Trevor and Emma did forge their own path. Chapel Hill became home to Emma’s pet-sitting service as well as their new home together, which housed several mutts, two stray cats, and a recalcitrant pygmy goat. With a lot of hard work, Trevor’s business continued to grow, and did even better when Emma lured Chelsea away from Hamilton Industries to come work for her new husband.
Lionel continued to rattle around in his mountaintop retreat, never alone, always a staff around him, but intensely lonely, nonetheless. Thinking about the love he’d lost, as he often did, with the passing of his dear Tru. And the secrets he’d kept, both selfishly and selflessly, realizing now just how great the cost had been to him. And he wondered if he’d made the right decisions…. And yet, what choice did he have? He’d been protecting Trudy’s legacy as well.
And at that very same time, in a neighboring county, another young man was about to make a discovery that would change his life. Sending him on a quest that would shake the very foundations of everything Lionel, and those who had come before him, had believed to be true. Secrets would finally be exposed, and nothing would be safe and secure again.
Read more of Donna Kauffman’s delightful holiday romance in Lock, Stock & Jingle Bells!