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She would never have had that with Jude. She’d just brainwashed herself into believing that she could because she’d wanted it so badly as a child herself. But now that she’d taken a step back, she saw that the example she would have been setting for Jacob if she’d walked down the aisle was not the example she wanted to set for him for what a healthy, loving relationship and marriage looked like.
There had to be a middle ground where she could make herself and her happiness a priority without it being at Jacob’s expense. As the product of two parents who had both always put their own needs and happiness first, without any regard for how it would affect their child, which was her, she knew the damage that could cause.
But she had to believe that the pendulum swinging the other way would be just as harmful. No child should bear the weight of their parents’ marriage being about them. She hadn’t seen a therapist since college, but she had to believe that wasn’t healthy either.
A tiny spark of hope lit in her chest as she passed the Welcome to Whisper Lake sign. The first time she’d seen this sign, she’d been running from her life. This time, she hoped she was running to it. She rounded the corner and the lake came into view. Avery took in a shaky breath as she flexed her fingers around the steering wheel of her Audi Q7.
Instead of returning to Whisper Lake in a calm, meditative, centered state as she’d planned, she was a bundle of nerves, anxiety, dread, and excitement.
During the drive, she’d tried to convince herself that she was coming back to the castle to hire a new head chef, and even to see her best friend who would be arriving in town to shoot her show later that week, and to finally take real ownership of the property that she’d inherited instead of managing it remotely to run Jude’s family businesses.
Those three reasons were all true and valid, but she was done lying to herself. The biggest reason she was here was because of Keaton Savage.
When she met him five years ago, his engagement to his long-time girlfriend Camilla, who he’d moved to Whisper Lake to show he could settle down and give up his MMA career had just ended. Keaton didn’t have any social media, but Avery might or might not (she totally had) checked out his ex, who Avery had never met, on Instagram over the years. And about two years ago, Camilla posted a picture of her hand rocking, well, a huge rock with the songAt Lastplaying in the background. Since Camilla only posted selfies, sunsets, and food on her page, Avery had just assumed that it was Keaton who had put a ring on it.
But now, he was going on a dating show, which meant he was single. At least for the moment.
This might be the craziest thing she’d ever done…well, besides the first time she’d been in Whisper Lake, and she basically moved Keaton, a total stranger, in with her for two weeks. This town seemed to bring out the spontaneity in her.
As she passed Goldilocks Gas N Go and The Drawbridge Diner, she couldn’t help but smile at the impact the show had had on the small town. Before Fairytale Love was filmed there, the town had been known for the lake, of course, and the multiple festivals it held there each year. But after the popularity of the show, and Avery opening Stone Castle to the public, it had become a tourist attraction. The town had embraced the fairytale theme. Businesses had changed their names to ones that were storybook-inspired, and from what Suzanna had told her, tourism had increased by twenty percent.
Even though Avery hadn’t really had anything to do with the show, other than allow them to film at the castle, she felt an unearned sense of pride at the economic and social impact it had had on the small town.
It was nice to feel like she was part of something, instead of being on the outside looking in like she had her whole life growing up. And, even being with Jude, she was an outsider in his family. The American. Sure, she worked at their hotels, but she wasn’t one of them. Even if she’d gotten married, she doubted they ever would have truly accepted her.
Really the credit for the show should go to her college roommate and mastermind behind the dating show Sabrina. Without her, Avery would never have had the capital to renovate the castle. When Avery found out that she’d inherited the property after her father passed away, her first inclination had been to sell it.
At the time, she lived in California and was already working as the operations manager for one of Jude’s family's hotels. When she told Sabrina about the unexpected development, her bestie asked if she could use it to film the reality show she’d been pitching. Avery was able to sign a letter of intent to film with the production company that bought the project, and that was what the bank used as proof of income to fund her loan for the renovations.
That all happened to coincide with her breaking up with Jude. Their relationship had run its course years before that, but she’d been so busy working and putting her hotel management degree to use that she hadn’t realized it until she had the opportunity to have something of her own.
When she’d told Jude about Stone Castle, he’d told her it was a money pit and keeping it would be the worst mistake of her life. She explained to him that it was the only thing she had to connect her to her father. He’d dismissed her completely telling her, “Sentiment has no place in business.” Which sounded even more condescending in his accent.
That was the moment she knew that she was done. Everything had to do with sentiment to her. What was the point of building an empire if not to leave it to the next generation as a legacy?
So, she’d broken up with him, packed her bags, and moved to Whisper Lake in the span of a day. She’d spent the first month and a half she was in the new town getting a business plan together as the renovations were underway. Then she’d met him. Keaton Savage. The last two weeks she’d spent in Whisper Lake had been the best two weeks of her life.
It was strange that she’d only spent fourteen days with the man who lived rent-free in her heart and mind for five years.
As she drove up the long road that led to the castle which sat on a bluff overlooking the lake, images of her and Keaton walking hand in hand on the property appeared in her mind’s eyes. Ghosts of the past. Which was funny considering the folklore attached to the property was that it was haunted.
The first day she’d arrived in Whisper Lake five years ago, she couldn’t stay at the castle because it had been abandoned for nearly a hundred years. So, she stayed at the Princess & the Pea B&B, which at the time was just the Whisper Lake B&B.
That was her first introduction to just some of the characters Whisper Lake had to offer. At check-in she’d met a woman with long brown hair, which was worn in two braids and her husband who, hand to God, looked like the Brawny Man come to life.
“Welcome to Whisper Lake, I’m Karen Carpenter, not the singer, and this is my husband Sylvester, not the cat.”
Those were the first words that had been spoken to her in the small town. Once Karen found out who she was, and that she’d inherited the castle, she went on to tell her its origin story.
“Well now, I know these are your kinfolk, and I would never speak ill of the dead, but this is how it goes,” Karen began. “So there was this man, he was an English Duke named William Stone, who I guess would be your…”
“Great-great-great uncle,” Avery clarified.
“Right, so your uncle was all set to marry this lady that his family chose for him, but then he fell in love with a beautiful maiden named Emilia. Now, ya see, this didn’t sit real well with your great-great-great-great grandparents because she was just a chambermaid and beneath his station. They gave him an ultimatum; it was either marry the woman they chose or lose everything.
“Well, your Uncle Will decided to listen to his heart and he hopped on the first boat to America and smuggled his lady love in a crate on the cargo ship. They got to the good ol’ US of A and wandered around for a bit trying to figure out where to settle. They ended up standing right there on the top of the cliff overlooking the lake and that’s where they had their first kiss. Can you believe it? Giving up your family, everything you’ve ever known for someone you haven’t even smooched? Does it get more romantic than that?” Karen swooned before continuing. “It must have been one doozy of a kiss because Uncle Will decided to build his homestead in the exact spot they’d locked lips. They got married and were living their very own happily ever after until one day, just a normal day like any other, Uncle Will comes home to find that the love of his life, your Auntie Emilia had been brutally, gruesomely murdered.
“That sent your Uncle Will into a spiral of madness. Day and night he searched the town, the lake, and the woods surrounding the castle looking for her killer to get his revenge. He was so consumed with finding the man who killed his beloved that he forgot to eat or drink and one day he just dropped dead from malnutrition and exposure to the elements.
