Chapter Twenty-Three

Kira

My heart sits heavy against my ribs as I drop another log into the fire and head back to the kitchen for a cup of tea. I can’t believe I have an offer on the place. It came through twenty minutes ago. The buyer had already been to the real estate office to sign the papers, and then Phillip emailed them to me. I electronically signed the contract and sent it back, which means nothing is keeping me here anymore.

While I hate to sell the B&B after everyone had tried so hard to save it, I can’t stay here. Not anymore. Tears blur my vision as I boil the kettle and drop in a teabag. No matter how hard I try not to think about what happened yesterday, the betrayal, I can’t push it from my brain, and my damn heart breaks just a little bit more every second.

Nate was using me to get the cottage.

I pour a dash of milk into the mug and go back to the fire. From the other room, the kitchen door opens, and I’m surprised to hear everyone voices. I glance at the clock. It’s only eleven in the morning—what are they all doing back so soon? I turn, and one by one, my friends—family—meet me in the living room and drop down into the cushiony chairs.

“What’s going on?” I ask. I turn to Jason, who looks like he’s been roughed up. My hand goes to my chest, and I gasp. “Jason, what happened to you?”

“Your boyfriend beat me up,” he says with a smirk. “To be fair, I went after him first.”

My pulse jumps in my throat. “What are you talking about?”

“Sit down, Kira. We have to talk,” Izzy says, her voice so serious, every muscle in my body tenses.

I lower myself into Gram’s old rocking chair, and with a shaky hand, I set my tea on the small table beside me, being careful not to spill it on the sun-yellowed doily.

“We were pretty pissed off at Nate, as you can imagine, and we went to his office this morning to show him exactly how pissed off we were,” Izzy begins.

Shock rockets through me. This is my battle, not theirs. “You shouldn’t—”

Izzy holds her hand up to stop me. “I’m not here to patch things up between you two. You’re both adults and need to have a conversation.”

“Won’t happen,” I say.

“Fine, that’s your choice, and one you need to think about, but there is something you need to know, and what you do with the information is your business. We won’t judge you, either way.”

I sit up a little straighter, having no idea what she’s talking about. “What information?”

“The plant Nate was building. It wasn’t about cutting jobs and streamlining. It was about increasing them and investing in the community,” she says. “Yes, of course, it will be higher profits for Hooked, but that’s not Nate’s final goal.”

After everything I’ve ever heard about Hooked, about what the men in the family did and said to increase profits, I’m having a hard time digesting that as truth. “You believe that?”

“Actually, yeah, we do.” Everyone nods. “He was pretty sincere. But he would never, ever ask you to sell the cottage, now that he knows you own it.”

“Are you suggesting he didn’t know?”

If he didn’t know, why didn’t he ever mention it to me, why go by a different last name, why not tell me what he really did for a living? I roll that around in my brain for a second. I never mentioned the studio to him, either, and he did explain the last name. And when it came to what he did for a living, I sort of always cut him off, not wanting him to feel or think his job as a fisherman was beneath mine as an academic.

Is it possible that he didn’t really know?

“That’s what he says, and that’s for you two to figure out, but the bottom line, Kira, is he is not trying to buy it anymore. He told his lawyer to take the offers off the table.”

My heart jumps into my throat. Could I have been so wrong about him? I briefly close my eyes. If I was wrong… God, the cruel things I said.

The cruel things he said back.

Then again, can I blame him for striking out? I’d hurt him, and if I am wrong, I’m not sure there is anything I can ever do to fix things. I just assumed he was like every other man in my life and didn’t even give him time to explain. God, I don’t even deserve his forgiveness if he was sincerely trying to boost the economy.

The man put himself in danger to save me from a horse, for God’s sake, and we had a month of fun, of getting to know one another. He’d always been honest and open, sincere. A man with integrity. He always treated me, and others…even Bridgette, with care. Would a man with a secret agenda stop the offers, or push harder?

Oh God, what have I done?

