35. Devon
DEVON
Iemerge from our new bedroom in the back of Sleepy Hollow Manor. We managed to turn one of the sitting rooms to a bedroom while I recover from ACL surgery. I’ve been laid up for a couple of weeks, but every day gets easier and easier.
I flip up my collar in my Dracula costume, feeling the pinch of the fake fangs in my mouth. Walking into the foyer is like walking into Dracula’s castle. Even more flickering candles than what we had at the haunted house dot the room. The music is creepier to set the tone. The lights are dimmer.
Over the past month, Ember and I have been able to maintain the manor’s events—the haunted houses and the week-end parties. We scheduled the surgery I had to have on a day when nothing was planned, and then I spent a few evenings in our new room only listening to the goings on.
Luckily, I’m out and ready to enjoy myself a little more.
I open the doors of the ballroom, and I’m blown away.
Shue is a good carpenter. I almost hate to admit it.
The ballroom looks pristine. It’s freshly painted.
The floors were sanded, stained, and buffed.
Red and black velvet drape from the walls.
All of this due to the huge success the Children’s Haunted House was.
Even more people than anticipated joined us, maybe thanks to all the press it got.
All I know is that Harvest Falls stepped up for us, and Ember and I won’t forget it.
I search the room for the woman in question.
The woman who has taken care of me through it all.
She sat by my bedside the morning before surgery, and then was there when I woke up.
She brought me home afterward, waited on me, loved me.
To think I almost screwed all of this up.
I can’t even imagine what my life would be like if she wasn’t in it.
There, I spot her in the corner of the room near the snacks and punch bowl. One of the drapes has fallen. She has a hammer and nail in her hand, bent over in her vampire costume, her hair done up on top of her head like a queen.
Her father hovers over her, and when I get closer, I can hear him say, “I can do that.”
“I can do it,” she says.
She tacks it up, testing to make sure the nail is in good enough and then smiles at him.
Her mother is there, too. She keeps looking around the place in awe, and it was an honor to be there when Ember got to show them around.
The moment they got to see for themselves all the things their daughter had been accomplishing, it was like their minds changed instantly.
People have been coming up to us on the street and praising her in front of her parents.
They’re practically giddy with pride. I also think they’re favoring moving here.
Ember spots me, and she grins. She hands the hammer off to her father, and then she walks toward me. “Everything is coming together.”
I spin around as much as I can since the crutches don’t exactly make it easy. “It’s absolutely breathtaking.”
“Did you see me use the hammer?”
“Excellent job.”
“Yeah, Randy’s a good teacher.”
I narrow my gaze, and she breaks into a laugh that fills my heart. “Even I have to admit he’s done a great job.”
She must notice the wistfulness in my voice because she says, “You’ll still get a chance to put your mark on the manor. We have lots of work to do.”
I know how she can get, so I give her a stern look. If I don’t say something now, she won’t be able to enjoy the night. I’ve never met someone who was as motivated as her, and I’ve played with a bunch of professional athletes. No one else compares. “Tonight, we celebrate.”
At the exact right time, Bea moves around, handing us both a glass of champagne. She lifts her hand in the air. “To the start of the inaugural end-of-year ball.”
“Hear, hear,” the volunteers say, my mother probably the loudest of them all.
She loops her arm around Ember’s mom’s and takes her to the corner of the room where they inspect the trim I put up.
She also shows off the before and after photos we took that are placed on easels along the wall.
We wanted to show our guests what all their patronage and donations that they gave the manor has done for it.
The ballroom is back to its original beauty.
A beautiful glass chandelier, sparkling clean, catches the light from the candles and sets everything off just right.
I paid off the code enforcement fines myself, so that every last penny we earned could go back into the manor, and it shows. People are in for a treat.
Within a few minutes, our guests start to arrive, and I get to witness it firsthand.
It feels like before. On the faces of those who remember what it used to be like, I see it as if they’re coming home to a friend.
They point and smile. They must have fond memories here.
A ball where they met someone maybe. A ball where they fell in love.
I can see it on their faces that they are truly ecstatic. On the newbies’ faces, it’s a competition for who appreciates it more. They are blown away by their surroundings. People talk excitedly all over the room. Waiters come by with hors d’oeuvres and champagne or sparkling grape juice.
By the time everyone has a champagne glass in hand, Ember moves up to the microphone we had arranged in the front of the room. She taps it, and nothing comes out. She frowns, taps it again and then sets her champagne down on the corner of the table to follow the wires back.
I limp through the crowd to help, and when she hears me coming, she peers up with a shrug. “No idea.”
“Everything’s plugged in?”
“Yep.”
She laughs as she tries the mic again. She shrugs, and I can see all the confidence she’s gained by being here.
Before, having something go wrong would’ve been a testament to how she’s failing, but this time, she just laughs it off.
Instead, she stands in front of the room and calls for everyone’s attention.
My God, but she’s beautiful.
The murmurs around the room come to a halt. She may be dressed like a vampire queen, but all I see is Ember. My Ember. She’s flourished here, and I know her parents can see it. I peek over at them, and they’re smiling from ear-to-ear.
