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At the complicated section, they crossed hands and reached around, and, with a little twist on her part and Rory’s, it all came together.

They didn’t have to stretch or strain; they were completely entwined for the final notes.

She looked up to meet his eyes and found herself safe in his arms as if that had ever been the intent of the composer.

The crowd applauded wildly, rising to their feet. Kate could see it from her peripheral vision, but she couldn’t look away from Rory and the love she found in his eyes.

He leaned in, and with the briefest brush of his lips across her own, smiled against her mouth.

Heart pounding, Kate kissed him back lightly.

She felt a shift in the air. A breeze kicked up and swirled around them, ruffling the lace on her gown.

Skin tingling with awareness, Kate felt the caress of wind.

The chandelier in the large auditorium tinkled in the stirring air, then jangled harder, crystals chiming, until it merged with the applause. Kate’s heart raced with Rory’s.

“Our success,” he told her on a breath.

Wordless, Kate nodded. For a long moment, they gazed at each other before they rose to take a bow.

*

Afterward she fidgeted in the wings, wishing she could return to the inn, but the surprise performance of Endeavor Street had the audience enthralled.

The band played two of their more subdued songs.

It was Hazard, after all. Kate made her way to the edge of the auditorium.

Her emotions still high from performing, she needed the distance.

And then the spotlight flashed on Rory. “I don’t often feature myself in my songwriting, but tonight I have a new song to share with you. It’s so new, it’s never been performed before an audience until now.”

He began to sing of facing his fears and visiting old places and finding welcome and solace and harmony. He sang of finding home, and the one, his one, true love.

Kate caught her breath.

His band backed him up, playing soft accompaniment to his keyboard, letting the song rise and fall while Rory sang, in his occasionally raspy tones, words of love that pierced Kate to her core.

The last note of the chorus, reverberating in the stillness, brought forth the second standing ovation of the night.

The band finished up the song playing the chorus without words one last time.

But with sudden feedback from the speakers, the lights blacked out.

To a rustling, disconcerted crowd, Kate found the side exit.

She didn’t wait for order to be resumed before she slipped into the night.

Her heart was pounding. It was all too much.

She needed a moment to process the entire evening, the success of their duet followed by his song to her. Emotions tumbled about inside her.

She had found home here. Had Rory? Because despite the words of his song, she recognized his wayward spirit. The man needed to roam. He was not someone who could stay in one place. Words of love aside, where did that leave them?

The lack of any wrap over her period clothing left Kate rubbing her arms in the chill of the air as she started the walk back, her sensible colonial boots loud on the sidewalk.

The streets felt subdued tonight, even while maples on the square swayed ominously in the dark, raindrops dripping from branches reaching skyward.

Perhaps she should have waited, but she’d had enough of crowds tonight, and once they got the lights restored the band Endeavor Street would likely be under siege for autographs.

Suddenly wary of walking home alone in the dark, Kate began her chant. “I am the innkeeper with a capitalI.” She decided to switch it up by humming the Hazard Blessing followed by singing the words of the second verse. “Thou who dwelleth, / Find home amongst us. / With heart bestoweth / Thy song.”

The poetry gained in meaning the more she sang, blending it with her promise to her inn that she would restore it to its former glory.

She dwelled there, and Rory had found home in her.

She had bestowed her heart on him, and he had written her a song.

Kate took the walkway to her front steps but before she could get out her key, the door swung inward.

“Oh, dear.”

Had she failed to lock it again ? But even if she had, surely she wouldn’t have failed to close it. She couldn’t have been that distracted.

She stepped in and flicked the switch by the door.

No light popped on overhead. She flicked it up and down, just a touch frantically.

“Ah, so the power is out here, too.” She spoke the words out loud to herself to ease her trepidation.

Perhaps it hadn’t been the amp that blew the power at the Town Hall.

Perhaps it was out all along the square.

Except the streetlights had been on.

Kate eased further inside and peered into the darkness.

She picked up one of the lanterns Rory had left in the foyer and turned up the light.

Eerie shadows danced along the walls as the lantern swung in her hand.

“This is my inn, my home.” She refused to succumb to fear.

The door snapped shut behind her, and she jumped.

She caught a shadow of Catspurr and relaxed.

All must be well if Catspurr was cruising openly through the inn.

Kate took a steadying breath and decided a quiet cup of tea was in order.

She could use her long kitchen matches to light her gas stove to heat the water.

She didn’t need electric power for that.

Confident in her own space, Kate set about making the tea—her special blend, because she was worthy of a treat.

“Hmm, worthy .” Perhaps that’s what she should call her signature blend.

Letting the tea steep, she heard a noise from the very back of the building.

Was that her back door, or the door into the basement?

Kate stilled to listen.

“Who’s here?” she called out. No one answered.

Refusing to hide in her own home, she stepped into the hallway, snatched up the lantern, and raised it high to illuminate the narrow corridor. She could just make out that the door to the basement was ajar. Had Rory returned already?

But he wouldn’t have used the tunnels. That made no sense.

Suddenly the basement door flew wide, smacking against the wall.

Kate swung about to flee toward the back porch.

A hand gripped her forearm. Angling back, she saw blood-red painted nails dig into her flesh.

She kicked out at the intruder, but her skirts hampered the attempt.

As her assailant yanked her toward the basement, Kate stumbled, her extra petticoats tangling round her ankles.

She twisted her foot and tumbled her way down the basement stairs.

Once at the bottom she tucked her head, and with one shoulder roll was back on her feet, mind racing, already planning an escape through the basement tunnels.

*

Rory left his band to deal with the equipment while he slipped away to locate the breaker box.

Since it was his band that tripped it, he figured he should be responsible for restoring power.

He could hear Whitney, soon to be the town’s new mayor, calming the crowd and asking everyone to remain seated until the lights were restored.

Finding the breaker, he flipped it. The lights came back up.

He had seen Kate hovering on the edge of the audience as he sang.

Knowing her, she would have slipped out before she had to chat about their performance.

But he needed to talk to her. His time here with her had changed his life in ways he had never expected.

And he wasn’t in the mood to play celebrity tonight, anyway.

Leaving his bandmates to bask in the crowd’s attention and sign autographs, he headed outside to stroll toward the inn.

A blast of cold hit him in the face, motivating him to sort out his thoughts.

He needed to make sure Kate understood how he felt.

Rory stopped, realizing he too needed a moment to analyze his own emotions.

They had succeeded, he and Kate together, and the experience was transformative.

He’d literally felt the change in the air.

More than that, he needed to express his feelings for her. Would she accept them? He was everything she didn’t want. She would never tour with him. He could never stay in Hazard and play innkeeper with her. That would bore him no end.

Where did that leave them?

He’d been striding head down, but at that thought, came to a halt. He raised his eyes to the statue on the square. He stared up at Edwin Hazard, the town’s founder.

What made someone a hero?

Rory shook his head. He was no one’s champion. He was a wanderer. He wasn’t one to build a town, to build a legacy to last. But he still needed to see Kate. He still needed to let her know how he felt. After that, the decision was hers.

The wind shoved at him as if driving him to a destination. He moved with it. It was, after all taking him in the direction he wanted to go. He found the inn locked, but knew Kate was inside. He didn’t have a key with him. He rang the bell and waited.

No answer.

For all he knew she was upstairs changing out of her fancy clothes or soaking in a tub of hot water.

He let that image settle in his mind. He cleared his throat.

Picturing Kate in the tub with her hair up, surrounded by bubbles, steam rising off hot water, was not productive.

He hurried around to the courtyard, wind hustling him toward the back entrance.

It was quite a determined breeze, even altering direction to guide him.