Page 50 of Ella and the Enchanted Bookshop

All except Asher.

Instead, as the evening progressed, he only looked more and more disgruntled.

“Hey,” I nudged him quietly after the pumpkin pie had been served. “You okay?”

“I know it’s cold,” he said, looking down at the table, "but could we take a walk?”

For the first time since Casey’s arrest, alarm bells sounded in my head, and I did my best not to look worried as we slipped out of the dining room and grabbed our coats.

He didn’t talk as we stepped outside. It was a blessedly windless night, which was a good thing, as I wouldn’t have lasted two minutes outside if it had been. It was already cold enough to make my nose burn as we made our way toward the road. Rather than turning down the road, however, Asher took my hand and led me up the front steps of Margaret’s bookshop porch. After seating me in one of the cushioned rocking chairs, he chose one for himself before pulling a space heater shaped like a pumpkin out from beneath the coffee table. Once it was turned on, he leaned back and folded his hands, his eyes never meeting mine.

Was he breaking up with me?

It was a weird question, seeing as nothing we’d talked about lately had hinted at any desire for separation. But then again, I hadn't seen him in almost a month. Maybe something had happened that I wasn’t aware of. Maybe he had met someone else.

My stomach, comfortably full a few moments before, now roiled inside me.

“So…” he finally said, his voice like ice against the cold silence. “Now that you’ve got the ranch, you’ll probably never leave it.”

I stared at him. “When did I say that?”

“You didn’t.” He leaned forward in the chair and restlessly fingered the stack of paperbacks that had been left on the table. “But I assumed now that you have what you wanted–”

Understanding hit me.

“I never said that,” I repeated, leaning forward to imitate his stance. “What I did say was that for me to consider leaving my ranch, someone would have to give me a reason.” I quirked an eyebrow. “A really good reason.”

He stared at me for what felt like forever before letting out a strange little laugh. Then he got up. Confused, I stayed seated, watching him. But then he knelt in front of me, one knee on the ground and one knee up.

“Would an engagement ring be a good enough reason?” he asked.

Suddenly breathless, I heard myself reply, “It would be… if there were one here.”

He paused and then began fumbling with his coat pocket, grumbling to himself as he did. Finally, though, he produced a little blue velvet box that held the prettiest, daintiest princess-cut diamond I’d ever seen. And there on the bookshop porch, surrounded by pumpkins and twinkle lights and books, I said yes to the man who held my heart.

As I was going to bed that night, reflecting on the joys of the day, I couldn’t help marveling at how well everything had turned out.

Derrick would be promoted to manager in my absence, a job he was most excited about. He and his wife would move onto the property, where they could live rent-free and he could be with the horses around the clock. Amanda had also readily agreed to being a part-time employee, managing more of the secretary-type responsibilities.

Asher and I had decided that we would visit the ranch as often as we could–and with it, of course, his father. And one day, when Asher retired and was finished with the military, we would move back together to build our own dreams there.

As I was about to turn out my light, however, I realized that Margaret’s storybook was on my bedside table beneath my lamp. Which was odd, as I couldn’t remember placing it there. I’d expected it to finish the story after Casey’s arrest, for it had recorded the stepmother’s arrest and removal from the girl’s home. It had even included the return of the girl’s ball slippers. But for some reason, after that, it had remained oddly unfinished.

“Give it time,” Margaret had said with a patient smile on the few occasions that I asked. “Apparently, your story’s not quite finished yet.”

Well, seeing as the book was on my table, I sat up and opened it once more, fully expecting the story to remain unfinished. But as I turned the pages, and the diamond on my hand glinted in the lamplight, I realized that there was one more spread there after all.

And after the wicked stepmother was arrested, the prince brought Ella to his palace, where they began a new adventure together and lived happily ever after.

The end.

Aurora and the Enchanted Bookshop

(The Enchanted Bookshop Fairy Tales, Book #2)

An Excerpt

I studied the cookies behind the glass display case, an open bakery box in front of me. “I can’t decide whether we should bring more sugar cookies or a batch of the spiced white chocolate chip ones instead,” I said as my aunt passed behind me, her arms full of more pink bakery boxes.