The Secret of Sleepy Hollow

by Andi Marquette

  Abby looked at Krista, who took another sip of her soda before she spoke.

  “Sounds like an honest-to-god sighting of the Hollow’s favorite Hessian.” Krista half-shrugged. “This is one of those places where strange things happen all the time. Exciting, though, that you both saw him at the same time.”

  “Did she tell you some of our other theories?” Abby squeezed Katie’s hand.

  “A bit. I like them. Katie’s the one who’s most obsessed with the history of this area. Well, her and Lu. Do you plan on doing anything with those ideas?”

  “We’ve been talking about writing a paper together.” Katie let go of Abby’s hand and instead put her arm around Abby’s waist. Abby loved that she did that, here in her parents’ house. Her own parents were accepting, but a little more uptight than Katie’s family. Maybe they’d loosen up a bit, with Katie around. It was hard not to relax and have fun with her.

  Krista laughed. “You grad student types and your papers.”

  “Well, yeah. Somebody has to write them.” Katie kissed Abby on the cheek.

  “It’s really nice to meet you,” Krista said to Abby. “We’re glad you’re here.” A child started crying and she sighed. “That’s my cue. Time to put someone to bed. If I don’t see you again tonight, we’ll see you tomorrow at Lu’s.”

  “Yes. Looking forward to it,” Abby replied.

  Krista left and Katie once again took Abby’s hand. “How are you holding up? We’re kind of a loud bunch.”

  “Krista said the same thing.” Abby slid her arms around Katie’s waist and rested her head against her shoulder. “But I’m enjoying it.”

  “Are you tired? Long drive and then this motley crew could wear out the strongest among us.”

  “Yes. But I really like where I am right now.” Abby closed her eyes and enjoyed the feel of Katie’s embrace, and the solidity of her body. Yep, she could definitely stay right here for a long time.

  “Same here. But in the interest of getting more alone time with you, how about I drive you back to Eleanor’s? I’m hoping you’ll want my company after we get there, of course.”

  “Funny.” Abby moved so she could see Katie’s face. “I was just trying to figure out how to talk you into spending the night with me.”

  Katie’s eyes widened. “It won’t be hard.”

  “I hope not. Because I really missed you.”

  Katie held Abby’s gaze, something warm and deep in her eyes, and again Abby had the sense that she was home, that she belonged here.

  “Are you ready to go, then?” Katie asked.

  “Not to be rude to your family, but yes.” She gently pulled Katie out of the kitchen, and once they were back among the others, Katie took the lead and expertly maneuvered Abby to the front door.

  “I’ll go get our coats.” Katie turned, but Rachel appeared.

  “Here they are.” Rachel held the coats up.

  “Thanks.” Abby put hers on. “And thanks so much for your hospitality.”

  Rachel smiled. “It’s good to have you here.”

  Katie put her coat on and buttoned it. “I’m going to drive Abby back to Eleanor’s.”

  “Then we’ll see you both tomorrow.” Rachel gave her a wicked smile. “But I can’t be responsible for anything your brother says to you.”

  Katie said something under her breath that Abby didn’t catch, but Rachel did because she laughed. Abby smiled, in spite of her blush.

  “Good night, you two.”

  “Good night, Mom.”

  “’Night.” Abby opened the front door and stepped out onto the big porch into the cold, Katie right behind her. They stepped off the porch onto the walk.

  “Look.” Abby pointed at the sky. “It’s snowing. Does the horseman make appearances this time of year?”

  “Yes, according to accounts. Why?”

  “We could look for tracks in the glen. Horseman plus tracks equals human. Horseman plus no tracks equals something else entirely.”

  “I like it. Science.”

  Abby shrugged. “Maybe. Maybe not. And maybe I just want to get you alone there.”

  “I like it even more. We’ll test this theory tomorrow, weather permitting. Did you bring all your snow clothes?”

  “Yes. Since I’m with a Girl Scout, I figured I should probably get with it.”

