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it to the Hatteras Lighthouse.”
    “Well, it was love at first sight. Adlai saw
that bright diagonal white stripe going up the black tower, and he
became bewitched. They say he could be charming when it suited his
purpose, and he must have laid it on thick with the lighthouse
keeper. Adlai lived with the man and his family as an honored guest
in the main keeper’s quarters, regaling them with stories of
distant mountains the keeper’s family had never seen. In return,
Adlai got free run of the lighthouse and the grounds. To have heard
the way my grandfather told it, Adlai dearly loved the brick and
stone of the lighthouse.
    “Then he fell in love again, this time with a
young woman. The principal keeper’s daughter was just around
marrying age, and the two of them started spending more and more
time together. The keeper’s concerns turned to delight when Adlai
proposed marriage to his daughter Hannah, then his joy turned to
sadness when the two announced that immediately after the wedding,
they would be heading back here to the foothills.”
    Elise said, “That must have killed her,
leaving her family, everything she knew and loved.”
    Alex smiled. “They were in love, and that was
the way things were back then. Adlai missed his home, and Hannah
was eager to explore the world. After the ceremony, Adlai brought
his new bride back to the mountains he loved. Initially, he bought
some property near the old farmstead, but he soon grew tired of his
old neighbors and friends and decided he and Hannah should have a
fresh start together. He looked around, and with Hannah’s approval,
they brought the land the inn is sitting on now.”
    Elisa leaned forward. “Tell me about the
lighthouse.”
    Alex continued as if she hadn’t spoken.
“After four years of wedded bliss and three babies, Hannah nearly
died delivering the last child. That was my grandfather Adam.”
    “Hey, do all the Winston boys have names that
start with ‘A’?”
    “It’s a tradition the family has kept for as
long as anyone can remember. Anyway, Hannah loved Adlai, but she
never got over losing the lighthouse, the ocean, and her family.
Adlai understood how she felt. He was willing to take her back home
for an extended visit to show her parents their new grandchildren
as soon as the child she was carrying was born and old enough to
travel. But it was no easy birth like the others had been. Hannah
nearly died during the delivery, and the strain of the birthing
left her too weak to travel, since the trip to the coast was an
arduous journey back then. Hannah never got over her homesickness,
and her health continued to fail. That’s when Adlai got his idea.
He’d build his wife a lighthouse of her very own. It wasn’t the
same as seeing her family and hearing the roaring crash of the
waves again, but it was the best her husband could do with what he
had.
    “They say she thought he was crazy, but
secretly delighted with the prospect of the construction. The
original Hatteras lighthouse had been dedicated on her fourth
birthday, December 16th, 1870. Adlai decided that Hannah’s
lighthouse would be finished by her twenty-fourth birthday. The
original tower took eighteen months to build, but Hannah’s took
only fifteen months, once he managed to assemble a lot of the
original construction crew.”
    Elise said, “How romantic of Adlai. Did
Hannah love the lighthouse? I know, I bet it cured her, and she
lived to enjoy being a grandmother herself I can close my eyes and
see her up on the observation deck now.”
    Alex shook his head sadly. “She died nine
days before the tower was finished. It broke Adlai’s heart to lose
his wife. He shipped his children off to his sister for her to
raise. They say that even the sight of those shining little faces
that looked so much like their mother broke his heart all over
again. For the rest of his life, the light was only lit one day in
December every year, the anniversary of Hannah’s birthday.”
    Alex