Kate Hoffmann - Kellan

When Nan took Riley’s hand, Kellan was forced to turn around, but not before talking one last look. She smiled at him and gave him a little wave and Kellan sent a silent thanks to the heavens. She’d shown up and she was smiling at him. Things were going quite well.

Throughout the ceremony, Kellan was tempted to glance back at her, anxious for another look. Although the focus of the guests should have been on Riley and Nan, Kellan got the impression that there were just as many people wondering about the state of the relationship between him and Gelsey. The town of Ballykirk missed their very own celebrity, almost as much as Kellan missed Gelsey’s presence in his bed and in his life.

To his relief, the ceremony was short and sweet. Vows were repeated, rings exchanged and before Kellan knew it, Nan and Riley were husband and wife. They walked down the aisle hand in hand, as happy as any two people ever deserved to be. Kellan and Danny followed the couple down the aisle with Jordan walking between them.

“Gelsey is here,” Jordan murmured as they walked out of the church.

“I know,” Kellan said. “I saw her.”

“Everything is ready at the shop. Are you going to take her there now or later?”

“Aren’t we supposed to hang about for photos?” he asked.

“We’re going to take those back at the pub. Nan and Riley will stay here for a formal portrait.”

“What are you two whispering about?” Danny asked.

Kellan frowned at his brother. “Didn’t you tell him?”

Jordan shook her head. “He can’t keep a secret. He was supposed to wait until Christmas morning to ask me to marry him. He had the whole thing planned and then he asked me the day before, right before we walked over to the pub. Needless to say, I was surprised when he got down on one knee as I was curling my hair.”

“It was like the ring was burning a hole in my pocket,” Danny commented. “I couldn’t wait anymore. I couldn’t stop thinking about it.”

The moment they got outside, Kellan wandered through the crush of guests, looking for Gelsey. He found her standing near the bottom of the steps, her green wool coat draped over her shoulders. To his surprise, she wore the green mermaid dress beneath it.

“Gels!” he called.

She waved and waited for him to make his way over to her. When he stood beside her, Kellan gave her a quick kiss on the cheek. “Hi. You’re here.”

“I am. I wouldn’t have missed it for the world. Nan looks so beautiful. And Riley. He looks so happy.”

“How have you been?”

“Good. My trip to New York was nice. My parents were…well, they were civil to each other. My mother has a boyfriend and she’s thinking of getting remarried, which would mean my father would be free of alimony payments, which seemed to put him in a cheerful mood. They didn’t get into a screaming match, so I’d say the trip was a success.”

“You’re staying for the party, aren’t you?”

“For a little bit,” she said.

He took her hand, then drew it to his lips and kissed the tips of her fingers. “You look beautiful.”

“So do you,” she said with a smile. “Can I give you a lift back to the pub? I’m parked just down there.”

“It’s not raining. Why don’t we walk. I have something I’d like to show you. Something I need your opinion on.”

“What is it?”

“It’s right down there,” he said.

“Come on, then, let’s go.”

They strolled silently in the chilly night air, each breath they took clouding in front of their faces. Gelsey looked up at the sky. “I wish it would snow.”

“We don’t get snow very often.”

“I know. But it would be nice just this once. There was snow in New York.”

Kellan slipped his arm around her shoulders and pulled her close. “I’ve never been to New York. Maybe we ought to take a trip there, after your case in Italy has been dismissed.”

“How did you know it’s going to be dismissed?” she asked.

Kellan stopped short. “It is?”

“We’re working out a deal. The photographer is considering dropping the charges in exchange for some exclusive photographs.”

“What does that mean, exclusive? Does that mean naked?”

“No! It means…exclusive. He’s the only one who gets a chance to shoot.”

“Shoot what?”

“Our wedding.” This time, Gelsey stopped short, grabbing his arm and turning him to face her. “I know that we haven’t really talked about marriage, and I guess that’s why I thought it might be an empty promise. And I don’t want you to be angry, but I had to offer him something worthwhile. A picture like that could fetch a lot of money.” She watched him warily, as if she was waiting for him to explode in anger.

“I think…I think I’m fine with that plan. More than fine. Hell, I don’t care if you invite every photographer in the world. I’m just happy that you might marry me someday.”

