Once upon a pumpkin, p.1
Once Upon a Pumpkin, page 1
Copyright © 2025 by Gabrielle Landi
All rights reserved.
No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except as permitted by U.S. copyright law. For permission requests, contact landiwrites@gmail.com
The story, all names, characters, and incidents portrayed in this production are fictitious. No identification with actual persons (living or deceased), places, buildings, and products is intended or should be inferred.
Gold Cover by GetCovers
Illustrated Cover by Ireen Chau
Editing by Lisa Henson
Contents
1. Dietrich
2. Ella
3. Dietrich
4. Ella
5. Dietrich
6. Ella
7. Dietrich
8. Ella
9. Dietrich
10. Ella
11. Dietrich
12. Ella
13. Dietrich
14. Ella
15. Dietrich
16. Ella
17. Dietrich
18. Ella
19. Dietrich
20. Ella
21. Dietrich
22. Ella
23. Dietrich
24. Ella
25. Dietrich
26. Ella
Epilogue
Author's Note
Read More From Gabrielle Landi
About the Author
Chapter one
Dietrich
The duke was coming home, and it was about to ruin Dietrich’s life.
He scowled as he made his way out of the barn, pausing in the doorway to pet Jay.
The black cat pressed his head into Dietrich’s palm and let out a growl of appreciation.
“Things are going to be very different around here,” Dietrich remarked as he continued to rub the top of Jay’s head. “Are you ready for this?”
Jay didn’t respond, and Dietrich sighed as he stood up, then walked through the courtyard toward the gate.
If the duke was coming back, and he might no longer be free to make his own schedule, he should visit his mother one more time to let her know that he would be visiting less often.
The staff had all grown used to their freedom with the duke in the capital city instead of at their rural estate, and now they would have to adjust—and adjust quickly.
The duke was a kind employer, but he preferred things to be just so.
Dietrich walked the ten or fifteen minutes to his mother’s farm. She would probably have to hire someone to help her now that Dietrich would have less free time. He scowled at the thought.
While the duke coming back to the Northlands was not a bad thing—in fact, one could argue that it would be very good for the estate and the region in general—it was going to shake up quite a few families.
The one he was most concerned about was his mother.
Dietrich opened the front gate and let himself in, heading around back to find his mother with a basket, collecting eggs.
“Hello, darling,” Mother called as he approached her. “What has you looking so ferocious?”
Trust her to make light of the situation, even without knowing what it was.
“I wanted to tell you the duke is coming back to town,” he said.
His mother brightened. “That’s wonderful news, darling.”
Dietrich raised an eyebrow. “It is?” he asked. “I didn’t think that would be your opinion.”
“You need more to do,” Mother said decisively. “When you don’t have enough to do, you skulk around and waste all of your time going to the cafe instead of doing something fulfilling and productive–and you get cranky when you’re not productive.”
“I do not get cranky,” Dietrich protested, but his mother shook her head.
“Don’t think you can lie to me,” she said. “I know better. You, my boy, need something to do with your time. I am glad to hear that the duke is coming back.”
Dietrich frowned and leaned over to grab the pitchfork next to her, then began cleaning out the goat pen.
“You say that like I don’t do anything,” he said.
“I didn’t say that,” his mother said, shaking her head. “I know you’ve worked hard, even in his absence, but you cannot tell me that you do not miss the days of having twenty horses in your barn instead of two, or however many it is.”
She was right, of course—not that he would admit it to her. It was hard to keep everyone motivated when they had so little to do with their time. But it didn’t mean that he wanted everything to change.
“You think I don’t know what I’m talking about because I have never worked for the duke, but I can assure you that I remember how happy you were with a full stable. I am very excited for you to have all of those things to do again.”
Dietrich gave his mother a sideways glance as he picked up the wheelbarrow handles and began taking it over to the compost pile.
“I don’t suppose you have any other words of wisdom for me?” he asked, his tone dry, but the words lighthearted.
“Oh yes,” she said, “I do believe that you should meet Ella.”
Dietrich groaned. Of course that was her next thought. “Mother, I’m about to be busier than I’ve been in more than ten years. I don’t have time to meet a girl.”
“That is a pity,” his mother said, “because here she comes now.”
Dietrich turned to see what his mother was looking at, and his eyes widened.
Coming down the lane, a basket slung over her arm, was the girl with the stunning eyes he’d met a few months before. He’d forgotten that she was his mother’s neighbor.
No, that wasn’t quite right.
He hadn’t forgotten; he had simply put it out of his mind because he didn’t have time to be distracted.
And he knew enough to know that this girl would be a very big distraction.
“Mother, what did you do?” he said in fake outrage, turning to give his mother a look that he knew would make her laugh.
“I did nothing,” she said, shaking her head at him with a mischievous grin. “How was I supposed to know you were coming to visit this afternoon? You don’t tell me in advance when you’ll be coming.”
