Matched by Moonlight. GINA WILKINS

in staying in Virginia, so she moved back to Tennessee to be closer to her own family. My grandmother remarried and settled down in the Knoxville area. She had two more children with no biological connection to the inn. Every summer during her childhood and teen years, my mother came back here to Virginia to stay with her paternal grandparents and with Uncle Leo and Aunt Helen, who were all running the inn together during that time. When Mom’s grandfather died, he left the inn to Uncle Leo, who had been running it almost exclusively for several years by that time.”

      “And your great-uncle, who had no children of his own, kept it in the family by leaving it to his niece’s kids when he passed.”

      She nodded in approval that he’d followed along. “Yes.”

      “It’s great that you have that connection to your family’s past. I’m sure your mother would have been very proud of what you and your sister and brother have accomplished in the past two and a half years.”

      He’d spoken somewhat artlessly and almost immediately second-guessed his words, hoping she didn’t take them as patronizing. But she seemed pleased, instead, by the sentiment, seeming to sense his sincerity.

      “I think she would be proud,” she said quietly. “Uncle Leo, too.

      Dan reached for his tea glass. “Must be a nice feeling. Knowing your parents are proud of you, I mean.”

      She cocked her head, and he wondered if she’d heard more in his offhanded comment than he’d intended to reveal. “Are your parents still living?”

      “Yes.” He saw no need to elaborate just then about his father’s rapidly failing health, nor to go into details about his strained relationship with them.