“Thank you all for coming tonight. I’m so sad to see the season end, but I couldn’t be more proud of Harvest Falls and what we’ve accomplished this year.
Earlier, the mayor gave me some stats, and I wanted to share them with you now.
Over one thousand more visitors came to Harvest Falls this year than the previous year.
Businesses in the area flourished. We drank over 10,000 cups of cider.
I can’t blame us,” she says as an aside and a ripple of laughter rips through the crowd.
“I know that the manor was just a small part in this year’s festivities, but on behalf of this beautiful house and this beautiful town, I would like to give everyone a warm round of applause. ”
The room erupts. Ember is like a shining beacon in the middle of it all.
“And since I have everyone’s attention,” she continues after it quiets.
“I would like to take this opportunity to thank all of the manor’s volunteers throughout the season for tonight, and every night before.
I would also like to thank my parents for making the journey here to see what I do on a daily basis.
Of course, I’d like to thank the mayor for her continued support in my efforts to revive Sleepy Hollow Manor, but mostly, I would like to thank my partner in business and in life, Devon Lachey, who has stood by me, encouraged me, and loved me.
Sleepy Hollow Manor is going to be a success because of you. ”
Another round of applause sounds, and I have to swallow. I’m humbled. Ember lifts her drink, and then we all drink to her toast.
Afterward, she gets stopped by several people. I see her sincerely, and with as much sweetness as she can muster, try to extricate herself from them so she can make her way to me.
My mom tries to intervene, but she holds up a finger. “Hold that thought, Mayor, I need to kiss your son.”
Ember lifts to her tiptoes and seals her lips to mine. I take it in, as if bottling the feeling so I can bring it up any time I need it. When we break apart, I quirk a brow at her. “Partners, huh?”
“Partners,” she clarifies. “And when I get a ring on my finger, I’ll put your name on the deed.”
We both laugh. Neither of us are in a hurry.
We talk about it like it’s an inevitability because it is.
Ember and I are meant to be together, and once I’m well, once I’m able to fend for myself, I’ll start the process.
Plan the date. Pick out the ring. The faster we pledge ourselves to the other, the better.
Ember O’Malley will be mine forever.
She tugs at my hand. “I have a plan for us.”
“I always like the sound of that.”
She tows me into the foyer and hands me my coat. She helps me get it on, and then waits as we walk outside. The air has turned cold. Halloween is tomorrow, and soon after, we’ll be in the coldest months of the year. She shivers a little, and then leads me down the steps and through the woods.
Once we start through the trees, I know where we’re going. She brings a flashlight so I won’t fall on my face, but it’s a slow trek.
“When we get that walkway put in, this’ll be so much easier.”
“So much,” I state. Eventually, we end up at the well.
By all looks of it, it’s nothing special, especially in the dark. It hides away as if it’s become one with the forest.
Ember, however, has done something because once we’re next to it, several spotlights turn on, showing off the well in all its disheveled beauty.
“What’s this?”
“Well, originally I was going to have Randy clean it up, but then I figured this is something you’d want to do yourself. So, instead, I wanted to show off a small sliver of what it could be. Also, I wanted to give you this.”
She hands me several sheets of paper. It’s legal. She waits for me to read it as she lowers her head into her scarf.
“What is it?”
“I broke off the sliver of land that the well sits on, and I’m deeding it to you, so you and only you will be able to own it.”
I blink, swallowing down the waves of emotion. I smile at her. “Ember, you couldn’t be more perfect, but I don’t want it if it has nothing to do with you.”
“You don’t?”
I shake my head. “I appreciate the sentiment, but it’s become obvious what’s most important, and owning this without you would mean nothing to me.”
Her eyes turn red, tears welling up in them. “You’re sure?”
“One hundred percent.” I take the paper and rip it down the middle. “It’s you and me, Ember.”
She leans into me, burying her head against my chest. Luckily, my crutch is there bracing us.
After a few moments, she says, “Oh, there’s something else.” She pulls out a quarter. “I thought we could throw this in together.”
She holds out one side to me, and I take it in my grip so that we’re both holding it. “To us,” I say.
“To us remembering that we can do everything if we’re just together.”
“To us knowing that wishes and hope are beautiful things, but action is better.”
She laughs. “Hope is what brought me to you.”
“Then I take it back.”
She shakes her head at me playfully. “To you and me, Devon.”
“To you and me.”
We both drop the quarter at the same time, and it falls into the well. She leans against me. “I think there is something about this well,” she says nonchalantly. “I already wished for you once, and I got you.”
I turn toward her. “You mean you wished for Sleepy Hollow Manor to be successful and got me with it.”
She lifts her gaze to me slowly. “Why would I wish for that when at the time, I already knew what I really wanted?”
“But…”
“You’re being silly, Devon Lachey. The well is real. It works in…”
“Mysterious ways,” we both say together.
She smiles. “We ended up together eventually.”
“That we did.”
I put my hand on her shoulder and squeeze her against me. The well is our next project. Owning it outright, what I always wanted, just seems wrong when, as Ember just said, I already know what I really want.
And it’s her. And a life in Harvest Falls in Sleepy Hollow Manor. But most importantly, it’s just her.