172
Hartwell was only a seven hour drive away and the land that I’d bought was almost forty acres of pure nature and bliss. It was large enough for our dragons, concealed from the neighbours by large wooded trees and the house was far enough from the road to give us privacy.
The house had six bedrooms of which two would be for guests and each room had their own bathroom with a half bathroom downstairs for visitors. It was a large house but space was one thing I needed right now. The cabin had been significantly smaller than our house in Princeton but it was okay because we were building a future on the island.
I tried not to think about the island because that made me think about Megan and how she’d died. This was a fresh start for all of us. I wasn’t sure how much Wynter and Milo understood about death but I steeled myself for when they’d ask.
Lucas and Rylee followed behind me and we stopped to eat after five hours. It was near dinner time and Abby had just started crying for a change and a bottle. The city of Hartwell was big enough so that everybody didn’t know everybody and I felt like we could fit in here.
Our waiter was dragonkin, eighteen probably and he inadvertently bowed his head when he faced me and Lucas. Our auras together emitted a lot of power since we were both technically Sires. Needless to say, we got terrific service that night and we checked in at a bed a breakfast two hours later.
The house was empty and I had only brought our clothes and the kids toys. Everything else would have to be bought, it was better this way, no memories attached to furniture, a fresh start. Rylee was up at six am, finished breakfast by seven am and then piled us all in into both cars and ordered me to drive to the new house.
Somehow she had obtained brochures from every store in Hartwell and noted the ones that would deliver. I felt absolutely clueless since Megan had always done all of that. I parked my car in front of the garage and Lucas pulled up next to me.
“This is a huge ass place,” Lucas said.
“Daddy, can we go explore?” Wynter asked me.
“Sure, but stay within earshot,” I said as he ran off with Milo.
I unlocked the front door and Rylee disappeared inside as Lucas and I stood on the porch and he looked out over the grassy fields that was my new front yard. “You’ve got nice tree coverage,” he commented.
“I know it’s big but the kids are going to need it,” I said.
“It’s perfect,” he said.
The next two weeks were spent at the bed and breakfast as Rylee furnished the house. Some days she took the boys with her to pick out stuff for their rooms and other days she went out alone. She oversaw the deliveries of everything she had ordered and she made numerous trips to Hartwell stores.
At the end of those two weeks we were ready to finally move in and I had to admit that Rylee did a fantastic job. I liked everything she chose and I only installed a safe in my closet where I put Megan’s ring.
I had gone with Rylee to both Elementary schools as Wynter and Milo would start first grade soon. I enrolled them and met with the principal who surprisingly was a wolf. We had spoken openly and honestly as I told him about Wynter and Milo, whom I had legally adopted with Basil and Elio’s consent.
“Mr Grey, I appreciate your honesty, we have many supernatural children that attend this school and all our teachers are supernatural as well. Our community is a close knit one and I assure you that both your sons will be a good hands,” George Cladwell said.
“I think we can make this work,” I said as we shook hands in his office.
Rylee and I left the school and headed back to the farm, as we called it. It wasn’t a farm at all but it probably could be. I wouldn’t be farming though so calling it a farm was actually an inside joke between us.
“I like him, I think the boys will do well here,” Rylee said as we drove home.
“Mom, I’m okay, you guys don’t have to stay here. I know Dad has things to do in Aurora and Chicago, check up on his hotels,” I said.
“Are you trying to get rid of us?” she asked me.
“Not at all but I know you miss Chase as well,” I said.
“Lucas and I’ve been talking,” she said and turned to look at me.
I glanced at her and smiled as she stared at me. “About?”
“Maybe we could build our own place close to you and spend half the year with you and the other half with Chase,” she said.
“Your lives are in Aurora, you can come visit as much as you want,” I said.
“That’s what your father said,” she said and turned back to the front, folding her arms across her chest as I laughed.
“Mom, let it go, don’t fight Dad on this,” I said as she snorted.
“The receptionist gave me a list of names and numbers, people you should know,” she said.
“What people?” I asked her.
“Doctors, dentists and so forth, people of the supernatural kind,” she said.
“Thanks,” I said as she put the list in the glove compartment.
