Peggy slipped her arm around Claire’s shoulders. “Iknow,” she said. “I do, too.”
They stood there a long time remembering old friends, oldtimes, old sorrows. They held hands and they shareddreams, just as they’d done during the long months sinceTony had invited Peggy to Claire’s house. Since Claire hadbegun to heal.
They wept, and they talked, and finally, facing the namesthey’d spent so many years avoiding, they smiled.
And it was then that Claire saw him.
Standing there at the far end of The Wall, hands in coat pockets, head bare, eyes tentative.
Waiting. Just as he said he would.
Waiting for her to know it was time.
It was time.
“Go on,” Peggy said, giving her a little shove. “We’llmeet you at the hotel.”
Claire’s heart did a slow roll. Her tears, so newly dried,rose again. She stood there on the rise above The Wall and found that Tony was right after all.
She had missed him so much. Wanting to turn to himevery time she’d had to face another trauma. Expecting hislaughter, his smile, those sly dimples that betrayed so much.She’d worked hard on her B and B and talked to her newfriends at the vet center and sat down to share her life withher children. She’d called Tony, just as he’d told her to do,when it seemed that nobody else could talk to her. And he’d talked to her.
And then, at night, she’d lain in her big, empty bed andthought that someday Tony would belong there. Some dayhe’d come home, and she would laugh again.
But he’d been right. If he’d stayed there with her, hewould have been her crutch, not her friend. He would have gotten so mixed up in the ghosts Claire was putting behind her that he never would have withstood the future.
And now he was here.
He looked so handsome. So alive. So certain standingthere among the tourists and the fatigue-clad vets. So strong.
Before she could question what she was doing, Claire ranfor him.
“You came!” she sobbed, disappearing into his embrace.
He was trembling. He couldn’t be trembling. Tony wasnever afraid. “So did you,” he answered, and Clairethought she heard tears in his voice, as well, as he surrounded her and pulled her home.
She lifted her head back to make sure. Found those delightful seawater eyes glittering and lost her heart for good.
“I’m ready,” she said.
He sighed as if he’d been holding his breath for a longtime. “You’re sure?”
Claire lifted her hand up to his cheek, to that scar thatbetrayed his strength. “I love you. Did I ever tell you that? I talked to the kids, and they think it’s time for a new challenge. I asked them, would you like that challenge to beTony and Gina? And they said they might like that challenge a lot.”
Claire would have been happy with a simple yes. It didn’t seem to be enough for Tony. He bent to kiss her, and Claireremembered his joy. She remembered his quiet courage andhis delicious life. She remembered how his mustache tickled, and how soft his mouth was. How just the taste of him could take the strength out of her knees.
“You’re sure,” he repeated, more serious than she’d everseen him.
She smiled. “Only if you don’t mind a house with four kids in it. The only question is, do we live in Atlanta orRichmond?”
“You’d give up the inn for me?”
“I’d give up anything but the kids for you. Maybe I didn’ttell you, but I love you.”
He laughed, that deep, heartfelt laugh that meant he believed her. “I love you, too, lady. You’ll never know how much I love you. But I can’t make you move.”
“What about Savannah?” she asked, the first real thrill of anticipation displacing the desperation that had lived in her chest for so long. “It’s near a beach. It has a lot of historic potential, which means you’d have houses to rebuildand I could very easily find another inn—Jess has decidedthat she’s going to go into business with me, by the way. Sheloves the life—and we’re only about five hours from Atlanta by car. Or Charleston... would you mind if Peaches and Nadine came along?”
Tony raised an eyebrow. “PeachesandNadine?”
