“We renovate by taking what you love about the house and building around it. Make it bigger, update everything that needs updating, but keep all the significant bits. Also it’ll be more environmentally friendly.”
I stared at him and tried to calculate how much that would cost. Whatever it was, it was too much.
“We could add another bathroom and a nursery and expand the kitchen as well as updating the electrical system and plumbing while we're at it.”
But we had to keep Aunt Mollie’s fireplace and bookshelves. I’d have to make a list of what had to stay. But I was getting carried away because our luxury ideas didn’t fit with our bargain budget.
“We can’t.” I got out of the car and leaned on it while surveying the property. Selling any land wasn’t an option and I’d already leased a section to the pack, though technically, I was pack too.
“You’re wondering where we’d live while the renovation was going on?”
My imagination was racing ahead, thinking of how life would be easier if we updated the house. But there was no money and as much as magic had been a part of my life since Roscoe had the others hadentered it, there was no bag of gold at the end of the rainbow. Unless Santa had hidden a stack of cash in our chimney, there was no way to pay for our big dreams.
“Money.”
“Ahhh.” A smile tugged at his lips. “Good thing I have some tucked away.”
“What?”
He explained that while most of his salary had been placed in the pack’s coffers, his former Alpha Rayne had insisted he keep a portion for himself, saying it was only fair. And like the smart guy he was, he told Roscoe to keep that hidden from any succeeding Alpha because Jerome had been angling for the job for years
“You don’t have to do this.” This was his life’s saving and I couldn’t ask him to spend it on making my… no, our old house livable.
“I want to.” He put a finger to my lips. “This is for our family and I’ll do anything for us to be safe and comfortable.”
But we needed more than a small stash of cash.
“We’ll hire those in the pack who want to work on the building.” I went to object but he held up his hand. “And we’ll pay them a fair rate.”
Was it really that easy? Could we do this? We’d have to work out a budget. I strode toward theoffice, yelling for my mate to follow me because I saw a spreadsheet in our future.
“Good thing we just finished building the guest cabin.” Roscoe raised a brow as he waited for my reaction.
That was doable as long as we were in the house before the birth. I'd live in a tent if my mate was with me.
Before we could reach the office, the pack descended on us wanting to see the ultrasound images.
“Look at her little hand.” Zelda pointed to a blurry spot on one of the images. She was better at decoding the images than me. “Grandma Snowdrop loves you so much.”
I mouthed at Roscoe, “Grandma Snowdrop.”
“We decided to use names befitting the season your little girl was conceived. There’ll be Grandma Sugarplum and Grandpa Frosty.” Zelda grinned. “We’re making a list now.”
“And checking it twice,” I added and everyone giggled.
FOURTEEN
ROSCOE
At eight months pregnant, my mate had developed a habit of trying to do everything as he had before, despite needing a complex maneuvering system to get out of bed.
“Reed, what are you doing?” He was attempting to bend over outside the cabin and turn on the hose so he could water the herb garden we’d planted.
“Watering the basil.” His withering tone suggested what he was really saying was, “You can see what I’m doing.”
And he was right. What I should have done was ask him if I could help and if he agreed, done the watering myself while he sat and watched. The basil probably didn’t need watering and if it did, I would have done it or Erik or any of the pack if I was at work.
Having a community who rallied around when Iwasn’t here was something many humans didn’t have. But Reed was used to doing it alone. His Aunt Mollie had done exactly that for years, and even when my mate was old enough, she insisted he put his school work first.
