Free A Misty Harbor Wedding by Marcia Evanick

was running today, this customer might be able to hold up her end of a conversation on dear old Will.
    â€œ ‘A hundred thousand welcomes. I could weep and I could laugh, I am light and heavy. Welcome.’” He quoted the Bard, as a way of a greeting. It was his way of testing her knowledge on the subject he held dear to his heart.
    â€œCoriolanus. I’m impressed.” The young woman turned around.
    Gordon felt his heart slam against his chest and his breath leave his lungs. He wondered if this was going to be the last face he’d see on this earth. If it was, he’d go gladly. Before him stood his daughter. “Juliet,” he whispered in astonishment.
    The young woman froze.
    This was the daughter he had never met. Hell, he hadn’t even known she existed until eleven years ago, when out of the blue a letter arrived from Victoria Knox, a woman he had met when teaching English literature at a small college in Rhode Island. A woman he had fallen in love with. Victoria had explained how his daughter thought someone else was her father. Victoria had begged his forgiveness, and his silence. For months he had stared at the photo of his fifteen-year-old daughter, Juliet, that Victoria had enclosed with her letter. He could never bring himself to destroy her safe and secure world, so he held his silence.
    He paid his penance.
    The five-by-seven color photo had been placed in an antique sterling silver frame and was still sitting on his nightstand upstairs.
    â€œYou recognize me?” Juliet seemed uncertain, awkward, and shy.
    Juliet really hadn’t changed much in the past eleven years, but she had grown more beautiful. His daughter had grown from an awkward fifteen-year-old into a beautiful young woman. Gone were the braces. Gone were the glasses and the high-buttoned blouse that had seemed so out of date on the young, serious-looking girl. He would have recognized her on any street in the world. This was his daughter. There was no mistaking the Hanley in her. She didn’t resemble Victoria at all. The poor kid looked like her dad.
    â€œI would have known you anywhere.” He was uncertain what to do. He wanted to pull her into his arms and never let go. In the twenty-six years since she had been born, he had missed everything.
    â€œMom said that she had sent you a picture.” Juliet clutched the book in front of her like a shield.
    There was no mistaking the sheen of tears in her eyes. “Is Victoria all right?” He knew there was an edge of panic in his voice, but he couldn’t help it. Something must have happened to Victoria. Why else would Juliet be standing in his shop after all these years?
    Juliet must have sensed his panic and quickly said, “Mom’s fine.” His daughter glanced around the shop. “She knows I’m here.” Nervous fingers toyed with the book held in their grasp.
    â€œIs she all right with that?” Juliet looked like she was ready to bolt out of the shop at any second. “How is your mom doing?” Ordinary questions that seem so inane, but he didn’t know where else to begin. The hard questions would scare her off. He wanted to put his daughter at ease. He definitely did not want to ruin this moment.
    â€œMom’s fine.”
    â€œAnd your . . . father? How is he?” What else was he supposed to call the man who had raised Juliet as his own? In the letter eleven years ago, Victoria had told him that Juliet thought Ken Carlyle was her real father. Obviously the truth had finally gotten out. One had to wonder why, after all these years.
    Juliet hesitated for a moment. “Dad passed away two years ago.”
    â€œI’m sorry to hear that.” And he was. Victoria had written that Ken Carlyle was a caring, devoted, and loving father.
    â€œThanks.” Juliet looked around the shop. “So this is the Pen and Ink?”
    His daughter looked about as uncomfortable as he felt. “Would you