Epilogue
DRAKE
October
“I’m not saying you didn’t see Mabel the other night. What I’m saying is that all of the so-called ‘evidence’ the Cryptid Night group gathered—at least what I saw—was easily explainable.”
I snickered to myself as Finn tried to walk a line between his disbelief in Mabel and Charlie’s obvious certainty that he’d seen her twice now.
Charlie opened his mouth to argue more, so I nudged him. “Look over there! That booth has stuffed Mabels!” I pointed at the sign next to the display of green leaf-covered stuffies.
Charlie and Kirk both made Oooh noises and ran through the Maplewood Fun and Fright Fest crowd to get to the booth in question.
“This is a fucking weird-ass town.” I watched fondly as Kirk and Charlie inspected the toys.
Finn put his arm around my shoulders. “Then what does it say about you, since you fit in so well here?”
I elbowed him. “Even worse, what does it say about you, since you were born here?”
He pulled me against him, his beautiful eyes sparkling. “Ah, but you chose to be with me, so it’s really on you.”
I felt my grin fade, and I swallowed. My heart pounded, and I felt a little faint. But I gritted my teeth and straightened my spine. “I love you.”
Finn gaped. The sound of the crowd was an irritating buzzing in my ears as I held my breath waiting for his reply.
“Here? You picked here to tell me that?” He let go of me and raked his fingers through his hair, making it stand on end.
Looked like I wasn’t getting any declarations in return. I put my hands on my hips and glared at him. “I was having a fucking moment, you jerk! Never mind. I take it back.” I threw up my hands and started to turn to go... somewhere.
“Drake, wait!” He caught my arm and pulled me into a hug. My Deadman top hat hit him in the face, and he pulled it off my head. “I’m sorry. That wasn’t how I wanted to respond.”
“Yeah? It wasn’t how I wanted you to respond either,” I muttered into his shoulder. “I know you love me, you asshole.”
I felt his chest vibrate as he chuckled. “I’ve been trying to find the right time to tell you. I’m sorry. You surprised me, and I didn’t react well.”
I grunted in agreement, but I did put my arms around him.
He pressed a kiss to the top of my head. “Can I have a redo? Please?”
I huffed. “Fine.”
He pulled back slightly so we could see each other, then he gently cradled my face in his warm hand. He leaned forward so his mouth was next to my ear. “I love you too.”
I smiled, my chest feeling fluttery. I let him kiss me, but I broke away before it could get heated. “That was better.” I raised an eyebrow. “Would you mind explaining why you complained when I told you the same thing?”
He winced before wrapping me in another firm hug.
He stroked his hand down my back like he was petting Charlie’s kitten.
“I’m sorry . My immediate reaction was to throw you down and make love to you, but I can’t do that here.
If I could do it over for real, I’d tell you I loved you too, and then I’d kiss you like my life depended on it. ”
I smirked, my bratty side coming out to play. “Okay. Go for it.”
Laughing, he pulled me against him even more firmly, though that might have been for warmth instead of romance, since he was only wearing his scrubs and a light jacket. He cupped my face again. “Drake Derryberry, I love you.” He touched his lips to mine and started to bend me back over his arm.
“ What? Finally!”
We broke apart and turned to see Charlie grinning at us and carrying a stuffed Mabel. Kirk was behind him, keeping his eyes on anything other than me and Finn.
Finn made a growling sound. “Did you need something, Charlie?”
“Nope! Did Drake say it too?” He turned his puppy eyes on me. “Does this mean you’ll finally come live with us?”
When I hesitated, Finn chimed in. “Yeah, Drake. Will you finally come live with us?” He didn’t let go of me, but again, that might’ve been for warmth.
I groaned. “Okay, look. Last week I put up an ad for a caretaker. I know you need to be near the clinic for emergencies, but somebody has to care for Dolores, Mabel, and the chickens, plus the cabins.”
Charlie frowned. “Why can’t Zeke do it? He hasn’t left yet.”
“No, he’s helping out sometimes, but he’s gone a lot.
He’s visiting a bunch of places to decide where he wants to retire to.
” Though Nova and I both suspected he’d just wanted to retire, period.
We figured he was having second thoughts about actually moving away from his friends and Nova.
Either way, I still needed to hire a caretaker before I could move in with Finn and Charlie. My new family, I thought with wonder.
Charlie huffed. “Fine.” He got the sly look on his face that usually meant he was plotting something. “Kirk’s staying over tonight.”
Finn nodded. “Great. Um, I thought I’d stay at Drake’s place.”
The boys whooped and high-fived each other. Charlie had learned early on that if Finn wasn’t on call and I was hanging out with them, he could get Finn to stay at my place by inviting Kirk or his other friends over. No doubt they’d play video games on the big TV in the living room all night.
We swung by Finn and Charlie’s house—soon also to be my house—to drop the boys off and pick up clothes for Finn.
As we were getting ready to leave again, Charlie handed me the stuffed Mabel.
It looked like the love child of Gumby and the Jolly Green Giant.
“Here. Can you please put this out with Mabel’s food?
