Chapter 12

Just as Malcolm and Rain could have predicted, the Inn fell silent.

A&P rose to her feet and approached Rain. The two women shared a long embrace, and when A&P let go, she leaned in and said softly, “I will help however I can.” She nodded good-byes to everyone in the room, refused an escort home, and showed herself out.

“Noah,” Malcolm said. “Is there anything you want to say? Anything you want to ask?”

Noah shook his head and looked at Rachel. They made eye contact and Noah smiled at her. Then he looked back at his father. “I support you. You too, Mom. Home is where you guys are.”

Noah turned his head again to Rachel, said something quietly, then excused himself and walked into the kitchen. Rachel watched him take something from the table and put it in his pocket. Then he stepped back into the doorway and beckoned for her to follow him. A few short steps later, the couple slipped out the back door and let the screen door slam behind them.

Matthew and Shawn spoke quietly while Malcolm straightened and reloaded the real estate and sales documents back into the envelope. When he looked up, Samantha reentered the room and sat.

“What do we know about them?” she said evenly.

“May I?” Alex said. “The buyers are a couple from northern Virginia. The husband recently retired from a civilian position at the Coast Guard. They have a very nice pension, impressive savings, and family money on his wife’s side from which to draw.” He sat up a little and changed gears. “They are perhaps not as warm as your mother and father were, and they are decidedly more private. But like many in their position, living where they have for so long, they want to escape. They’ve looked at other opportunities like this, other inns closer to the city, but they’re overpriced. This one works with their budget and priorities. Mrs. French has given them several tours of the Inn and the property and has very discreetly shown them around town.”

When no one spoke immediately, Alex continued. “I have discussed the financial situation with them and presented an audit. I get the strong impression that they are decent people. Of course, they are not at the level of your mother and father, or Malcolm and Rain for that matter. And they are not as young as your parents were when they came to the Inn, but they appear to be energetic and driven to turn a profit and do more than quietly retire. He, especially, is a focused, goal-driven type. He has ideas about branching into corporate training out here, maybe building one of those obstacle or ropes courses companies use for team building, that kind of thing. Admittedly I am not familiar with that kind of work or those programs, but he seems to be.”

“You mentioned their financial situation?” Matthew prompted.

“They have demonstrated the resources to give what is needed, both in sale price and operating funds. And, frankly, if I might add, this is a very difficult market to sell a business like this. You may not view it that way right now, but there are other businesses in the county equally or more attractive that have sat on the market for much, much longer.”

Malcolm took the natural opening. “Rain and I have talked about this and we want to share the proceeds. Obviously we have financial obligations we need to meet. But we do want to share some of the profits from what we believe is a fair sale in this market to people we believe will find a way to make it work.”

Malcolm looked at both of his siblings and added, “It’s the right thing to do.”

Outside Noah held the swing still for Rachel to climb on. Then just as his grandfather Jack had, and with the same gusto as his father, Malcolm, with one strong push off the ground Noah sent the swing into perfectly balanced motion.

“Everything OK?” Rachel asked.

“Yes. Actually I’m pretty great. I just feel . . . It’s weird—I feel like we were ready for this.”

“We?”

“Sure.”

“Noah, you realize how incredibly out of place I feel tonight. I’m very glad to be here for you, even a little honored, but I wanted to sink into those cushions and disappear.”

With one finger Noah tucked long strands of hair behind Rachel’s ear. “You shouldn’t have. Dad said to invite you if I thought you should be there. And I did because I do. . . . I’m ready.”

“Ready for what?”

“For the change. For this to end. I know that if I’d told Mom and Dad that I wanted this life for me, they would have found a way to make that happen. I’m sure they would have.” Noah looked at the sky above the roofline of the Inn. The air was thick with early summer Virginia humidity, and the overcast night hid every star in the universe.

“Maybe it will hit me harder later,” he continued. “I mean, I’m going to miss this place like crazy. This was my childhood home. Not many people anywhere can say they were raised in an inn, but I was. This is the only place I’d ever lived until I headed off to Mason and started doing my own thing. But this has not been my dream, my goal, for a long, long time. Plus, I know Mom and Dad have been stressing about it for a while. And who am I to tell them what will make them happy?”

Rachel had noticed him staring into the starless sky and followed his eyes upward. “This is going to sound ridiculous, but I’m surprisingly bummed out.”

Noah laughed. “Bummed out? Was that in your thesis?”

“I’m serious, Noah. I’ve only been out here a few times, but I love it. This place feels more like home than my own home. There’s just something about it.” Her voice trailed off.

The swing carried them through the valley night air, and Noah could not imagine another place, another time, or another person he would rather be with at that very moment. He looked at her shadowed profile. “This isn’t how I expected it would be.”

“Expected what to be?”

Noah looked up again. “Not a star to be seen. Here we are in this perfect moment in time, two people in love on a swing my grandparents used in the yard I grew up in. We should be looking up and seeing a billion stars smiling down on us and marking the path to whatever comes next.”

“Oh, my,” Rachel said. “Am I in a Nicholas Sparks’ novel?”

Noah’s laugh filled the yard. “Four ha’s for that one,” he said. “Just stick with me for a second. You know what I love about cloudy days?”

“Tell me, Nick.”

“I love the assurance that even when you can’t see the sun you know it’s there. Even when you can’t see the stars at night, like right now, you know they’re right there. It’s not as if God’s brilliant and perfectly placed stars just go away. They are always up there whether you can see them or not.”

Rachel’s expression was a cocktail of confusion and worry.

“It’s like a family, isn’t it? I can promise you right now Aunt Sam and Uncle Matt can’t see the stars in there either. But do they love Mom and Dad? And do my folks love them back? Totally.”

“I suppose that’s true.”

“It totally is. We all wish we saw the stars all the time. Who doesn’t feel safe when the map is clear, when there are no secrets, when there’s literally nothing between us and whatever is up there beyond what our eyes or telescopes can see?”

Rachel looked up one more time before settling her focus squarely on Noah. “Well said. And you know what? That would make a lovely children’s book. Maybe your first?”

Noah hadn’t heard her. Instead of answering, he stepped off the swing and put his hands on the outsides of her thighs. “So yes, maybe it would be better right now if the sky were filled with stars, if we had a little breeze instead of this air that feels like I’m wearing a wet sweater. Maybe it could be more like a scene that lovers dream of. But what I see when I look up isn’t an overcast sky or a forecast of rain. I see a family. I see the hope that no matter what, no matter where we are in life or where we are on the globe, the stars are still there.”

Noah knelt on one knee and took her left hand with his. Then he slid something from his right front pocket and held it in the air between them.

“Is that a napkin ring?” Rachel nervously chuckled out the words.

“For now.” He smiled and slipped it on two of her fingers.

Rachel’s hands began to quiver.

“Rachel Kaplan. Will you marry me?”