“Someday. Maybe,” she said, starting off down the street again. “But don’t get your hopes up too high. I might not be the marrying type.”

“What does that mean? I might not be the marrying type, either.”

When they reached the post office, Gelsey continued to walk, then noticed that Kellan had stopped just one door down. “Right here,” he said. “This is it.”

Gelsey frowned. “What?”

He reached out and grabbed her hand, then led her to the front door. The shop was dark inside and Kellan was glad for the element of surprise. When he turned the lights on, he’d know immediately how she felt. “Did you bring the key?”

She nodded. “What is this place?”

“Unlock the door and see for yourself.”

Gelsey slipped the key into the lock and turned it, then pushed open the front door. Kellan reached for a light switch and the old fixtures hanging from the ceiling flickered to life.

He heard Gelsey draw in a quick breath and he gave her hand a squeeze. “It’s going to take more work than Maeve’s shop, but this way, you can do it exactly like you want to.” He led her over to Jordan’s boards, leaning up against the wall. “You can see a few ideas of what you can do. Jordan drew those.”

“You didn’t buy this, did you?”

“No, you’ll have to take care of that yourself. It’s your business and you should own it, although I have negotiated a rather reasonable price for you. I’ll take care of the renovations. Jordan can help you decorate. And Dealy says they have some tourism money for advertising. The point is, you have friends here in Ballykirk-good friends. And we all want to help you get your business started.”

“I-I don’t know what to say,” Gelsey murmured. “It’s all too much.”

“No, it’s not. It’s exactly what you need. I want you to stay in Ballykirk, I want us to work together on this place and I want you to believe that we have a future together. And when-”

“I do,” Gelsey interrupted.

“You-”

“Do,” Gelsey said. “I’ve been thinking a lot over the past week and I do want a future with you. And I don’t want to wait. I want that future to start right now. I’ve wasted too much time already. I know I love you, Kellan. And it isn’t some silly fantasy love that I think is going to solve all my problems. It’s real and I can feel it deep in my soul. I’m not going to run away from this.”

He smiled, relief racing through him until he wanted to shout for joy. He slipped his arms around her waist and picked her up off her feet, kissing her until they were both breathless. “So, I guess my plan worked.”

“Your plan? It was my plan,” Gelsey teased.

“This? The shop was my plan.”

“All right, the shop was your plan. I’ll give you that.”

“And what do you think you want to sell?” he asked.

“Well, I’ve been doing a lot of research and I couldn’t come up with anything. But then I was walking around Winterhill and I started noticing all the special little things that my grandmother had collected over the years. And I realized that’s what I wanted to sell. Beautiful things that make a home warm and cozy. I’ll have some antiques. And some Irish linens. Maybe some furniture and crystal. But it will all be Irish. I’ve been surrounded by all my grandmother’s things at Winterhill and I didn’t realize how important they were until now.”

“I think that’s a wonderful idea,” he said.

“I had a plan, too,” Gelsey said, wrapping her arms around his neck.

“You did?”

She nodded. “The plan started long before you found this place, which is perfect, by the way. The plan started the first time I saw you at the cove, when we were kids. I decided that we were going to spend the rest of our lives together and here we are.”

“I guess it’s fate then that I found you on that beach. And that I kept that tin box all these years.”

“Fate or magic,” she said. “Or a bit of both.”

“So, if we’re going to live together, where will it be?”

“I have a house that’s big enough for two,” Gelsey said.

“And I have a flat in Dublin, for those times when you need to go in to the city.”

“Are we going to live happily ever after?” she asked.

Kellan took her face between his palms and gently kissed her again. “Absolutely. What other possibility would there be?”

“There’s always blissfully happily ever after,” Gelsey whispered, pulling him into a long and languid kiss.

“Mmm.” Kellan drew back. “I think I can make that happen, too.”

Kate Hoffmann began writing for Harlequin Books in 1993. Since then she’s published sixty-five books, primarily in the Harlequin Temptation and Harlequin Blaze lines. When she isn’t writing, she enjoys music, theater and musical theater. She is active working with high school students in the performing arts. She lives in southeastern Wisconsin with her cat, Chloe.