christmas lights and its windows aglow. The Summers family was back where they belonged, preparing their hearts for Christmas. And Charlotte knew that without Charlie, it would have never been possible. That was real love.