That much was true, so he could hardly fault her for the neighbor girl showing up–but he could fault her for the matchmaking glint in her eye.
“I’m not interested,” he warned, as his mother clicked her tongue and herded him toward the farm gate.
“You don’t know that you’re not interested,” she warned him. “Not until you’ve met her.”
Dietrich neglected to remind her that he had, in fact, already met Ella—though he hadn’t known her name. He would wait to see if Ella brought up that fact or not.
Perhaps Ella was just as uninterested in being matchmade as he was.
“Hello, Ella,” his mother called as the girl approached. Ella looked up at them with a smile that was capable of melting any snow that remained on the ground.
“Hello,” she called. “I made an extra loaf of bread this morning, and I thought perhaps you would enjoy it.”
His mother looked at him as if to say, see, she can make bread, before turning back to Ella. “That sounds wonderful, dear,” she said. “I don’t suppose you want to come in and have some tea with us?”
The girl gave him a puzzled look, and his mother let out a chuckle.
“Silly me,” she said. “I forgot to introduce you. This is my son, Dietrich.”
Her gaze looked as if it would burn a hole in his head if she stared a moment longer. Did she remember him?
“I’m Ella,” she said as she closed the remaining distance between them and handed the basket to his mother. “It’s a pleasure to meet you.”
He reached out for her hand, intending simply to shake it, but instead, he found himself lifting it and placing a small kiss on the back of it. His cheeks burned as he looked up at her, her face turning bright red. What had possessed him to do that?
His mother looked far too amused as she said, “Let me go put the kettle on,” and hurried away, leaving them alone.
“I... I apologize,” Dietrich said. “That was odd.”
Ella gave him a skeptical glance. “Yes, it was.”
Dietrich gave her his usual grin, determined not to let her throw him off balance any more than she already had. “I see you’ve discovered my mother is a good neighbor.”
She frowned at him. “You neglected to mention that she was your mother.”
Dietrich thought back to the moment they’d met not long ago when she had been serving food at Beatrice’s wedding. “I didn’t think it was particularly relevant,” he said, his eyes twinkling.
“I told you we had moved next to your mother. That seems a little relevant to me,” Ella pointed out.
Dietrich grinned as he turned to walk into the house. “If you say so. I just thought it was interesting.”
Ella muttered something under her breath as she followed him into the house, and Dietrich chuckled to himself. His mother would try to matchmake, but perhaps he could just annoy Ella instead of falling in love with her. That seemed far easier to him.
Ella made herself at home immediately, helping his mother gather mugs for tea and finding the butter in the corner cupboard. Perhaps she spent more time with his mother than he’d realized.
“And what do you do when you’re not avoiding telling people who you’re related to?” she asked, her words as frosty as the piles of snow still hiding in the shadows behind the barns.
“I’m the duke’s stable master,” he said. “I manage the stables and take care of the horses.”
“And spend your free time brushing up with nobility?” Ella said, the words pointed.
Dietrich shook his head. “Beatrice isn’t nobility,” he said. “She’s been a friend for most of my life. It was only a coincidence that she married Lord Alexander.”
“She’s not nobility?” Ella asked.
Mother shook her head. “Did no one tell you?” she asked. “I forgot you were new. No, Beatrice is one of us. She fell in love with Lord Alexander, and well, you know the rest.”
Ella nodded her head thoughtfully as she accepted a mug of tea from his mother. “So all of the talk about them being in love was true, then,” she said. “It wasn’t just the servants gossiping?”
“No, they are blissfully in love,” Dietrich said, the words bittersweet.
As much as he hated that Beatrice lived at Eldenwilde and was no longer in town for him to annoy on a regular basis, it was wonderful to see her with someone who loved her and treated her the way she deserved.
“But it does mean that the spot of my best friend is currently vacant,” he mused.
Ella’s eyes flashed. “If you’re trying to get me to apply for the position, it’s not going to happen,” she said.
“Are you sure about that?” Dietrich asked. “I can be rather charming, you know.”
“No amount of charm would possess me to be best friends with you,” Ella shot back, then her cheeks colored as she turned to his mother. “I apologize. That was rude of me. I beg your pardon, Danise.”
“I didn’t realize I was that hard to be around,” Dietrich said, with a pretend frown. “Apparently I need to brush up on my manners if I’m that offensive. Should I kiss your hand again?”
“Please don’t,” she said shortly. “And please don’t imply that I should become your best friend when we’ve barely known each other for five minutes and the first thing you did when we met was lie to me.”
“It wasn’t a lie,” Dietrich protested.
Ella drained her tea in one go and brought her mug over to the sink, rinsing it out and setting it on the counter before turning to his mother. “Thank you so much for the tea, Danise,” she said. “I think it’s time for me to go home.”
