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Everly Erin O’Mara was excited for Halloween. She loved dressing up and going out Trick or Treating with her family and friends. What she loved even more than lots of makeup and free candy was going to the local farm to find the perfect pumpkin that her father would carve into a spooky Jack-o’-lantern.

“Come on, Daddy! Let’s go! We’re gonna miss all the good pumpkins!” Everly shouted up the stairs. Her father had been changing her brother, Ezzie’s, diaper, but they’d both been up there forever.

“Daddy’s cleaning up your brother,” Everly’s father, Ronan said, walking into the living room. He popped an entire Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup into his mouth.

Everly’s mouth dropped open. “Dad, did you get into the Halloween Candy? Daddy’s gonna be mad at you.” Ronan was addicted to those candies. He’d had a bad accident last Halloween because he’d gotten up in the middle of the night to raid his secret stash. Technically the accident had been Everly’s fault because Ronan tripped on one of her toys, but if he’d brought the candy upstairs when he went to bed, then he wouldn’t have hurt himself.

Ronan offered a cheeky grin. “No, I didn’t break into the candy, this is from my emergency bag of treats. The one I keep hidden in the-” Ronan stopped short.

“The one you keep in the freezer.” Everly rolled her eyes. Everyone in the neighborhood knew her father kept candy in there. Uncle Jude especially.

“No, Miss Smarty Pants, the bag in the freezer is a decoy for the real stash hidden in…” Ronan slapped a hand over his mouth. “Nope, I can’t tell.”

“You know I can see the answer with my gift, right?” Everly could see lots of things with her gift, but she’d really been working hard on not using it to read other people, especially her father.

“I’m hoping that you’ll keep that little bit of information between the two of us. I promise to make it worth your while.” Ronan waggled his eyebrows.

“Does ‘worth my while’ mean I’m getting that big pink unicorn stuffie from Etsy?” Everly grinned at her father.

“Stop bribing our daughter,” Ten said, walking into the kitchen with Ezra in his arms. “We all know about your secret stash in the laundry room, Ronan.”

“No fair using your gift!” Ronan sulked.

“I didn’t use my gift. I used the washing machine.” Ten barked a quick laugh.

“You keep your candy in the washing machine?” Everly giggled. Her father was very silly. He should have kept them in the drawer beneath the washer and not inside the machine.

“Not in the washing machine. In the cabinet above it.” Ronan looked crushed.

“You mean the one where I keep the stain stick.” Ten shot Ronan a knowing grin. “If you didn’t take a bath in mustard every time we ate hot dogs, I wouldn’t have needed to open that cabinet and your treats would be safe.”

“Dream killer,” Ronan muttered, heading into the living room. “Let’s head out.”

Everly followed Ronan out of the house and into the SUV, where she climbed into her booster seat and fastened her seatbelt. Moments later, Ten put Ezra in his car seat and buckled him in.

Watching Salem pass by her window, Everly concentrated on the kind of pumpkin she was looking for. It had to be big and round, so Ronan could carve lots of scary teeth like he’d done last year. Everly would never tell him, but last year’s Jack-o’-lantern scared the pants off her.

“Here we are! Hope Farm!” Ten announced, sounding excited. Tennyson loved Halloween as much as Everly did.

“I love it here!” Everly announced, popping out of her seat. Hope Farm was one of her favorite places to visit. In the spring, they sold pretty baskets of flowers. Over the summer there were baby chickens and lots of yummy strawberries and peaches. In the fall, it was pumpkins, cider donuts, and saying Bon Voyage to the now-grown chickens as they were trucked off to spend the cold weather in the hot sun. In the winter, the farm turned into a wonderland with Christmas trees, wreaths and hot chocolate.

“Pump-king!” Ezra shouted.

“Come on, Ezzie! Let’s get the perfect pumpkin.” Ten climbed out of the SUV and opened Ezra’s door.

It took forever to get her brother out of the car and for her father to open the door for her. Everly wanted to run ahead of everyone to the pumpkin patch. She knew the way, but also knew her fathers would be upset if they couldn’t see where she was. It was hard being six years old.