  Katie ran her fingers along Katie’s jaw, cupped her cheek, and kissed her. “I really like this story,” she said. “I want to see what we do with it.”

  “Me, too.”

  “Good. So how about you start talking me into spending the night with you?”

  “I was hoping there wouldn’t be much talk involved.”

  “I knew I liked you.” Katie opened the car door for her.

  Snow clung to Abby’s clothing and she smelled wet wool and wood smoke. Voices drifted toward her through the dark, punctuated by laughter and what might have been singing, though it was completely off-key. All around her the trees stood silent in their winter cloaks. Several lights glowed beyond the trunks of the closest trees, but they didn’t seem to move. Houses, maybe?

  Abby took a step, watching where she put her feet in the snow and she stopped, confused. Why was she wearing a skirt? She touched her thighs. Not just one skirt. An outer, heavy one beneath which she determined was at least one other of a lighter weight. And was this a coat she wore? No, it was a dark woolen cloak, heavy anyway, but with the added moisture from the snow, it hung on her shoulders, a limp weight that made it difficult to maneuver. Beneath the cloak she wore a vest or jerkin of some sort and a coarse blouse beneath that.

  Annoying, that she wasn’t in trousers, but she resumed taking careful steps toward the lights because she sensed she needed to, though wet cold had seeped into her shoes. The forest seemed to part, providing an unfettered view of several wooden houses. Smoke curled from each chimney. A cloaked figure on a big black horse approached, but Abby wasn’t afraid. She waited.

  “Elizabeth,” the figure said as she reined the horse to a stop, and it stood, puffs of its breath mingling with the snow.

  The voice sent a thrill from Abby’s chest to her thighs. “Yes.”

  Katrina dismounted and the horse seemed to dissolve in a flurry of dark snowflakes that mixed with the white. “My love, come inside. Even the Hessian wouldn’t ride in this.” Her tone was teasing and then Katrina was close enough to touch, and she wasn’t Katrina, but Katie.

  She reached out and arranged the hood of Abby’s cloak so that it covered her head. “I’ve made up the bed,” Katie said. “Now please come with me and warm up.”

  Abby let Katie take her hand, surprised at its warmth, and suddenly they stood at the door of one of the larger houses. Dim light glowed through the windows, casting half of Katie’s face in shadow.

  “I’ve missed you.” Katie cupped Abby’s face with both hands. “And you found your way back.” She kissed Abby, a slow, gentle meeting of lips.

  The distant sound of hoofbeats matched the pounding of Abby’s heart, until they were so loud that she turned from Katie toward the forest, seeing nothing but the snow and the dark shapes of the trees through the eerie winter light and heard nothing but silence and voices from a neighboring house.

  Katie’s arms encircled her from behind and Abby sighed, contented.

  “Elizabeth,” Katie said softly in her ear.

  Abby’s eyes snapped open. She was on her side in bed, facing one of the shuttered windows. Katie was spooning her, one arm holding her close.

  “You’re home,” a woman’s voice whispered.

  Abby held her breath, listening, because that wasn’t Katie.

  “Mmm.” Katie stirred and pulled her closer. “What?” she asked, voice thick with sleep.

  “Did you hear something?” Abby kept her voice low.

  “Thought you sa
id something.”

  “It wasn’t me.”

  Katie went totally still and Abby knew she was listening, too. The seconds crawled past and finally, Katie sat up in the bed and turned the bedside light on. Abby blinked and covered her eyes for a couple of seconds before she moved her hand and watched as Katie got out of bed and checked the door, which was clearly still locked. Katie also checked the bathroom and then under the bed, which made Abby giggle nervously.

  “Nothing.” She got back into bed and Abby wrapped her in a hug. Katie’s skin was cool from being out of the warmth of the covers.

  “Well, if there was something, it got an eyeful.”

  Katie laughed. “There’s no naked ghost hunter show?”

  “No, fortunately.” Abby snuggled closer. “And why are you talking about ghosts?”

  “Because that was weird. Though I’m willing to concede that I was mostly asleep and could have dreamed it.”

