Author's note:

Thank you for all the lovely reviews for this story. Many people asked for a sequel and I've given it a lot of thought if and how I should continue this.
I kept coming back the originally story I've based this fic off, a novel called '84 Charing Cross Road'. The end of that novel would work really well for this story and would fit with a couple of things that have happened on the show lately, but it is in many ways incredibly angsty.
There's a little bit more about the novel below the story.

So, be warned before you start reading this second part and read the warnings!

Because sometimes even True Love isn't meant to be.

Boston, February 8th 2012

Dear Miss French,

I have just come across the letter you wrote to Mr. Gold on 17th of January last and it is
with great regret that I have to tell you that he passed away on Friday the 31st of January.
Mr. Gold suffered a heart-attack whilst he was at work in the shop and wasn't found until t
he next morning. By then it was too late to help him in any way.
The funeral took place two days ago.

I'd like to take this opportunity to thank you for the correspondence and friendship you have
offered Mr. Gold in the past months.
I have known him for a very long time, first as an employee and later as an associate in
the firm. He alway claimed that he was a difficult man to get along with, but I believe he
was mostly relentlessly hard on himself.
The death of his son Neal, who was the great joy of his life left him devastated.

It has been eight years since we lost master Neal and I have been afraid that nothing would
ever penetrate the haze of grief that surrounded him since.
But your letters did just that.
They brought a smile to his face and a spring in his step and I truly believed that for the first
time after his son's passing, Mr. Gold had something to live for again.

I know he treasured each and every one of your letters. He kept them all and he was in the
habit of carrying your latest letter in the inside pocket of his suit jacket.
Your letters were a flicker of light in the endless darkness that his life had succumbed to after
the death of his son and for that I will always remain thankful to you.

I truly wish you had been granted the opportunity to get to know him. I'm sure you would have
liked each other a great deal.
But as it is, I am glad that Mr. Gold will be missed by someone besides myself.

If you are ever in the vicinity of the bookshop, please don't hesitate to call on me. I would like
to show you around the shop.

Thank you again for you kindness.

Yours faithfully,

Anton Dove
Gold & Unicorn Books
Boston

'84 Charing Cross Road' is based on real events. The American children's book writer Helene Hanff starting writing letters and ordering books from a London bookstore located at Charing Cross Road, right after WWII had ended. Frank Doel, an employee of Marks & Co faithfully answered each and every one of here letters faithfully.
They corresponded for twenty years and at one point she even had plans to go to London to visit him. But dental problems (and costs) prohibited her from going through with that plan.
Eventually, in 1969 she was informed of his death.
In 1971 Helene Hanff travelled to London to see the store she'd dreamed about for years with her own eyes.