It's Only Love(65)

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.”

Molly peeled Ella’s hands off her ears. “I hope you understand that what I’m telling you is that if you’re with the right one, everything else falls into place the way it’s meant to.”

“I can’t imagine anyone ever being more right for me than Gavin, even with all his imperfections.”

“Everyone has imperfections. Some are just more pronounced than others. Gavin’s world was tipped upside down by something outside his control, and he’s spent years trying to right it again. Don’t think I haven’t noticed how relaxed and happy he looks with you by his side. It’s been a long time since he’s been that way.”

“His mother said the same thing.”

“I know. She told me.”

“When did you talk to Amelia?”

“When she called me to have a little squeal over the fact that our kids are dating. Again.”

“Hannah and Caleb happened such a long time ago that it’s easy to forget sometimes that you and Amelia have already been down this road once before.”

“Yes, we have, and we’re no less thrilled this time than we were then.”

“Really?”

“Really.”

“I’ve always thought of Hannah and Caleb as this sort of epic romance that the rest of us mere mortals could only aspire to.”

“They were beautiful together, but you and Gavin are every bit as epic and every bit as beautiful, especially when you consider the long road you traveled to get where you are now. You never gave up on him.”

“I sort of did. For a while there.”

“No, you didn’t. If you had, you wouldn’t have gone the other night when they called you to come for him.”

“I didn’t know I was going for him when they called.”

“Didn’t you, Ella? Didn’t you sort of suspect it was him?”

“I guess I did.”

“And still you went. You never gave up on him. Not for one minute. There’ll come a time when you’ll be tested again. It’ll be a decision not to give up then either.”

“You say will like you’re certain it’ll happen.”

“It will, Ella. I’m certain it’ll happen, because it always does. Even the most epic of romances have their bumps. Just ask your sister about what it was like to be married to his brother. She’ll tell you that for all of Caleb’s wonderful qualities, he could try her patience like no one else ever has before or since. And that’s saying something when you consider she had eight younger siblings.”

“So it’s a Guthrie thing. Is that what you’re saying?”

“No, sweetheart, it’s a man thing. It’s a man-woman thing. There’re always going to be challenges, no matter who you’re with. The important thing is to be sure you’re with the right one. Then the challenges don’t seem so insurmountable.”

“I’m with the right one. I’m three thousand percent sure of that.”

“Then it’ll work out the way it’s meant to.”

Ella clung to her mother’s assurances. The thought of it not working out with Gavin after everything they’d been through wasn’t something she cared to think about. Especially not when she was so busy being happy with him.


*

They were awakened out of a sound sleep by the phone ringing at Gavin’s house before dawn on Wednesday.

“What the hell?” he muttered as he grabbed for it on the bedside table and checked the caller ID. “For you.” He handed the phone to Ella.

“Hello?” she asked, suddenly nervous at the thought of someone calling her at his place.

“It’s me,” her mom said. “I thought you’d want to know Chloe’s in labor. We’re packing up and heading for Burlington and taking Thanksgiving with us. Dad has shut down the office for the day if you want to head over.”

Ella was still processing the fact that her mother had called her at Gavin’s house at five in the morning.

“Ella?”

“I’m here. Thanks for calling, Mom. Did Max say anything about how she’s doing?”

“I don’t think he knows anything more than that. See you there?”