within you, and without you.

“Well, the whole town’s been saying the same the same thing, so I have no question.” Evolet didn’t know Ember well herself, but from the few little moments they’d had while locked together in the school, Evolet herself had to admit that the young southerner was very charming. “I already have an idea or two floating around my head, and considering that’s more than there’s been for some time, I am sure that my piano is very appreciative of you right now. I know my producer will be. As for your sister, we both know that I think I can handle her, I’ll just tell her that we’re going for instrumental.” Chuckling as the sound of his keys played under their conversation, heartfelt concern painted her face, which showed nearly everything she felt. She’d never been good at hiding anything off her expression. “I’m sure it will take time, but this should help as well. She seems old fashioned so I’m sure it feels more appropriate to be living with you, now. She seemed very happy when I spoke to her.”

Harry arched an eyebrow over at his dear friend and settled into that familiar feeling he often brimmed with when they were together. A love so appreciative and light and pure. And were he gifted enough, Harry was certain Evolet would pull him out of a creative funk too. “That was quick, Evie. I can’t wait to hear it. Everything you write is so beautiful.” The soft-laced smile ticked up into a smirk. An undercurrent of laughter settled below his voice. “Well, I would say ‘good luck with that’, but she listens to you much more than she listens to me.” As they stepped carefully through the parking lot, which was quite slippery in spots, Harry hummed his agreement. “I hope so. She definitely is an old soul, I suppose that’s why we clicked. But I hope it sticks when all the excitement settles down.” Unlocking his truck, Harry took Mozart’s leash from his friend and guided her into the passenger seat before settling the Labrador in the back of the cab. “It’s good her house was heritage, in a way, because I found its blueprints in the city archives.” He said once he’d made his way to the driver’s seat and put the key in the ignition, just to turn on the heat. “I think I’m going to surprise her with them after the wedding.”

Despite the lack of time just the two of them together, helping others and helping animals was more than worth it, and she knew that just made each moment they had with each other that much more special. Thumb brushing over the back of the little duckling in her hands, her entire heart was stolen instantly and she knew she would do anything to protect the little things. Looking down with the movement of the ducklings, her laughter run out through the kitchen as his lips pressed to her hair. Stepping back to test it, Ember stuck him with a grin as all the duckling stayed huddled in the corner of the box closest to him. “I don’t it’s going to be me that’s going to be Mama, Darlin’.” Smirking at him she set the duckling down and watched it join it’s siblings, reaching down to take his hand and press his knuckles to her lips, chasing the kiss with a brush of her thumb over them. “All them reasons, and this one, are why I’m already marryin’ you.”

Harry’s eyes shifted from the spot where September had stepped out of his arms to the box upon the worktop. A bubble of laughter breaking from his chest as he realised what she meant, seeing how the little ducklings kept huddled by his side of the box. “Well, that’s going to ruffle some feathers. The girls get very jealous, you know.” He spoke down to the ducklings, tapping his fingertips upon one of their heads. A soft, dreamy kind of smile brushed over Harry’s expression as his fiancée lifted his hand to her lips. The sensation of her kiss sent a rush of goosebumps up his arm. “I can’t wait, Dove.” He sighed out and leaned down to press his lips upon her forehead. Soaking in her scent, her warmth. “How about I go dig out this heat lamp and then we can talk about the wedding over dinner?” A grin stretched across his face, clearly just as excited to discuss it as his little southern love. After taking another sip of coffee, Harry set the mug down on the bench and wandered outside to the shed. And in his hands, upon his return, was a lamp and an old newspaper. “This should still work.” He mumbled, almost to himself, as he stood it over the cardboard, plugged it in and switched it on. “There.” He sighed happily, flashing Ember a grin. “Just like your Mama’s nest.”

“I’m sure you would have been just as happy either way, but from what I know of Ember she does seem like the perfect girl for you.” Evolet had only met her a handful of times during the blizzard, but right from the get go the tiny southerner had radiated warmth. “Of course I would! I may even try and write something just for the occasion, though I have been experiencing my first bout of writers block.” Shaking her head, she gave a little chuckle, trying to imagine Lucy playing the wedding march on a ukulele. “Maybe she and I can write something together. I really am so very happy for you! I’m also so sorry to hear about her house.” Swallowing back that tiny hint of jealousy that she was so used to, Evolet focused on the warmth that came with his happiness. 