I pinch the bridge of my nose, and my throat tightens. I should just drive to Halifax right now, get on a plane—even though I hate flying, but the sooner I’m gone, the better—and let him move on with his life. He deserves better.

I glance around the room and take in Jason, Cody, and Sam’s somber expressions. “Guys?” I ask. “What do I do?”

“It’s like this,” Sam begins. “Maybe he’s not such an asshole. Maybe he really was trying to do something good for this town. Jason kind of beat that truth out of him.”

“I think it was the other way around,” Jason says and winces when he touches his stomach.

“If I don’t sell, I’ll be the one responsible for stopping the building of something that could really help the economy and people.” I stop and swallow. Hard. “But if I do…” I push from my chair and take a few deep breaths as I stand before the fire, the room quiet behind me like everyone is holding their breaths.

“Gram asked one thing of me before she died, and that was to take her studio, turn it into a Heritage Home, and open it to the community. I guess she planned to run it like she did the B&B, on the honor system. I would never have believed it possible before.”

At the mention of the B&B, I turn back around. “The place sold this morning,” I say quietly to soften the blow. “I’m so sorry. But I accepted because I can’t stay now.” Izzy shoots Sam a glance, and then the crew eye each other. Are they upset with me? “I really am sorry. I appreciate what you’ve all done for me.” Heart aching in my chest, I glance back at the fire. “Gram,” I say out loud, my voice as shaky as my hands. “What do I do?”

For no apparent reason, the fire flares, and once again I sense her with me, smell her familiar scent. “I made a promise to you,” I say, as tears fall down my face. But as the warmth in the room wraps around me like one of Gram’s comforting hugs, a new sense of calm suddenly comes over me. I take a deep, fueling breath, and as my mind settles, the solution becomes an easy one, and I know exactly what I have to do.

I turn to face the others. “I need to go to Halifax.”

“Kira?” Izzy asks, worry in her eyes. “What are you doing?”

“I need to go right now,” I say, a new sense of urgency overcoming me.

“I’ll take you,” Sam says. “You don’t look like you’re in any shape to drive, and I could use a Starbucks.”

“I’ll come, too,” Jason says.

“Same,” Cody pipes in.

“Well, you’re not all going without me,” Izzy says.

“You guys don’t have to come. I’m a big girl. I can go by myself. Besides, what about work?” The season is winding down, and surely there are last minute things they need to do.

“Yeah, let’s go,” Sam says, ignoring me.

We dress and climb into Sam’s noisy car, and forty-five minutes later, after hitting the drive-thru to Starbucks, I give Sam the address to Pratt and Whitney law firm. “I won’t be long,” I say.

“Are you sure this is what you want to do?” Izzy asks.

“Yes, and this is what Gram would want me to do. She loves Lunenburg, the people, and everything about it. If selling the studio meant helping, she’d do it in a heartbeat.”

“What about you, though?”

“It’s not the structure. It’s the memories and the things we created together that count. I’ll take the paintings and store them, and when the time is right, I’ll have a new studio built somewhere else and fulfill Gram’s dreams. It might not be a Heritage Home, but I think she’ll be okay with that.”

I slide from the car and make my way to the law office on the twelfth floor. I tell the receptionist who I am, and she disappears for a moment. I sit, and when she comes back, she ushers me into an office with the name Oliver Clarke on the door.

“I’m Kira Palmer, and I’m here to sell the property you’re after.”

The lawyer looks at me like I just grew another head. “I was told to pull all offers.”

“All I’m looking for is a fair one.” Enough money to build a new studio in the future.

He grabs a manila envelope, riffles through it, and slides a piece of paper across the desk. I take my time to read through it and agree to the fair price. I sign, hand it back, and stand. “Thank you for your time,” I say and leave the office, knowing in my heart I’m doing the right thing.

I’m sure Nate will never want to speak to me again, but at least I was able to do this for him, and it will earn him the respect he deserves.

I take the elevator back to the main floor and work double-time to fight off the tears. The crew is waiting for me in the car, and we all head back to the B&B, which feels empty and hollow, much like my insides, without Nate’s presence.