  “I did dream. And then I was awake and heard something.”

  “You dreamed?”

  Abby gave her the rundown. “You called me Elizabeth. In my dream. I woke up and thought maybe you were talking in your sleep. But it didn’t sound like you.”

  “Do you think you could have said something? In the interest of scientific inquiry, after all. We have to consider all possibilities before we go the way of the ghost hunter.”

  “I suppose I could have. I thought I was fully awake, but maybe I wasn’t.”

  “Could somebody have said something in the hallway as they walked past?”

  Abby moved so she could see the bedside clock on her side. “At almost two-thirty in the morning? Eleanor might have a fit if people were walking through the halls talking at this hour.” She turned back to Katie.

  “True.”

  “It was probably me. You thought I said something, after all. I just thought I was awake and sometimes, I do talk in my sleep.” She relaxed more. That was most likely the case. Who knew why dreams might cause you to say weird things in your sleep?

  “Which isn’t uncommon. So there is a possibility that you said something.” Katie was quiet for a while, but her hands were busy, roaming across Abby’s back and down her arms. “So I was Katrina,” she said, drawing designs along her spine and making Abby sigh with pleasure.

  “And I was Elizabeth. It was a dream,” Abby said. “Crazy things happen in dreams.”

  “Do you have dreams like that when you’re not in Sleepy Hollow?”

  “No. And I’d like them to stop.” But she didn’t want Katie’s hands to stop.

  Katie’s fingers continued tracing lines on Abby’s skin, much to Abby’s approval. “I said in the dream that you found your way back. Well, the Katrina me said that, right?”

  “Yes.” Abby nuzzled Katie’s neck.

  “So maybe that was it.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “The last dream.”

  “Why?” Abby positioned herself so she could look at Katie.

  “Well, here you are, a Crane, back in Sleepy Hollow.”

  Abby smiled. “Seduced by a Van Tassel. You’re suggesting it’s a full circle kind of thing?”

  “Maybe. And wait. I seduced you?” Katie raised her eyebrows. “I seem to recall you kissed me first.”

  “You gave me plenty of incentive.”

  “Guilty. Here’s some more.” Katie pulled her close and Abby lost herself in how Katie’s lips felt against hers, and heat built at her core.

  “That definitely works,” Abby said.

  Katie stopped and moved like she was going to turn the light off.

  “No.” Abby pulled her back. “Leave it on.”

  “Okay. Where were we?”

  “Right here.” And Abby kissed her again.

  How different the glen looked this time of year, Abby thought as she and Katie walked the path they’d been on the night they saw the second horseman. The trees seemed almost forlorn without their leaves, the snow on their limbs somehow accentuating that instead of hiding it.

  Others had been out already. No surprise, since it was early afternoon. Various tracks—including those of skis—had marked the path though the two of them still had to walk single-file. Overhead, a sullen gray sky portended more snow, and the air carried the cold metallic smell of winter. Abby didn’t care. Normally not a fan of the season, she was enjoying it this year more than she ever had, and every time she thought about last night with Katie—or Katie in general—everything tingled.

  “I’d say this is about the right spot,” Katie stopped and turned to face Abby. “The initial sighting of the asshole horseman.”

  Abby looked around. She wouldn’t have known it even if the trees were leafed out. It had been dark then, as well. “How do you even know that?”

  “I timed the walk. This is the vicinity, give or take a few yards. That whole Girl Scout thing I have going on.”

  Abby grabbed the front of Katie’s coat and pulled her close for a kiss that turned into several more. “That’s for that night,” Abby said as she let go of her coat. “Because that’s what I wanted to do right before he showed up.”

  “Me, too.” Katie grinned. “But I’m glad you didn’t, because it would have been interrupted.”

  “Yeah. He totally ruined the moment.”

  “At least in that respect.”

  They stood in silence, holding hands and listening. The wind sounded different in winter. Clearer, like it had a sharp edge, and noise carried better. Someone shouted something, and Abby guessed the person was a quarter-mile away.