“Wow!” Ronan marveled, when they’d crossed into the patch, dragging a cart behind him. “Look at all of the pumpkins!”

Everly was in awe. “There’s like a million of them!”

“Me!” Ezra shouted, pulling his hand away from Tennyson. He wrapped his arms around the first pumpkin he came to. “Mine!”

Ten wrinkled his nose at the misshapen gourd. “That one’s too lumpy. Let’s find a different one, okay?”

“Mine!” Ezra insisted, with a little stomp of his foot.

“Okay,” Ronan grabbed the odd pumpkin and his son and set them both in the cart.

“Oh, look at this!” Everly ran toward a perfectly round pumpkin. “It’s not big enough.”

“Story of my life,” Ronan muttered, with Ten snorting in response.

“That one!” Everly pointed ahead of her and took off running. She was wearing a bright pink hoodie, her parents would be able to find her easily enough. Rushing to the pumpkin, she bent over and ran her hands over the cool orange skin. The stem was perfectly curled, like one of Tennyson’s twisted locks. She rolled the pumpkin forward to see the back, which was as perfect as the front. “I found the perfect pumpkin!” She waved excitedly at her fathers, who were trying to detach Ezra from another pumpkin he’d wrapped his little arms around.

“Minnnnne!” The little boy wailed.

Everly sighed. “Mine” had become her brother’s favorite word lately. She knew her parents would be tied up with Ezra for a while, so she wrapped her arms around her perfect pumpkin and tried to lift it off the ground. It didn’t budge. “What the?” Everly asked out loud. She was strong, her daddies told her so all the time. It should be a piece of cake for her to lift the pumpkin.

Taking a deep breath, Everly squatted down and tried to lift with her legs like she’d heard Uncle Jude say. He’d been talking about Ronan not hurting his back, but Everly figured it was good advice. She lifted with her arms and pushed up with her legs. The pumpkin came up with her. After staggering under its weight for a step or two, Everly regained her balance and lumbered off toward her fathers, who were still trying to detach Ezra from his latest pumpkin.

Wobbling toward the cart, Everly didn’t think she was going to make it. Her arms hung between her legs, reminding her of the time she went big ball bowling and the ball was too heavy to roll down the aisle. “Get a grip, girl,” Everly muttered to herself. She’d heard that saying in one of Nana Kaye’s afternoon stories.

With a newfound strength, Everly took three more steps, before her foot slipped into a divot. Falling to the left she tumbled to the ground, her arm pinned beneath the pumpkin.

“Everly!” Ronan shouted. Seconds later, her father was pulling her out from under the pumpkin and dusting her off. “Are you okay?”

Everly nodded. “I was trying to bring my pumpkin to you since you were busy with Ezzie.”

“Look at this beauty.” Ronan let out a low whistle. “It’s big enough to be Cinderella’s coach.”

“It is, Daddy!” Everly agreed. “Think of the cool face you’ll be able to carve in it.”

“With lots of wicked sharp teeth.”

“And spooky eyes!” Wrapping an arm around Ronan’s shoulder, she grinned at her father. “Can we get this one? Please?” She made her smile even brighter.

“Yup, we can get this one.” Ronan brushed more dirt off Everly’s hoodie and reached for the pumpkin. He had a hard time getting it off the ground.

“Use those muscles, Dad!” Everly urged.

“How on earth did you manage to carry this thing as far as you did?” Ronan asked, huffing and puffing.

Everly flexed her own muscles. “Tiny, but mighty, remember?”

Ronan groaned in response, lugging the pumpkin back to Tennyson and a still-screaming Ezra.

“Wow!” Ten said, releasing his hold on his son, as Ronan set the pumpkin in the cart. “It’s huge.”

“It’s The Great Pumpkin, Everly O’Mara!” Ronan said with a laugh.

“We’re gonna have the best Halloween ever!” Everly couldn’t wait to get home and start carving the pumpkin. So long as her father could carry up the stairs and into the house.