Everyone goes off to do their own thing, each lost in our thoughts, and I spend the next few hours gathering my work and packing it up. I’ll soon have to make plans to return, and since the roads are bad and Gram’s car is not fit for a cross-country trek, I’ll have to fly. I boot up my computer and find flights leaving in two days. That will at least give me time to say goodbye to the town.

My finger hovers over the buy button, but I can’t quite pull the trigger. Everything in my gut is telling me to stay and fight for Nate, but I’m not sure I could handle his rejection. He was so damn angry with me, and right to be after my accusations. But is he really the kind of guy not to forgive, once he realizes how it looked to me?

I fold my hands over my upset stomach and shake my head. I can’t. I just can’t leave here before talking to him. For God’s sake, I’m in love with the man, and even more so now, knowing what he wants to do for this community. I need to talk to him. I need to make this right somehow.

As my heart pounds hard in my chest, and exhaustion from a sleepless night pulling at me, I go to my room, flop down on my bed to consider how best to approach this, and the next thing I know, the sun is slanting in through my window. But that’s not what has me alarmed. No, it’s the sound of hooves and metal chains outside my window.

Is Eddie on the loose again?

I jump from the bed and pull back my curtains to see Doug climbing off the buggy. What is going on? Robe tied tight around my waist, I step into the hall, to find the others all coming from their rooms.

“What’s all the noise?” Cody asks and scrubs his tired eyes.

“Doug is here with his horse and buggy,” I explain.

Izzy’s head comes back with a start, and then a small smile touches her mouth as she glances at the guys. A knock sounds on the back door.

“We better go see what he wants,” Izzy says.

I go down first, and a gust of wind blows over me when I open the door. Doug takes his hat off.

“Miss Palmer,” he says. “Your chariot awaits.”

I look past his shoulder to see a snarling Eddie. “I didn’t book a ride,” I say. “I’m not even dressed. You must be mistaken.”

He pulls a piece of paper from his pocket, and his weathered face crinkles as he reads it. “Nope. Right here. Right address.”

My heart beats faster as my brain kicks into gear. “Who set this up?” I ask, a surge of hope welling up inside me. Is it possible that Nate’s behind this?

“Can’t say for sure,” he says. “Now run along and get dressed. It’s cold out there.”

I turn to the crew, and they’re making coffee and avoiding my glance. “Are you guys behind this?” Are they giving me a farewell send-off?

“You’d better get going,” Jason says.

“And dress warm,” Sam adds, as he scratches his…parts, and sits at the table.

Mumbling under my breath, I go dress. The crew sits around the table eating, and completely ignores me when I return.

Outside, Doug helps me onto the buggy. “He’s not going to take off with me in this thing, is he?” I ask as I settle myself. Doug hands me a big wool blanket, and I wrap it around me. It smells like horse.

“Can’t say for sure, Miss Palmer,” he says, offering zero comfort.

“Where are we going?”

He flicks his reins, and Eddie takes off, snorting at me before leaving the driveway. I glance around, take in the beauty of the place, the freshly fallen snow clinging to the trees. I have no idea what’s going on here, but after finding out Nate is staying in the Victorian home he purchased, I plan to go knocking on his door when we go by. I somehow need to make things right again. But I don’t even know if he’ll want to, and he could very well be gone from here now that he’s secured the land. He told me he was leaving at the end of the lobster season, so I can only assume he was here to attend to the business of buying, with no plans to hang around afterward.

We head to downtown, and instead of giving me a tour of the city, we go a little farther out, to a wide-open space near the ocean. Doug stops the horse, and I glance around.

“Why are we stopping?”

He nods toward the water, and I spot Nate coming out from around a tree and walking toward us. Tears fill my eyes, and I stumble trying to get off the buggy.

“Nate,” I say and meet him in the clearing. “I’m…I don’t know…I wasn’t sure you’d ever want to see me again.”

