Echoes in the Bayou (44 page)

He looked
at Kelly adoringly. Even though he'd known her for such a short period of time,
something told him that she was the
girl for
him. Not only had she made him feel wanted, but the lightning fast romance
they'd been thrust into seemed to be working for them, he'd never been happier.
And if he and Kelly wound up like Magnus and Ava well then, that would suit him
just fine.

Ava felt
better after she washed up and changed.  She was happy when she found that
she was able to fit into some of her clothes. It would still be awhile before
she would be able to wear anything too constricting, especially around the
stomach area. She'd have to allow herself at least six weeks to heal, the
doctor had told her. She ran her fingers through her hair, and put on a bit of
mascara. After she settled on a pair of modal stretchy wide legs pants and a
form fitting tank, she stopped a moment and gazed at her reflection in the
mirror.

She was a
mother now,
a parent
and she smiled
at the thought. She thought about watching her take her first steps, becoming a
toddler and sending her off for her first day of Kindergarten. She couldn’t
wait to become involved in every aspect of her daughter's life and she was so
very happy that Magnus had choose to come back into her life at the perfect
moment.

She
grabbed a cashmere wra
p that was draped along
the wicker rocking chair in her bedroom before making her way downstairs.

"Alrigh
t here she comes," Magnus whispered. He was
standing at the bottom of the staircase waiting for her.

"What's
this?"

"Oh
just a little something I asked our friends to help me plan," he said and
walked her
into the living room.

"You
look beautiful by the wa
y," he said and led
her by the hand in front of the fireplace.

She
looked at her friends standing close by and thanked them for being there and
for making the room look so nice
.

"Have
a seat," Magnus said and helped her into one of the overstuffed chairs.

"You
all are acting weird, what's going on?" She giggled at the sight of all
her friends timidly standing by
.

"Ava,"
he said as he got down on bended knee.
 
"I wanted your friends to be here to share in what I'm about to ask you
because I know that you think of them as part of the family, and I want you to
know that I do too. You have given me everything that I could ever want and I
want to spend my lifetime doing the same for you. Ava Montgomery, will you do
me the honor of becoming my wife?" He asked and stared so hard at her she
was sure that his gaze would pierce straight through to her heart. She couldn’t
help but notice that his hands were trembling as he pulled out the engagement
ring from her shop, the one that she'd admired almost each and every day.

"Yes,"
she said. "Yes." Tears of joy streamed down her face as he gathered
her in his arms and kissed her.

Cheers of
delight rang out from her friends but they made sure
not to be too loud, they didn’t want to wake little Nina who was sleeping
peacefully in her room upstairs.

She was
admiring the ring that he'd just given her
.

"How
did you know about the ring?
"

"A
little bird told me," he sai
d and winked at
Sterling.

Her
throat clogged with fresh tears. "Let's not have too long of an engagement
alright?" She said with a smile.

He
hastily nodded his head. "I agree, how about two months from now?
"

"Oh
a summer wedding." Kelly and S
terling
suddenly became even more excited.

"Please
say yes Ava, nothing would please him more than planning your wedding,"
Anthony encouraged her
.

She
cocked her head and pretended to appear doubtful. "A summer wedding in two
months? Sounds like a reasonable amount of time to me."

"I'd
say more than reasonable," he said helping her onto her feet and taking
her in his arms.

"I
guess I better inform my parents that they'll be attending a wedding in Vermont
this summer.
"

"I
guess you better," sh
e said with a smile.

Later on
that night after everyone had left and it was just the two of them, Magnus
thanked her.

"Why
are you thanking me?" She asked. They had just gotten finished sharing the
good news with his parents
and after checking on
little Nina, had gotten into bed.

"I
want to thank you for not giving up on me," he said and pulled her closer
.

"When
I got to that Inn, you could have told me to leave and I have to admit, a part
of me thought that you might. But the moment that I
saw you and saw the look in your eyes, I knew that you wanted me there."

She took
his hand in hers and kissed it. "Baby you never told me, how did you know
that I was there?"

"That's
right; I didn't get to tell you. Well when I was driving in
I too stopped at the Gas and Go. Remember? I told the
detectives that I'd stopped there and asked for directions?"

"Yes,
I remember.
"

"Well
it must have been Will, he told me that you were new in town and that you lived
in the big Victorian. He told me th
at you along
with half the town would be attending the dinner, he even gave me directions."

