“Actually, she’d be selling it to Maya,” Letty said. “It’ll be held in trust for her until she’s twenty-one. I’ve run the numbers and it seems like buying the Surf would be a sound investment for her future. But only if the deal seems fair to you, Ava.”

“And you wouldn’t tear it down? And build condos or a hotel?” Ava asked, looking from Letty to Joe.

“No. That’s not my intention at all. I have been thinking of ways we could improve and expand the property, like putting a second story on both the north and south wings,” Letty said. “But that’s for the long-range.”

Ava ran her fingers down the column of numbers Letty and her lawyer had presented.

“This is even more money than those developers have been offering me,” she said, looking up. “Letty, are you sure y’all can afford to do this?”

“Positive,” Letty said, nodding. “We’ve already liquidated most of the real estate Tanya owned in New York. That and the money from her life insurance have been invested very conservatively on Maya’s behalf. And the real estate broker texted me last night that we have a solid, all-cash offer for Tanya’s town house.”

“Then, yes,” Ava said, nodding vigorously. “I’ll sell. This is the best possible outcome, and one I never dreamed would happen. When do you want to do it?” She picked up a pen and hovered it over the contract. “Now?”

“We can go ahead and sign the papers now,” Letty said, laughing. “But I thought you might want to hold off on the closing until after the wedding.”

“When will that be?” Ava asked.

“As soon as possible. Before she has time to change her mind,” Joe said.

“I was thinking, since this is what you call our slow, shoulder season, we should do it soon,” Letty said. “How’s next week?”

“That soon?” Joe looked taken aback.

“Are you getting cold feet?” Letty countered.

“Never.” His kiss proved his point. “Where shall we do it?”

“On the beach,” Letty said, pointing out the window of Ava’s apartment. The sky was a brilliant blue. It was, she thought, the perfect omen.

“Anything you say,” he agreed.

The bridal party emerged from the motel just at sunrise, and walked quietly through the early-morning darkness toward an arch at the water’s edge that was wound with ivy and twinkling white fairy lights.

The groom stood, waiting, under the arch, dressed in a white linen shirt and navy blue board shorts and a lei of white orchids.

A ukulele player recruited for the event took a deep breath, and began strumming “Hawaiian Wedding Song.”

The ring bearer and flower girl, Maya, led off the procession wearing her favorite blue tulle princess dress, now altered to fit, a rhinestone tiara, and an irrepressible smile that revealed two missing top teeth as she marched slowly toward her new, adoptive father.