Page 30 of Scary In Love
Jenna
One Year Later
Halloween has always been my favourite night of the year, but I have a feeling this one will be even better than the last.
Mason has been incredibly cagey with me for weeks, ordering packages that he quickly hides away, locking doors, and forbidding me from entering certain parts of the house at all.
His mind is incredible, and I’ve had the pleasure of helping him plan this year’s haunt. The public one, that is. Whatever he’s planning for our private one, I know I’ll enjoy the surprise.
For closing night, I’ve picked a long, black, lace gown, not too dissimilar to the one Mason dressed me in for our scene in the chapel last year. This one has more layers, so he won’t be able to tell I’m wearing a fishnet body-stocking underneath.
He’s destroyed more pairs of tights than I can count this year, so I wanted to wear something even more special for him, and this one covers everything from the neck down.
When it arrived, it came out of the packaging bunched up like a tiny ball of string. I nearly lost my mind during the forty-five minutes it took to pour myself into it, so I’ll beg Mason to take photos before he tears it off me .
There is probably not a room in the house that we haven’t been naked in at some point, but now we’re in spooky season, we try to keep our sexual proclivities to the bedroom. We might be deviants, but we’re professional ones.
Mason’s hard work last year paid off. The ‘Will You Survive The Miller Mansion?’ experience had rave reviews, and sold out every night. By the time he settled his outstanding property bills, there was enough left to cover a few months while he decided on the next move.
A television company offered a nice chunk of money to use the house as a film location, and that paid for more upgrades. In the summer, he ran a drive-in cinema on one of the fields, and some of his London friends moved in for a bit to run a theatre camp during the school holidays.
Nobody would have blamed Mason if he had sold it, but he has a bond with this house, and sees its potential not only as a home, but as a space for all sorts of activities that benefit the community. I might not have known him before he inherited, but it’s clear to see he belongs in Crowmorne.
I officially moved in in July, though I’d been here most nights before then, anyway. Sleepovers at my house were far too risky. With the way he likes to make me scream, we’d probably have woken my parents, my brother, and all the residents next door.
By day, I still work at Crowmorne Heights, but at night, completely unfathomably, I am somehow the newest Lady Miller. Or at least I will be when Mason and I get married here next summer.
Ha! Bet nobody in town ever had that particular theory about the future of the house.
One long summer night we sat on the terrace sipping drinks and poring over paperwork, piecing together more of the family’s history .
When we found records of the marriages that had taken place in the chapel, Mason got down on one knee and told me he wanted us to get married there too, and he didn’t care if it felt too soon.
Ours will be the first wedding on site, but our five-year plan accounts for up to fifteen in the summer months.
We'll restore the ballroom to its former glory, furnish bedrooms for guests, and update the library for cocktail hour.
We'll host Christmas markets for local small businesses throughout December, and, of course, the famous Miller haunt will be the highlight of the year.
It’s been wonderful to see the house come back to life these past few weeks, with cast and crew coming and going for rehearsals and set dressing.
This year’s haunt has been extended across two floors, and I’ve had a blast helping to source props and decorations.
One room is home to the Apothecary, where an intimidating character named Ralph tries to push his mysterious potions onto guests.
His display cabinet is full of jars of fake body parts, and on a shelf behind the counter is my prized collection of animal skulls.
Finally, my childhood hobby paid off, though Mum was not-so-secretly pleased to have them out of her house.
When we opened three weeks ago, I was a little sad I wouldn’t get to experience the scares myself, but I’ve spent most of those nights in the Tavern, watching terrified guests crash through the door, fearing for their lives.
I was never going to be an actor, but as a child I often imagined myself spending my days in this creepy old mansion at the top of the hill. And with Mason Miller by my side, I’m right at home.