 
"It's amazing if you think about it," she
said turning to look at him. "I mean without help from us who live in the
present, Will and Celeste would have had no chance at a life in the future. And
without help from Will and Celeste in the past, you and I wouldn’t have found
one another.  Magnus you do realize that had you not made that call, we
would have never met. And that is a thought that I never want to think
about," she said and kissed him on the lips.

"And
you'll never have to," he said
.

It was
several weeks later when Magnus told her the news. He'd just gotten off the
phone with his realtor. The realtor told him that a young couple had made an
offer on the house.

"We
got an offer," he said as he came up behind her and wrapped his arms
around her waist
.

"That's
wonderful, are you going to accept it?"

He
shrugged his shoulders. "Well I don’t know, it’s a very low offer and I'd
lose some money if I accepted it.
"

"Well
do you know anything about the person making the offer?" She asked
.

"Yes,
my realtor says that they are a young couple looking to move in,
do some renovating and start a family. Apparently the
wife has a green thumb and would like to build a greenhouse. But like I said
they offered what they could afford and I'm afraid its way below what I'm
asking for the place. I mean after all, it has a history," he smirked.

 
"Magnus DuPonte, if you do not accept that offer
no matter how low, I am going to leave you standing high and dry at the altar
on our wedding day. Which might I remind you, is coming up in a little over a
month," she said and began playfully punching him in the chest.

 
He started to laugh, and took hold of her hands while
kissing each one. "Don’t you even think about leaving me high and dry.
I've already enthusiastically accepted their offer, so we are officially free
of Montieu Plantation. I know that you didn’t like the place but it wasn’t all
that bad was it?" He grinned.

She put
her arms around him. "Magnus I didn’t always dislike the place, of course
I didn’t. It's just after everything that happened that night I was more than
ready to say goodbye that’s all. I'll always hold it near and dear to my heart
because it's the place where I met and fell in love with you. And I know that
because of what we did, the new occupants won't be harmed by anything
supernatural. They will be able to live a long and happy life there, ghost
free," she grinned.

"You
know if the Chamberlain's hadn’t been willing to work out a deal with me, I
wouldn’t have been able to buy this place, let alone the store so I think it's
good to pay it forward. Doing something nice for someone you don’t know is a
good feeling and I have no doubt that the couple you sold the plantation to
will forever be grateful to you for giving them a break."

"They
better be because like I said, I'm losing a lot of money," he smiled and
gave her a wink.

When the realtor
told the young couple that their offer had been accepted, they were ecstatic.
Not only had Magnus accepted their offer, but he included the furnishings as
well.

"It
almost sounds too good to be true," the young woman said
.

"Oh
it's true sugar. Mister DuPonte wants nothing more than to live his life up
North with his family.
  You know
sugar, there are still some folks around here that like to help out and Mister
DuPonte is one of those people. He also told me to let you all have the keys
right here and now and that you can go ahead and move on in whenever you're
ready. So here you go," she said and handed them the keys. "I'll be
back next week and we can sign all the paperwork. In the meantime enjoy living
in your new home."

 
The young couple exulted in joy and thanked the
realtor repeatedly before watching her drive away.

"Is
it me or does the place look even prettier th
an
when we first looked at it?" The young woman wrapped her arms around her
husband.

"No,
you're right, it does look prettier." He walked up the stairs and onto the
front porch.
  "I could have sworn that
these columns were crumbling the last time we were here and now look at them,
why they're as good as new."

 
"I'm sure it was just your imagination honey, you
were hoping to find something wrong with the place just so you wouldn’t have to
hear the words of rejection come out of the realtor's mouth."

"Well
that's because I was sure that he wouldn’t accept our offer, it was low but
it's all we can afford right now," he said to her and rubbed her swollen
belly
.

"It
was all meant to be sweetheart, Mister DuPonte accepted our offer, and he even
includ
ed the furnishings. So let's take this as
a sign that this plantation was meant for us and I'm told by the locals that
the house has quite a history and you know how much I love finding out the
history of these old places," she said. He could sense her curiosity
growing already.

 
He gathered his wife into his arms. "That
gardenia shrub is the most vibrant shrub that I've ever seen. And it looks to
have doubled in size since the last time we were here," he said as they
walked over to it.

"It
sme
lls lovely." His wife inhaled its scent.

"It
may smell lovely but it certainly isn’t the loveliest thing here, not by far.
You my dear wife are the loveliest thing here and I'll tell you something else
too.
"

"And
what's that?
"

"You’re
my love, and my love
for you will cease to
exist, when those beautiful gardenias start blooming in the harshest of winter."

And
somewhere off in the distance, the soothing sound of a loon bird wail echoed
through the bayou
.

The End