“You have enough food for three months, one at most with the way you eat. Lucas wants to leave tomorrow,” she said.
“He has work Mom. We’ll be fine, I promise,” I said.
“Another woman stopped by yesterday with a welcome basket,” she said.
“How many is that now? Five?” I asked her.
“Six, they all seem way too eager to meet you,” she said.
“This is Georgia Mom, people are friendly here,” I said.
“Uh huh, friendly my ass,” she said.
“It’s not like I’m going to move another woman into my house,” I said.
“You will someday and there’s nothing wrong with that. It’s good to find closure and move on,” she said.
“And if you died and dad moved another woman into his house?” I asked her.
“I’ll haunt that bitch every second of every day,” she said.
“Exactly, I’m fine with being alone,” I said.
“It’s not like your going to be celibate for the rest of your life,” she said.
“Mom, do you really want to talk about sex with me?” I asked her.
“Just remember to use protection, you don’t want another Ava situation,” she said as I parked the car and she climbed out.
“Geez woman,” I said as Lucas stood on the porch with Abigail in his arms.
“Don’t geez woman me, I’m your mother and four grandkids are enough,” she said.
“We’ve only been here for three weeks, you couldn’t have impregnated someone yet,” Lucas said.
“I’m not discussing my sex life with you,” I said and walked past her and took Abigail from Lucas.
“Or lack thereof,” Lucas laughed.
“Do you still have that piercing?” Rylee asked as I walked into the house.
“Are you sure you don’t want to leave tonight?” I asked her as she smacked me behind my head.
“There’s a box of condoms in your bathroom,” she said.
“Who says I’ll be bringing her here?” I asked.
“That reminds me, I found you a housekeeper,” she said.
“Why?”
“Like you know how to do laundry and iron. My grandkids aren’t going to look like some welfare case with wrinkled clothes,” she said.
“Let me guess, this housekeeper is in her forties with a grey bun and she prefers for the kids to call her Nanna,” I said.
“Well she’s not in her twenties with a French maid outfit on,” she said.
“You just had to go ruin it,” I said.
“You know older women have more experience,” Lucas said.
“Please go home now,” I said as he laughed at me.
The following morning at six am I woke up to knocking on the front door and pulled on a t-shirt as I made my way downstairs. The house was dark, everyone was still asleep and I stifled a yawn as I opened the front door.
“Can I help you?” I asked the woman that stood on the porch.
“I’m Mary-Joe Conklin, your new housekeeper,” she said with a smile.
“Oh, yeah, Rylee said you were starting today. Sorry, please come in,” I said.
“You can just show me to the kitchen and I’ll start making myself useful,” she said.
She followed me through to the kitchen and asked questions about the kids, what we preferred to eat for breakfast, lunch and dinner. She was in her late forties, a bit chubby and reminded me of Martha. I instantly liked her and she was dragonkin too. It would make things a lot easier for me.
“I’ll find my way around,” she said and basically shooed me out of the kitchen.
I knocked once on Lucas’s room and went to shower and get dressed. When I got downstairs with Abigail, Rylee was in the kitchen with Mary-Joe as the talked and laughed over coffee.
“Give me that sweet baby,” Rylee said as she stood up and Mary-Joe handed me a freshly brewed cup of coffee.
“That’s Abigail, she’s almost four weeks old and the boys will be down shortly,” I said as I sat down at the kitchen island.
“She’s very beautiful,” Mary-Joe said as Rylee fawned over her.
“Good morning,” Lucas said as he walked into the kitchen and Mary-Joe bowed her head.
“Good morning Sire, coffee?” she asked him.
“Please, just call me Lucas and coffee would be great,” he said.
“Please tell me you guys are leaving,” I said as Mary-Joe gave me a look.
“The sooner the better otherwise I’m leaving your mother here,” Lucas said.
“I’ll carry her to the car if I have to,” I said.
“You’re both assholes,” she said as Mary-Joe chuckled.
“Mary-Joe, look after him, he’s a bit of a wild one,” Rylee said.
“Of course Drakaina Rylee.”
“Can we at least just have breakfast before you kick us out?” Lucas asked as I shook my head.
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