“You signed the papers,” he says, the warmth in his eyes pushing back the cold in my bones. “Why did you do that?” he asks so quietly I have to strain to hear him.

“Because it was important to the community, and it was…important to you,” I say honestly.

Dark lashes fall slowly, and when they open again, he says, “I’ve never met anyone like you, Kira.”

I cringe at the words he threw back at me in anger two days ago. “I thought you said I was no different from the other women in your life.”

“I was wrong.”

“Nate,” I begin, but choke on my words.

“Kira, I never, ever meant to hurt you. I’m not the guy you think I am. I never want to be that guy. I want to be someone you can love and respect, and what you did…” He stops and takes a breath, his chest rattling a bit. “I would never ask that of you. You know that, right?”

“I do. I wanted to talk to you. I was going to stop by your place this morning.” I turn and point to the buggy. “This was you?”

“Yes.”

I glance around the clearing, take in the trees around us. “Why did you bring me here?”

“I’m not tearing Gram’s studio down.”

“Nate, no, we have to,” I say quickly, panic erupting inside me. “It’s important, and Gram would want that. With the money from the sale, I’ll rebuild at some point.”

“No, you won’t. I purchased this land yesterday.” He waves his hands around, and I angle my head, my brain trying hard to keep up.

“I don’t understand. What do you want this land for?”

“We’re going to move the studio here.”

My heart stops beating. “Wait, what?”

He waves his hand again. “It’s not the same, Kira. I know that. But at least it’s close enough to town that people can walk here.”

“You’re wrong,” I say, and a line forms in his forehead as he frowns, those deep green eyes of his filled with worry.

“I thought you’d like this,” he says

“You’re wrong, Nate. It’s not the same.”

“I know but—”

“It’s better,” I say, cutting him off. “This location is perfect, and accessible to more people.”

He reaches out and tentatively cups my elbow. When I don’t pull back, he says, “Kira, I’m sorry for the things I said.”

“I reacted, because—”

“Because you’ve been hurt before. But I’ll never hurt you. I promise.” He swallows hard. “I don’t want you to go.”

“I don’t want to go. I want to stay here at the B&B, work at the local university, and keep the rooms open for Izzy and the guys, but it sold, Nate.” I choke on my words. “It sold yesterday.”

He smiles and cups my cold cheeks with his warm hands. “It’s yours, Kira. I bought it. It’s for you.”

I shake my head and try to wrap my brain around what he’s saying. “Nate—?”

He puts his finger to my lips. “I’m staying. I’ll have to travel a bit, to help the company survive and to secure jobs, but I’ll always come back here to you. You once said we can’t pick our family, but we can. I pick you and this whole town.”

“Nate, I can’t—”

“What can’t you do?” he asks in a soft voice.

“I can’t accept the B&B.”

“Do you want to stay, Kira?” I nod, my voice stuck in my throat. “You know, I somehow knew you’d say you couldn’t accept it. That’s just like you. You’re the most honest, loving, genuine, caring woman I know. You’re not one to take without giving, but you have to accept this Kira. It’s a wedding gift.”

The world closes in on me. “A…” He pulls something from his pocket and drops to his knee on the cold, damp, snow-dusted ground.

“Will you marry me, Kira? I love you with all my heart, and if you say yes, you’ll make me the happiest man in the world.”

“Nate—” I begin but stop when the sound of chains and hooves reach my ears. “Oh my God,” I yell as I turn to see Eddie gunning for me, Doug unsuccessfully chasing after him. Two strong arms wrap around my waist, and the next thing I know, I’m on the ground, spinning like the Tasmanian devil, with Nate cushioning my body from the cold dampness with his.

“I’ve got you, Kira,” he says when we come to a stop, and I bask in the love reflecting in his eyes.

I smile at the man beneath me, my heart so full of love and adoration, I’m sure it’s going to burst. “You’re right. You’ve got me, Nate,” I say, giving him my answer and pressing my lips to his for a lifetime of kisses. “And while you might not be a lobster fisherman, you’re still my lobster,” I whisper into his mouth.