“Yes, you will.”
After Hannah left, Ella rang up a young family that had tagged a tree and bought a wreath, hot chocolate and donuts. The kids, who were maybe five and seven, were bundled up and bursting with Christmas excitement. Thanks to her work at the store and full immersion in the season, Ella had never lost that feeling. Christmas was still her favorite time of year.
It would be even more so this year, with Hunter and Megan’s wedding the weekend before the holiday.
Watching the kids consume their donuts with barely restrained glee filled Ella with yearning for the family she’d nearly given up on having. Last night, Gavin had told her he loved her. In the bright light of day, everything seemed possible now that she knew for sure he felt that way about her. That changed everything.
“You’re fairly glowing today, my dear,” Molly said as she doled out cider to another young couple who were heading off to find their tree.
“I’m happy.”
“It makes me happy to see you happy. You’re in love then?”
“Madly.” What a relief—an overwhelmingly powerful relief—to be able to admit how she felt about Gavin. Finally.
“How does he feel?”
“The same.”
“Oh, El,” Molly said, tearing up. “That’s so wonderful.”
“Yes, it is.” Ella gazed out at the distant fields, where she could see Gavin working beside her brother as they loaded trees onto a flatbed. “It might seem like it happened fast to everyone else, but it didn’t. There was nothing fast about it.”
“I know that, sweetheart. We all do.”
“I guess I wasn’t as circumspect as I thought I was when it came to him.”
“You were in a tough spot, wanting a man who was emotionally unavailable.”
“It was tough. But what we have now . . . It was well worth the wait.”
“So that’s it? All sewn up and together forever?”
“I can’t imagine anything could tear us apart after what we’ve shared this week.”
“Ella—”
Ella held up her hand to stop whatever her mother was about to say. “Please, Mom. Please don’t say it. I’ve been warned every which way to Tuesday by just about everyone who loves me—and that’s a lot of people. I love him. He loves me. I finally have what I’ve always wanted. You know how much I love you, but frankly, I just don’t want to hear any more warnings.”
“Fair enough.”
“Are you mad?”
“No, sweetheart, of course I’m not mad. I actually understand better than you think.”
“What do you mean?”
“When I was dating Dad, I had more than one person warn me about taking on a flatlander, how he’d never be happy here, how someone with his education would want bigger things than a country store in Butler, Vermont. People who barely knew me warned me.”
Ella was riveted by this information. “Did that worry you? That other people couldn’t see him being happy here?”
“A little. Part of me thought they were right. Here he had a Yale education. How was he ever going to be happy running our little store in this little town?”
“And yet . . . Who’s happier than he is?”
“That’s my point. I knew in my heart that he’d be fine here. He knew it, too. We both had the one thing we wanted more than anything, so everything else was just details.”
“I love that you still feel that way about each other even after all this time,” Ella said with a sigh. “When we came in the other day, and he was making you giggle . . . It just . . . It gave me hope.”
“He makes me giggle every day.”
“Please spare me the gory details.”
Molly’s face lit up with a big, dirty smile. “The details are extra gory now that we’ve rid our barn of all the rug rats.”
“Oh my God.” Ella covered her ears and gave a pretend shriek. “Make it stop.”