Instead of being upset, his mother simply smiled. “If you say so, dear. Thank you for the bread.”
Ella snagged her basket and stalked out the door.
Dietrich turned to his mother. “What was that?” he demanded.
“What was what, dear?” his mother said with complete serenity as she took a sip of her tea and began slowly buttering a slice of bread. As much as he hated to admit it, the bread smelled good.
“She just insulted me and you and stormed out of here, and you couldn’t care less.”
“I think things have a way of working out,” his mother said as she took her first bite of bread. She let out an appreciative sigh before setting the bread back down. “You, my boy, need to have some things changed, and I look forward to seeing what happens in your life.”
Dietrich scoffed. “The duke coming home is going to be enough change. I don’t need an upstart young miss making things any more difficult for me.”
His mother’s eyes twinkled. “If you say so, dear,” she said.
But Dietrich glanced out the window to watch as Ella left the gate, closed it behind her, and began walking back down the lane. There was something about her.
And with Beatrice occupied, perhaps Ella could occupy the position of someone for him to tease.
But he wasn’t interested in romance.
Chapter two
Ella
Ella glared at nothing as she made her way down the lane toward home.
Of all the people she could have run into today, of course, it had to be the man whose eyes she hadn’t been able to forget since she met him only a few days after moving to the Northlands.
He had been surrounded by people who hadn’t noticed her, but he had.
And he had lied to her.
If there was one thing Ella couldn’t handle, it was people who lied to her.
There were many people who lied to her, so she should have had lots of practice, but it still stung.
She let out a deep breath. It would have been one thing if she hadn’t been thinking about him for the past several weeks, but to spend all that time thinking about him only to have him turn out to be a jerk?
That was unfortunate.
She’d had high hopes, but perhaps it was better this way.
After all, if you never got to know someone, you couldn’t be disappointed by them.
So, she would avoid getting to know him. She would have to be careful, as she’d gotten used to visiting the widow Danise, and she wouldn’t want to miss out on that.
Why hadn’t she thought to ask if he would be staying before she ran out in a huff? Now she’d have to investigate, and she might run into him again.
Her heart was wondering if that would be such a bad thing.
Her head was telling her it was better to avoid getting attached.
It wasn’t a long walk from Danise’s farm to hers, and Ella forced herself to bring a smile to her face as she made her way home.
She had other things to think about, like what she was going to make for dinner, and how she was going to avoid her stepmother’s shrieking tonight. Dietrich had given her a headache, and Tabitha was not one for being quiet.
It wouldn’t be long until Tabitha expected dinner, and she didn’t have anything planned aside from the loaf of bread she’d made earlier.
She probably should have gone to town for more ingredients, but at this point, she’d made it most of the way home and didn’t feel like turning around. And Tabitha would be cranky if dinner was late.
Ella stopped in the henhouse, breathing a sigh of relief when she found three eggs. If nothing else, she could make eggs and toast. She placed the eggs into the basket and said goodbye to the chickens, girding her loins to enter the house. The chickens were far better company than those inside.
She had barely stepped through the front door of their modest home when it started.
“Ella,” Tabitha yelled down the stairs. “Is that you?”
Ella took a deep breath before answering. “Yes, it’s me.”
“I need you,” her stepmother shrieked.
Their home was not large enough to require shrieking, but then again, Tabitha had never been one to pay attention to things or know when she was being a little too much. And she was a little too much most of the time.
Ella slipped her hand into her pocket to rub the tiny pumpkin, the feeling of the smooth wood under her fingers reassuring as she made her way upstairs to the bedroom where her stepmother was waiting.
“Where did you go?” Tabitha asked.
Ella smiled thinly. “I went to bring a loaf of bread to our neighbor,” she said. “She’s the one who helped me start our bread culture and I wanted to repay her kindness, since I made an extra loaf today.”
It hadn’t hurt to get out of the house and take a break for a moment, either.
Her stepmother sniffed. “I should think that we would need all the food we can get. But I suppose a loaf of bread can come out of your share.”
Ella opened her mouth to protest, but Tabitha waved her hand dismissively in Ella’s face. “Not a word,” she said. “If you’re going to be so reckless with our food, you’ll have to learn the hard way. I should have expected you to be so stupid as to simply give away your portion. I expect supper on the table when your sisters get home from school.”
Ella bit back the retort that was rising up. Her stepsisters had no need for school, but they were still going because the new schoolteacher seemed to be an eligible young man. They couldn’t meet any eligible young men staying home, so her stepmother sent them off every day to school, leaving Ella to take care of the farm herself.
Ella sighed and left the kitchen. It wasn’t worth the argument, and if she snuck down to the kitchen after bedtime to eat something, her stepmother would never know. She never stepped foot in the kitchen herself, much less was she aware of what food they had.