I’ve been thinking about her a lot, and it must be lonely being the only one of your kind out there. ”
My mind ran through how, if Mabel did exist, she had to have had parents. I shoved that unsettling thought aside and smiled. “Of course. That’s nice of you. I’m sure she’ll appreciate it.” And if she didn’t take it, I’d hide the stuffie and pretend she did.
Zeke was in Burlington for the night again—the less I wondered about those trips, the better—so I made Finn go with me to drop off Mabel’s food and her stuffed likeness. I held it up so he could see it. “What if this doesn’t look like Mabel at all? What if she gets offended?”
He gave an exasperated huff. “I guess we’ll just have to hope she leaves it where she finds it and we never try to give her anything again.”
I stuck my tongue out at him. When we put the bowl and the stuffie on Mabel’s stump, I took a photo and texted it to Charlie. “There. In the morning it’ll be gone.” I rolled my eyes at Finn’s impending protest. “One way or another.”
He put his arm around my shoulders as we walked back toward the cabin. “I feel like we’re telling a seventeen-year-old that there’s a Santa Claus.”
We came out of the woods into the lighted area by Dolores’ pen. I tapped my chin thoughtfully. “You know what I’ve heard about Santa?”
“Uh, no?”
I grinned. “He has a secret stocking.” At least that song was good for some jokes. Finn groaned, so I elbowed him in the ribs. “If you catch me, I’ll show you mine!” I took off toward the cabin as fast as my clogs would allow.
“Wait, what? ”
He hadn’t taken the bait, so I slowed and walked backward. “Come on. You know ‘Santa’s Secret Stocking’ isn’t about something you hang by the chimney, right?” We’d sanitized the hell out of the lyrics so we could play it when kids were present.
He frowned and still didn’t speed up. “I thought it was either a condom or he wore, like, fishnets.”
“So the internet would have you believe.” I wiggled my eyebrows. “But it’s secret . And, as the lyrics say, he puts his favorite treasures inside .” I patted my ass before turning around again and running for the cabin.
“What? Are you—” He didn’t catch me until we got to the bedroom.
“Why do I have to come? It’s not like you don’t know what you’ll find.”
I ignored Finn’s whining and continued dragging him by the hand down the path to Mabel’s stump. He hadn’t appreciated me waking him up after I’d fed Dolores and the chickens. But this was for Charlie, so I wanted Finn to witness whether the stuffed Mabel was still there or not.
“Okay, get your phone out.” More grumbling, but he did as I asked, and we entered the clearing.
“Holy shit!” I rushed over to the stump.
The stuffed Mabel was gone. And in its place—”It’s beautiful.
” Reverently I bent over to examine the wreath.
It was oval, a little over seven inches on the longer length, and made of evergreen twigs.
Or boughs. What was a small bough called?
They were exactly like several of the shrubs along the edge of the clearing.
Finn snorted. “You did that. You replaced the stuffed toy with that thing.” He waved dismissively at the wreath.
I straightened up and rounded on him. “Putting aside for a moment that you’re accusing me of lying, do I look like someone who knows how to make a wreath?”
There. He knew he’d stepped in it. “Sorry. It’s early and I just woke up. I let my skepticism get the better of me. I don’t think you made it.” He rubbed his face with his free hand.
“Apology accepted. I’ll make sure you have coffee first, the next time we exchange gifts with Mabel.” I gasped. “Christmas Eve!”
He wasn’t paying attention. “But it’s far more likely to have been a human—maybe an unhoused person living in the woods—who made that than Mabel.”
“Well, Charlie will disagree with you. Take the picture so he can see it.”
He did, and I handed him the empty food bowl before picking up the wreath. I held it up in the air to admire it. “I love living in Maplewood.”
He sighed before putting his arm around me and kissing my temple. “I love you.”
I turned in his arms. “I love you too.” I kissed him, then I tried to put the wreath on his head.
He ducked away, releasing me to get some distance. “No! You don’t know what’s on that!”
I held it up to look at it. “Leaves? Or do you think Mabel has some sort of disease?”
He brushed a hand over his hair. “I was thinking more like spiders. Can we go get coffee now?”
I sighed. “Fine.” I took my cowboy hat off and settled the wreath around the crown. “It’s like it was made to be there.” I smiled in satisfaction as I settled the hat back on my head.
Finn exhaled loudly in exasperation. “Let’s go back to the cabin. I can have coffee, and you can text Charlie. This’ll make you his favorite for the next month at least.” We started down the path again.
I put my arm around his waist. “Do you think Charlie will love me someday? You know I already love him.”
He stroked a hand down my back. “He thinks of you as part of the family. He loves you, but it might take him a while to say it.”
I tapped my hat. “I’ll just say it to him over and over so he’ll get used to it.”
Finn stopped walking. He put his hands on my shoulders to make me face him. “I can tell you right now, I’ll never get used to hearing you say it to me.”
I nodded, tearing up suddenly. Dammit, I hated it when that happened. “I love you, Finn Hunnicutt.”
He kissed me, soft and sweet. “I love you, Drake Derryberry.”
Thank you for reading Can You Feel the Maple Tonight ! Curious about Drake’s background and family? Read What’s Santa Got to Do with It !