you know how much it means to James and me that you would share this day with us.”
As if hearing his name the chapel door opened and James walked in. “I thought I’d find you in here,” he said and came to stand behind his wife. He set his hands on her shoulders and leaned forward to kiss her neck. “It’s good to see you, Emily. You’re doing well?”
“Yes, thanks, very well.” I didn’t mention that I’d moved out of Seattle and was teaching school in Cedar Cove. I stood, thinking it was time I left. “It was a beautiful ceremony. You two are perfect together.”
James looked at his bride, his eyes full of love.
Katie pressed her hand over James’s. “If I had one wish for this day it would be for you,” she said.
“Me?”
“That you would find the love you deserve with a man who will appreciate you and cherish you the way James does me.”
“That’s a tall order,” I said, wishing the same thing for myself. “I see how James looks at you.”
“That man is out there, Em,” James said. “And he’s going to be lost until he finds you, the same way I was until Katie came back into my life.” Then realizing what he’d said, he sent me an apologetic look.
Em. He’d never called me Em before. The only one who ever had was Nick.
“James is right. That special man is waiting for you,” Katie added.
I smiled, my heart in turmoil but grateful for their reassurances. We hugged, and I left feeling a thousand times better than I thought I would. Nick was right. I needed to attend this wedding. It helped me realize that while it’d been a painful episode in my life, I’d done the right thing.
For them.
For me.
The return drive to Cedar Cove seemed to take hours. The weekend traffic was heavy. It would be another two and a half months before my agreement with Nick was up. Surprisingly, my head and my heart were in a good place.
—
I was fairly confident Nick loved me. James had assured me there was a man who would love me. If I hadn’t known better I would swear James had found out about Nick. While I remembered the pain, I also remembered the love that radiated from him, too. The love that I’d rejected.
Once back at the inn, I found Jo Marie sitting on the porch with Rover at her side. She managed a welcoming smile when she saw me. “How was the wedding?”
“Unbelievable. Katie was a beautiful bride and the wedding couldn’t have been more perfect.”
“Are you glad you went?”
It surprised me to realize I was. “Yes.”
“I hope you don’t mind. I found the invitation in the trash and took it back to your room just in case you changed your mind.”
“You did that?” I knew I’d tossed it. “Actually, I’m grateful.” Attending the wedding had been a healing experience for me. I’d more or less played the role of the martyr when I’d split with James. I felt better than I had in weeks, my heart was lighter, my head clearer.
“You know Katie and Coco stayed at the inn when they were in town for the class reunion.”
I sat down next to Jo Marie, convinced she was about to press the point of the inn’s healing powers. “I know Katie’s story. She and James were high school sweethearts.”
“He wanted nothing to do with her.”
I’d attended the reunion with James and he hadn’t mentioned Katie once. Long before he’d told me that he’d had his heart broken but hadn’t shared the details. The instant I saw him with Katie, I knew she was the one.
“Katie isn’t the only one.”
I frowned, not understanding.
“Coco stayed here, too,” Jo Marie reminded me.
“Hudson was part of the reunion?”
“Same class,” Jo Marie reiterated. “They hooked up after the reunion.”
“They are the sweetest couple.” I’d enjoyed seeing them together, amazed at how different they were and yet how much in love they seemed to be.
Jo Marie smiled. “Aren’t those two the most unlikely couple? Hudson is deeply involved in medical research and is oblivious to just about everything and everyone except Coco. He had a huge crush on her in high school.”
“They’re pregnant.”
Jo Marie’s smile grew bigger. “I’m not surprised.”
Leaning back in the chair, I looked out over the cove. Gazing at the blue-green water, the snowcapped mountains, and the blue sky never failed to stir me. The inn, according to Jo Marie, had worked its magic on Katie and Coco.