“She really is.” He hummed in a voice all lovestruck and soft. Still a little in awe of the southern belle who’d waltzed into town and showed him a love he’d never known before. “I know I’ve said it so many times but god, she’s absolutely the one.” Harry gave her hand a small squeeze of excitement, touched that she’d even suggest such a thing. “Oh, Evie, they would be beautiful. No pressure, of course. I’ve heard that writer’s block is a real slog. But maybe this blizzard might serve as a little inspiration. At least then it would have been good for something.” Harry sighed, keeping to himself for the moment just how thickly the snow was laid upon the town, letting the thought of Lucy and Evie composing a song humour him instead. “Well, don’t you let her put any cuss words in there. I know she’ll insist it’s creative license.” Pulling his hand away from Evie’s, he dug into his pocket for his keys as they neared the parking lot that had been shovelled prior to the outpouring of people from the school. “I know, it was devastating. Poor Em. Not that that was the reason I proposed, but I really hope the engagement settles her a little. I don’t think she felt entirely at home at my place, which is completely understandable.”

Gasping from deep in her throat as she leaned over and saw the duckling inside of the box, one hand lifted to her lips as she stared down at them with a swelling of her heart to the point of near pain. “Harry! They’re precious!” She’d have been more surprised if the boys had left them there, and it made all the sense in the world that the little birds had ended up there with them. “I’m so glad ya’ll get in after’em! Oh you poor babies!” Though she knew little about ducks, there was nothing that would keep her from finding out everything she needed to take care of them. “We gotta make’em a nice warm place in our room… do ya go any’a them heat lamps?” Face instantly filled with maternal love and concern for the tiny creatures, small hands lowered to carefully lift one out and examine it. “At least it don’t look like none’a’em are hurt.” Leaning over she lifted onto her toes to carefully press a kiss to Harry’s furry jaw. “You and that big ol’ heart’a yours bein’ my hero every day.”

In the days following their release from the school, Harry and Ember (like a good number of the other townsfolk) had been run ragged. Between salvaging what they could at the nursery, enacting a recovery plan at the farm and helping out friends and neighbours and all the displaced animals they’d stumbled upon, they’d barely had a moment for themselves. So to see September coo over the newest additions to their rescue efforts only affirmed to Harry that he had, beyond shadow of a doubt, asked the right person to marry him. “Yeah, I’m pretty sure I’ve got some in the shed from when the girls were chicks.” He nodded as he took another sip of coffee, giving a little sigh of contentment into the mug. “We could just shred some newspaper and put it in the bottom for bedding too until we figure something else out.” His eyes followed the duckling she lifted out of the box, but then fell upon Ember’s face. Practically melting on the spot at the warm, maternal instincts she exuded. “You’re the real hero, Dove.” He smiled as her lips met the line of his jaw. An arm fell around her, tucking her into his side and kissing the top of her head. “Running around all day, chasing after animals, making coffee, cooking delicious smelling stews and at the end of it all, still finding space and time for more souls in need.” Harry shook his head in amazement and murmured a little joke into her hair, a smile deep in his voice. “Marry me?” 

Dinner was warm and ready, the pot of hearty stew still steaming on the oven as she went about making coffee to help warm her fiance when he finally made it home. Almost right on cue his voice rang out in welcome tones, instantly and easily pulling a smile onto her freckled face. Pouring each of them a cup of coffee, she was just about to turn around to hand him his, when she realized his arms were full. “What you got in there?” Already the farm was filling with injured and displaced animals, Ember herself spending a good portion of the day trying to match animals with people looking for lost pets. Setting his mug down on the island, she motioned at him to put the box down, before a sound from inside had her gasping. “Harry! You didn’t…!” Smile breaking out on her face she waved her hands at him to open it.

There was a twinkle in his eye as he set the box down upon the island, right by the steaming mug of coffee she’d made for him. His lips pressed together as he watched September fill with excitement, most of the reason why he’d decided to bring the ducklings home instead of dropping them off at the farm. “I did...” Though he tried to stifle his grin, it burst out onto his face as he pulled back the flaps of the cardboard box. Seven little black and yellow striped ducklings peered up at them, quacking their confusion. “I’m pretty sure they’re mallards, I could be wrong.” Watching his fiancée lovingly, Harry picked up the coffee she’d made and took a long, grateful sip. “I know it’s getting crazy at the farm but they were stuck right down on the lip of the drain, no sign of their parents. Jude and I had to get half in ourselves. I just... couldn’t leave them there.”

There’d never been a time when Evolet couldn’t tell that Harrison Birch was smiling. It not only came through in his voice but in his entire aura and it was still something she adored about him. Colour settled in her cheeks as it always seemed to from the very first day she’d known him, step so confidently lead in the direction he guided her. He had yet to ever steer her wrong. “Honestly, so am I. We had a running poll in our year on if you and Autumn were gunna tie the knot right out of school.” Keeping her relief at losing that bet to herself, the pianist paused at his offer, but only for a beat before a smile blossomed onto her face. “Harry! I’d love that so much, I’m so honored that you’d even think of me!”

