No Vacancy (The Aveline Series Book 2)

Epilogue

TWO YEARS LATER

DARCY

I had never believedI would get married. I didn’t think I was the kind of girl to find Mr. Right and settle down. I never believed I would fall in love. I was more of the meet them and leave them kind of girl. I was the one who had fun with you but didn’t meet your family or even know your middle name. And then Penn Murphy showed up and threw a wrench in all my plans.

Penn had me believing I was the kind of girl who wanted all of it.

I could say it was his blue eyes that captured me, or his slick smile, or the way he cocked an eyebrow when he found something endearing, but it wasn’t any one of those things. It was all of them. Penn was a package so carefully curated just for me that I couldn’t escape him no matter how much I tried.

And believe me, I had tried.

Now, though, I couldn’t imagine spending even a day without him.

Among all the things I had never dreamed of, I never thought I would be the owner of my dad’s hardware store. Even though I had loved it to the depths of my soul, I didn’t know the first thing about being a business owner, but that was just another thing that surprised me. I wasn’t half bad at it.

Penn and I signed the papers deeming us owners of my dad’s hardware store, and two days later, my mom and dad had booked a cruise to the Bahamas. It made me happy to know my dad could relax and no one like Max Prescott could come in and ruin Aveline.

I married Penn in the white chapel at a whirlwind wedding with the whole town and Penn’s family and friends from the city by our side. Bernie was the ring bearer, complete in a little tuxedo, and even though he didn’t actually carry in the rings, he sat in the front row with my mother who made him wave at us periodically.

A few months after, I finished my book based loosely on Penn and my adventures, and I spent month after month sending my manuscript to agents in the hopes that one would take a chance. That day finally came five months later when Greta Fanny from Fanny Literacy gave me a yes in the midst of a sea of nos.

Now I was sitting in my bed at 6:30 in the morning with Penn still asleep at my side. I admired him momentarily while the internet page on my phone loaded. I loved the way his lips moved just slightly and his eyes fluttered in his sleep. He really was the most handsome man I had ever seen in my life. I couldn’t believe he was mine. My adoration for him ended abruptly when the page loaded, and I squealed with such force I couldn’t believe he didn’t wake up. I’m not even sure I would have noticed if he had because it was there.

I saw my name in the one place I had always dreamed of it being.

Publishers Marketplace.

The place where every book deal, big or small, is reported and plastered for all of the industry to see, and today, my name was there. It felt like it might as well have been in flashing lights or up on a billboard in Times Square. Seeing my name on that website was that substantial to me. It had been a dream that for so long felt unattainable. A dream that felt like it would never come to fruition, and yet there it was, right there in front of me.

“Oh my God! Penn! It’s there! It’s there! Penn!” I shoved him awake, and he shot up in bed—so much for his adorable sleeping nature.

“Don’t let the squirrels in! They’ll tear up the furniture!” Penn yelled, looking around the room frantically.

I laughed. “Jesus, what kind of dream are you having?” I ran my hands through his hair and watched him rub his eyes. “You good? No squirrels here, just Bernie.”

Penn yawned and nodded.

I grabbed his arm and tugged on it. “Look, look what’s online!”

DEAL REPORT

Publishers Marketplace

Category: Fiction: Romance

Imprint: Heartland

Darcy Miller’s OPERATION LOVE, a romance novel, a story about two people who fall in love in an unconventional way to Bridgit Manor at Heartland, in a major deal, by Greta Fanny at Fanny Literary.

This woke him up, and he pulled me in close to kiss me. “Hell yes! Look at my girl! You did it. I’m so proud of you.”

I beamed, feeling proud of myself and knowing there was no way I would have ever been able to do any of it without him. Penn had been my muse. In all the years I spent wishing I could find the words to write, I’d found them all when I met him.

Penn had supported me in a way that only he could have. He brought me dinner at my desk while I sat feverishly typing. He forced me to take breaks when he knew I was at the end of my wits. Penn would pull me up gently and dance with me, even if there was no music in the room. He encouraged me when I didn’t think I was good enough, when I felt like there was no way anyone would like the story I had to tell, and he kept me going by reminding me that I was.

“I couldn’t have done this without you,” I said, kissing him back, knowing it was the truth.

“Is it because of these guys?” Penn flexed his biceps.

I chuckled and bumped into him playfully. “Oh yeah! I would have nothing without those two. But honestly, I think it was more Cordelia that was the shining star. She really gave me a lot of inspiration.”

“Okay, okay. He needs a new name. Cordelia doesn’t work for me. What about Hulk? Captain America?”

“Wow, you think pretty highly of yourself, don’t you? Thinking your penis is a superhero? I mean, how do I even fit in this room with an ego as big as yours?” I teased, and Penn reached over to tickle me.

“I think you owe him an apology, too. I think I remember you saying he was...what was it? Teeny tiny?” Penn was still poking at my sides and under my arms, making me screech.

