Mrs. Hurling appeared a few minutes later with a tray bearing three mugs of hot chocolate, each one topped with whipped cream and a dusting of cinnamon. She set them down with the kind of efficiency that suggested she’d been serving people for decades.
“There you go,” she said. “And I don’t want to see any of you near the kitchen or the front desk for at least thirty minutes. Understood?”
“Yes, ma’am,” Jack said with a grin.
Mrs. Hurling shook her head and disappeared back toward the kitchen.
Julie wrapped her hands around her mug, letting the warmth seep into her palms. “See? This is exactly what we needed.”
They sat in comfortable silence for a while, sipping their drinks and watching the late afternoon light shift across the room.
Finally, Isabella spoke. “Jack, has Jane decided whether she’s going to press charges against her mother?”
Julie felt the shift in the air immediately. Jack’s shoulders tensed, and his expression closed off slightly.
“I don’t think she will,” Jack said after a moment.
Julie understood Isabella’s hesitation in asking. She and Jane had grown close over the past few weeks leading up to Christmas, but the subject of Pamela was still raw. Jane pretended her mother didn’t bother her, that the manipulation and lies and attempts to steal her inheritance, and even worse to Jane, the Christmas Inn, hadn’t left scars. But they all knew better.
“William thinks he has to, though,” Jack continued. “As an ex-attorney, he says it’s his duty to make sure she faces consequences.”
“I agree with William,” Isabella said quietly. Her voice carried the weight of someone who understood what it meant to be manipulated by someone who was supposed to love you. “Your ex-wife is cold, calculating, and narcissistic enough to try to use her own daughter, a daughter she walked out on when Jane was very young, to come back into her life just to steal Jane’s inheritance and the Christmas Inn.”
Jack’s jaw tightened. “I know.”
Julie reached over and squeezed his hand. “Jane will make the right decision when she’s ready. And whatever she decides, we’ll support her.”
Jack nodded, some of the tension easing from his shoulders.
Julie decided it was time to steer the conversation toward happier topics. She turned to Isabella with a smile. “So, how are things going with Christopher?”
Isabella’s face transformed. The worry and tension melted away, replaced by a smile that made her look ten years younger. The kind of smile Julie knew all too well because she’d seen it on her own face in the mirror lately when she thought about William.
Julie sighed, warmth spreading through her chest.
So many of her favorite people had found love this Christmas. Her son Jack, who’d been alone for so long after his divorce, had finally opened his heart to Holly. Isabella, who’d come to the Inn broken and afraid, had found safety and love with Christopher. Jane, her precious granddaughter, had discovered that Gabe’s quiet strength was exactly what she needed. And Logan, who’d been like a second son to her for decades, had finally admitted his feelings for Charlie.
A whole bunch of Christmas wishes that had been hung on William’s wish tree had come true.
“It seems everyone got a second chance at love this Christmas,” Julie said aloud, her voice soft with wonder.
“Yes,” Jack agreed, his grin returning. “Mother, we concede to your power of Christmas magic.”
Julie laughed. “I had nothing to do with it.”
“Sure you didn’t,” Jack teased.
They fell silent for a few moments, each lost in their own thoughts.
Isabella broke the quiet. “Julie, what’s the story with the newcomers to the Inn? Eve, Mia, and Lila?”
Julie set her mug down. “From what William told me, Mia is a top surgeon in Los Angeles. She had a terrible case that shook her to the core. A child died on her operating table. Eve and Mia’s daughter, Lila, decided she needed a change of scenery.”
“William was right to advise them to come here,” Isabella said, her smile gentle and knowing. “The Christmas Inn is really the right place to come to heal your soul and your heart.”
“That’s true,” Jack agreed. “We should put that in our advertisement.”
“It’s there already,” Isabella reminded him. “Remember, I updated it the day before Christmas.”
