A Wedding on Lilac Lane by Hope Ramsay (best book clubs .txt) 📕

long time, and the minister strolled to the front windows and studied the scenery.

When Dylan finally broke the kiss and looked down at her, Ella said, “Yes.”

“Yes?”

“Yes, I will stay with you until death do us part. We just need to figure out where. And Dylan, I’m not living in an RV, okay? I want a home. A real home. You know?”

“I do.”

Epilogue

Ella carried her suitcase in one hand and her violin in the other as she stepped across the porch and opened the door to the house. She crossed the threshold and drew in a deep breath filled with the faint scent of lavender. What was it about that scent? It calmed her and welcomed her home.

She put her suitcase and fiddle down and then turned around, taking it all in.

This was what she’d always wanted. A house she could call home. And this one was perfect in every way, with a porch, a center hall, a staircase with a turned newel post, and beautiful millwork around the windows. They didn’t make houses like this anymore. This one had been standing in this spot for almost a hundred years.

“What the hell, Ella, you didn’t wait for me?” Dylan said, stepping up onto the porch. He stopped in front of the door and put down the box he was carrying.

She turned toward him. This house came with a husband who had purchased it with the proceeds from the sale of the house where he’d grown up. He’d given up his childhood home so she could have this house. He’d been enthusiastic about the purchase, especially when he’d discovered the shed out back where he could keep his Harley.

No one, except maybe Mom, had ever given up anything for her before. And she’d never really understood how much Mom had given up. Not until recently.

He stood there, spiking a hand through his unruly curls. He was wearing his hair a little longer these days, to please her. Oh boy, he was perfect in every way, and she loved him with every fiber of her being.

“Was I supposed to wait?” she asked.

“Well, yeah. I was going to carry you across the threshold.”

She laughed. “No. I don’t need carrying. I’m fully conscious. Besides, you already carried me across a threshold on Mom’s wedding day. Actually, now that I think about it, you’ve metaphorically carried me over numerous thresholds. So, really, I—”

“Get over here,” he said with authority.

She was tempted to defy him, but how could she? If he wanted to be a stupid romantic, she wasn’t going to stop him. She loved him more because of it.

For thirteen years, she’d hung around a man who didn’t care about her except for what she could do for him. And in a few short months, she’d up and married another one who would walk to the ends of the earth for her. A man who was willing to give up everything to follow her to Nashville.

Luckily, that hadn’t been necessary.

She strolled through the door, and he captured her, pulling her up into his arms as if she weighed nothing. She rested her head on his strong shoulder and looked deep into his dark blue eyes.

“I’ve crossed this threshold a zillion times before, you know. I mean, my grandmother used to live here.”

“I know. But still. It’s our house now. And that’s the important thing.” And then her husband not only carried her across the threshold but all the way up to the bedroom on the second floor.

She didn’t know who exactly to thank for this happy ending.

Was it Bobby Don Ayers, who’d set a price for Granny’s house so high that it sat on the market for weeks and weeks, giving Dylan a chance to buy it for her?

Was it the Piece Makers, who’d gotten her the job at the inn, where she’d met Jackie Scott, who’d insisted that she play some jigs and reels for a ghost?

Was it Ashley Scott, who’d heard her playing for the ghost and given her a chance to play for Norton Treloar?

Was it Norton Treloar, who’d gotten her an audition with the Myrtle Beach Symphony, or Sam Rivera, the symphony’s director, who’d finally called a day after Mom’s wedding to offer her a place as second chair violin?

Or was it Granny, who’d decided to move out of this house, and then, unbelievably, stopped her own daughter’s wedding, forcing Ella to confront her problems instead of running away from them again?

Or was it Rev. St. Pierre, who’d simply asked her the basic question about love and made her realize that she’d be a fool to throw away a chance to spend the rest of her life with Dylan?

Or maybe all of them had conspired to give her this happily-ever-after. All these wonderful people who lived in Magnolia Harbor, her new hometown.

About the Author

Hope Ramsay is a USA Today bestselling author of heartwarming contemporary romances set below the Mason-Dixon Line. Her children are grown, but she has a couple of fur babies who keep her entertained. Pete the cat, named after the cat in the children’s books, thinks he’s a dog, and Daisy the dog thinks Pete is her best friend except when he decides her wagging tail is a cat toy. Hope lives in the medium-sized town of Fredericksburg, Virginia, and when she’s not writing or walking the dog, she spends her time knitting and noodling around on her collection of guitars.

You can learn more at:

HopeRamsay.com

Twitter @HopeRamsay

Facebook.com/Hope.Ramsay

Praise for Hope RamsayThe Moonlight Bay series

“Ramsay paints a quaint portrait of Magnolia Harbor and its earnest, salt-of-the-earth denizens, but she doesn’t shy from drama and drops in a few deliciously hateable villains to liven up the tale. This cozy small-town romance will please Ramsay’s fans and should attract new ones.”

—Publishers Weekly on Return to Magnolia Harbor

“An Officer and a Gentleman meets Nicholas Sparks’s Dear John in the second captivating installment of the Moonlight Bay series.”

—Woman’s World on Summer on Moonlight Bay

 “An endearing and strong second contemporary.”

—Publishers Weekly on Summer on Moonlight Bay

“Ramsay mixes a