I pushed at him, laughing, and trying to catch my breath. “Okay, okay, I give! I already apologized for that, remember?”

He was still tickling me. “I think he needs another one because it really hurt his feelings!”

I squealed and wiggled around, trying to move his hands. “I’m sorry! He’s not teeny tiny! He’s the Big Friendly Giant!”

Penn slowly pulled away but was still hovering over me, and he kissed my smile. “Hey now, that name works,” he replied as I leaned up slightly.

I shook my head. “Now that we have settled that, I got you something, and I’ve been dying to give it to you. Just as a little thank you, but it’s over at Green Gables Inn. Can we go there?”

“Right now?” Penn asked, looking at the time.

“Yes! We have to go right now! I can’t wait any longer!” I shouted, pulling him up and out of bed.

I felt dizzy with excitement, my stomach in knots as Penn and I walked into the Green Gables Inn, and I took him straight back to the dining room.

“I’m not going to lie. I’m slightly confused. What is the surprise?” he asked, and I gestured to the Lover’s Lane wall.

“Look! Over here.” I stepped up and pointed to one of the names on the wall.

Penn grinned when he saw our names side by side. “Well how about that. I made the wall,” he said.

I had come into the inn and scratched our names onto the wall the night before, etching them into the wood, forever marking our place in Aveline. I had also made sure to thoroughly mark out the places I had carved Conrad and me, making sure no one would ever read those again.

DARCY + PENN +

He traced the names and then turned to me; his eyebrows narrowed. “What is this other plus? I don’t know if my vows were clear, but I am not into being a throuple.”

I laughed, moving to the corner of the room where I had hidden a second gift. “No, not a throuple.”

“Good,” Penn said. “Because you are all mine.”

I pulled out a gift bag I had hidden at the inn when I had been there before. “Well, you might have to share me a little. But maybe when you open this it will make more sense.”

Penn took the gift, examining the bag. “What is this?”

I rolled my eyes. “It’s a toothbrush—just open it!” I exclaimed.

Penn took out the tissue paper one by one. He was opening this thing slow as molasses, and I was seriously questioning filing for divorce. How could I not know the speed in which the man I married opened gifts? Did he open all his gifts like this? Was he doing this on purpose? Was he taking his time to torture me?

I leaned over and pulled the rest of the tissue paper out of the bag hastily and smiled wide. “Just helping you out.”

Penn turned to me and chuckled. “Sorry, was my gift opening too slow?”

I shrugged. “I mean, I think a sloth would beat you to it, but go on.”

Penn dramatically slowed down, just to annoy me, while reaching his hand into the bag and pulling out the gift. He was moving as though he were playing in slow motion, and I was on the verge of ripping it from his hands to get this show on the road.

“Did you not get many gifts as a kid? Is this why you open them so slowly now? Because you had to cherish every one? I swear I’ll buy you a gift a week if you would just hurry up.”

Penn laughed, his hand still in the gift bag. “Maybe. Would you feel bad for me if that were the case?”

“No, I would feel bad for me because I think I just aged ten years watching you stick your hand in a bag.”

Penn finally retrieved his hand, and when he brought the present to the surface, he moved a little more quickly, realizing what it was.

Penn’s eyes darted up, and his jaw dropped to the floor. It felt like one of those cartoons where they have to roll them up again.

In Penn’s hands was a tiny onesie with the words, “hi daddy,” printed on the center.

“Is this? Are we? Did you?” His words were coming out in half sentences, nothing complete as I watched his brain work with the information he had been given.

I merely nodded.

Another few seconds later and the realization came to the front and center, and Penn reached over and scooped me up in his arms, kissing me all over my face and neck as I laughed.

Penn and I decided before we were married that we were on the same page as far as our idea of a family. We were a family, and if we were meant to have children, then it would happen, someday in some way, without us ever really “trying.”

So, when I realized my period was late two days ago, I decided to take a test, fully expecting nothing more than one solid line. After all, even though we hadn’t necessarily been avoiding, we also hadn’t been actively trying. But then one line turned to two, and though I should have been scared or nervous or anxious, I wasn’t. Instead, I felt an overwhelming sense of peace. I was sure the fear would come as time went on. I knew there was so much to take into consideration when raising a child, but for that moment, I knew I was exactly where I was supposed to be. I wasn’t afraid to take on the responsibility, and I knew I had a whole village behind me.

Penn stopped momentarily. “Are you serious? Are we really having a baby? No lies?”

I brushed a piece of his hair from his eyes, seeing the way they were subtly filling with tears of excitement, and I kissed him. This was the man I hadn’t known I needed and the life I hadn’t known I wanted, and I was going to cherish every minute of it.

“No lies, Penny Bear,” I replied, feeling at peace in more ways than one.

In a world where I could live anywhere and choose anyone, I would choose our little town of Aveline with him...every single time.

THE END