Ella: an Everland Ever After Tale (16 page)

Stopping beside her chair, he stared down at her in silence for a moment. No one spoke, and Ella fisted her hands in the lap, to keep from reaching for him. She had to hear this. Had to hear what he was going to say to her stepfather. “The woman I love left me her boots.” And then he dropped to his knee, steadying himself against the table leg. Their gazes were level, and she could see every freckle, every thought behind his glasses. She could see that he was holding his breath, the same as her.

And then, he lifted the boots. “I brought your boots back, Miss Ella.”

Nothing in the whole world—not Mabel’s nasty “Well, I
never
” or her stepfather’s bluster of displeasure—could’ve stopped her from lifting the hem of her faded blue dress, and letting him slip the black shoes from her feet. When she sat there, stocking toes pressed hard against the wood floor, he moved the boots closer. Still holding his pale green gaze, she pushed her feet into her favorite old boots.

“They fit perfectly.”

Her whisper only set her family off again, but she didn’t care. Their anger didn’t matter. Nothing did, except the way his grin threatened to knock off his spectacles, and the love she saw in his eyes.

Bracing himself on the table, he lifted himself to his feet, and pulled her up as well. He wrapped his arms around her, and pressed their bodies together, and the birds sang stupidly, and Ella knew that this was where she belonged. She snaked her hands between his vest and his jacket, reveling in the strength she felt under the cotton. “I love you, Ian Crowne.” He smiled, and she had to confess why she’d withheld the truth for so long. “But my stepfather is a powerful man, and told me that he could ruin you, if I defied him.”

Ian’s grin faded, but not the love in his expression. After nearly a minute of staring down at her, he turned, pulling them both to face her stepfather. Edmund Miller was standing now, his hands braced on either side of his plate, his face red with fury. Slowly, he lifted one finger until it pointed directly at Ian’s chest. “
You
. You think you’re taking her away from here? You think to deprive me of her labor? I will
end you
, boy. I know how reclusive you are. I know that you don’t have nearly the standing that I do, in this town. I’ll make sure no one buys from you again. I’ll make sure that your business will fail and you’ll run back to the North where you belong.”

The hatred she heard in Papa’s voice was enough to make Ella blanch, but Ian just pulled her closer to him, as if to tell her that he’d keep her safe. He stared at her stepfather for a long moment, and then cocked his head to one side. “No. No, I don’t think so.”

His calm response confused Papa. He sucked in a breath, and began to cough. Ian’s expression was grim when he continued. “You see, I’m part of this town, now. I’ve heard about you from Max DeVille, and I think that the people of this town respect me just as much as I do them, now. I think that any power you had over me disappeared the moment I began to look towards my future here, among them. Max has supported me, and—as you say—his family is important in Everland. Everyone in town knows why I came out here today, and they support me. I’m marrying Ella, and taking her away from here. Away from you.”

It was probably the most wonderful thing that she’d ever heard, and as soon as she could find her voice, she’d tell him that. For now, though, she just squeezed him as hard as she could. He glanced back down at her, as if her stepfather’s sputtered threats—interspersed with coughing—meant nothing. “Yesterday, you didn’t ask me what I named the dog.”

“The…?” She’d almost forgotten about the reason she’d defied her stepfather to go to Ian two nights ago. “You’ve chosen a name?”

He nodded, his expression serious. “Future.”
Future
. “You told me to stop living in the past, Ella, so I did. I’ve made a place for myself, for us. You gave me hope for the future, and I’m going to share it with you.”

“It’s… it’s fitting.” His shoulders dropped slightly, like he’d been holding his breath, waiting for her answer. “I think that Future will be quite happy with you, and Shiloh and Manny and Vick.” And then she gave him the answer she knew he’d been waiting for. “And me.”

He kissed her. There, in her stepfather’s dining room, not caring about Papa’s bluster or her sisters’ squeals or Eunice’s “Wait, that was
Ella
at the picnic yesterday?”…he kissed her.

And Ella kissed him back, and never regretted anything less.

When they pulled apart, Ian grinned down at her, and no one else mattered. “I’ve got my wagon out front, sweetheart. Do you have anything here that you want to bring with you?”

She glanced down at the new shoes beside her chair. “Actually, I’d like to get my new dress.”

Had she thought he was grinning before? It was nothing compared to the joy in his expression now. “Good. Actually, I was hoping you’d say that. Because Hank and Rojita, and Mr. and Mrs. Spratt are meeting us at the church in an hour, and I’d rather hoped that you’d wear that gown again.”

The church? She swallowed, and he must’ve seen the question in her eyes, because his grin turned teasing. “That is, if you don’t mind marrying me immediately?”

The clamor began again, but Ella had eyes only for him. With no other way to show him the love, the joy in her heart, she reached her hands up around his neck, and pulled his head down to hers.

And there, in the ruins of her past, poised at the beginning of her future, she kissed her husband-to-be.

They were married that afternoon, and she spent her wedding night with him in their new home, and it was everything they’d dreamed it would be. The dogs made sure that they had little privacy, and things were a bit cramped, and she had some trouble adjusting to life as a mercantile-owner’s wife, but it didn’t matter, because they had each other.

Keep reading for a sneak peek at the next two Everland stories: Rojita and Hank’s run-in with the Big Bad Wolf, and Arabella’s taming of the Beast!

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From
Little Red
:

Her back hurt. Why did her back hurt? Rojita cracked her eyelids just a bit, wincing at the way the winter sun’s full brightness lanced straight through to the back of her brain. Never mind, better to just keep them closed.