The tip of his tongue traced his lip as he listened to Evolet explain the high school bet before rolling his eyes up with a self-deprecating chuckle. “Well, if it had been up to me…”‌ Harry trailed off with a shake of his head. Strange to think about how different his life would have been. His eyes shifted down to his friend as they trod carefully through the snow, watching as she processed the question and then finally smiling quietly along with her. “Would you really?‌ It would mean so much to me. To the both of us.”‌ A laugh trickled from him as he steered them in the direction of his truck. “And honestly, Evie, as if there’s anyone in my life I’d ask. I‌ mean, Luce might have a crack on her ukulele, but she’s no virtuoso.”

“Wow, we really have been friends for a long time. I honestly didn’t know what to do with myself when you weren’t talking to me. I don’t know what I would have done if you never talked to me again.” Piper didn’t want to think about that. She was a master at overthinking. “It was hard not to come talk to you. Especially when we both had so much going on. I’m am so very happy for you and Em.” The redhead couldn’t help the shy laugh at her friend’s words. “No worries there, I already have someone who has my whole heart. Even though I’m surprised Rory is willing to put up with me.” She smiled, a small sigh escaping her lips. “I almost blew it after you got upset with me. I managed to almost ruin a friendship and a relationship in one night.”

Harry pressed his lips together and nodded slowly as he digested Piper’s words. Understanding for even though it had been him that had imposed it, it had felt as if he’d been missing a hand. “Well, we don’t have to worry about that now, yeah?”‌ How silly it seemed now to have wanted to throw all these years together away. Still hurt, still bitter but he needed to heal this wound with her now. “Thanks, Pipes. We’re so, so happy. We’ll have to have a proper catch-up when you get back from Bristol, yeah?”‌ Harry offered up a warm smile, lolling his head to one side as he did so. “So I‌ heard. Good thing we weren’t talking because I‌ would’ve given you an earful. You’re really lucky to have found Rory, she’s a good egg.”‌ He lifted an eyebrow at her, but there was a softness to his affect. For he knew Rory was equally lucky to have his best friend. “And hey, I have a question...” 

“A lift home would be wonderful. I’d thought about walking but the more I thought about it the less of a good idea it seemed.” Laughing softly, Evolet shook her head and reached over to rest a hand on her friend’s forearm as she usually did. He’d always been a reliable anchor for her for as long as she could remember. “I never did get to congratulate you on your engagement. I’m so happy for you. I knew you’d be the first of us.” She’d just always thought it would have been Autumn, but she kept that to herself.

A low hum of laughter left Harry in concert with Evolet’s lighter tones. “Yeah... Not your brightest idea.” Though she could not see his smile, it was rich in his voice. And as they walked from the school, he patted the hand she’d placed upon his forearm before laying his own over it. “Thanks, Evie. Honestly, I’m surprised I made it to thirty before it happened.” He chuckled, though with the knowledge that it likely would have happened a lot earlier had everything with Autumn gone to plan. “But good- no, beautiful things come to those that wait.” As they stepped out into the snow that blanketed the Californian town, Harry drew in a deep breath of the brisk air. Fresh, sweet and cool. “I was going to ask you, actually... We’d really love for you to play at the wedding.” 

A small sigh fell from Piper’s lips as she listened to Harry’s words. She could tell that their friendship wasn’t going to be back to where they left off. She understood that she would have to work to gain his trust. “I’m so glad you forgive me. I was worried you never would.” The redhead would have been heart broken if they never made up. “Of course I forgive you. You needed the time, I wanted to respect that. Also congratulations on your engagement.” 

“Piper, you’ve been my best friend since grade school. I wasn’t going to throw that away.” Harry offered her a small, wistful smile as he lifted one of his shoulders. Of course he didn’t mention that he had, in the throes of his hurt, considered doing just that. It had been so much harder to reconcile those emotions with Piper than it had been with Autumn. For Autumn had hurt him more time than he knew to count, but Piper never had. “Well, thank you for being patient with me. I just want to try and move on, y’know? Because between this blizzard, and losing Em’s house... Anyway thanks, Pipes. We’re over the moon.” Harry’s smile grew far wider and warmer at the thought of the engagement, he was practically glowing. “Promise me you won’t fall in love with this one.” He could hardly help himself as he nudged his elbow into his friend’s side, a clear sign that he had at least begun to move on.

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