  “I don’t see any horse tracks,” Katie said.

  “Do people ride here in the winter?” Abby peered down the path behind Katie, scrutinizing the track patterns.

  “Quite a bit. Doesn’t look like anybody’s out with their horses today, though. Probably tomorrow, since everything will be closed for Christmas Day.”

  “Shh.” Abby placed a gloved finger against Katie’s lips and they both listened again, but all she heard was the wind, distant voices, and Katie breathing. “Does he not ride during the day?”

  “Historically, people have recorded daytime sightings.” Katie kissed the tip of Abby’s nose. “Maybe he’s resigned to the fact that a Crane is back in the glen and she figured out the mystery. He can’t put one over on you.”

  “Or maybe it was just a human asshole.”

  “Maybe.” Katie’s tone didn’t suggest that she believed that, though. Abby didn’t, either. She leaned against Katie, who wrapped her in an embrace.

  “I know that you do your big gift-giving extravaganza tonight at Lu’s—” Abby started.

  “Not really.” Katie smiled. “The kids get most of the gifts. The adults usually just exchange one or two. Otherwise, it’d be out of control and some kind of crazy capitalist frenzy. We prefer to just have big parties, for the most part.”

  “And I like that. But my point is, I’d like to give mine to you now.”

  “Does it involve more time with you?”

  “Yes.”

  “Then I’m all about early gift-giving.” Katie put her hands on Abby’s hips.

  “Good. First, I got the grant.”

  “Oh, my God, that’s—wow. Congratulations.” Katie grinned and pulled her close again. “When did you find out?”

  “A week ago.”

  “And you waited this long to tell me?” She was teasing, Abby heard in her voice.

  “Hello. Christmas present. Anyway, this means that I’ll be spending the summer in Tarrytown and Sleepy Hollow.”

  Katie pulled away a little. “Isn’t that quite the coincidence, since I’ll be here doing my own research.” Her eyes seemed to sparkle. “And how weird, that one of my cousins will be out of town most of the summer with her husband and they need a housesitter. Or two.”

&nb
sp; “Funny how that works.”

  “It is.” Katie smiled again. “This is the best Christmas ever.”

  “Technically, Christmas is tomorrow.”

  “Doesn’t matter. It’s still the best one ever. I’m basing that on scientific observation.”

  “Of?”

  “You. And how you make me feel.”

  “I concur with your observations. It is the best one ever.” And Abby pulled her into another kiss then released her. “Okay, now for your other present.”

  “What? I’m already having the best Christmas ever.”

  Abby laughed and took her gloves off. She put them in one coat pocket and took a small, flat package the size of a pocket notebook out of the other. It was wrapped in green paper and tied with a thin gold bow.

  “Damn. You’re even super-talented with the gift-wrapping.” Katie pulled her own gloves off and shoved them inside her coat. She gently took the package from Abby and carefully opened it. “Oh, my God. It’s beautiful.” She ran her fingers over the cover of the chapbook. “The Secrets of Sleepy Hollow,” she read. “By Tabitha Crane with inspiration from Katrina McClaren.” She moved her gaze to Abby’s. “Why is my name on here?”

  “The theories are as much yours as mine.”

  Katie opened to the first page. She turned each one. “This is amazing. Everything about it is beautiful. The paper, the cover—did you handwrite this yourself or did some calligraphic master help you out?”

  Abby laughed. “I did it. Calligraphy’s a hobby.”

  “And book-making?”

  “Well, yes. I do a bit of that, too. The history geek in me.”

  “All of these things I’m finding out about you.” Katie’s expression was a mixture of wonder and pleasure, and her reaction was all the thanks Abby needed. “This is…I don’t have the words.” Katie turned another page. “I love how you’ve totally re-done the legend with our theories in the style of Irving. Fortunately not exactly like him, though.” She grinned. “That might get tedious.”

  “They did get wordy back in the day. It would’ve taken me three times as long and I would have needed way more paper to mimic him completely.”