“I’m glad one of us will know.I worry that I’ll leave the baby somewhere and won’t remember where I left it.”He said he’d be there for her.“Good.See, I knew you were going to be useful when it came to having children.I’m going to be a mess just so you know.”
“We’ll get it there together.”She thought of Cass having a child and knew that she’d be a pro at it in no time.“She would be.And having the pack around, too, for us will make it so that we don’t have to look for sitters all that often.The elders of the pack will gladly do it for the chance to hold onto the Alpha’s family.”
“I sometimes forget that he’d the Alpha.I just think of him as Conri, and Cass is just my friend.”He said they were that as well.“I know.I like them both very much.”
After having a cup of tea, they made their way out into the city.There were six houses that they were going to be looking at, and she was excited to see what sort of offers they could make on them.That was something else that she’d never done, and that was to make an offer on a house.She hoped that Kendrick knew what he was doing, or they’d pay too much, she thought.
~*~
Kendrick didn’t know why the house bothered him so much, but he didn’t care for it.It was a house that had been added onto several times, and the stairs were just too much, he thought.It would go up a flight, then level out before picking up in another part of the house.Getting to the bedrooms would be a nightmare.
“I think that it’s too weird.”He and Sharon had exchanged blood before leaving the house so that they could talk without anyone knowing.He was enjoying her comments so far and was glad that he’d thought of it.“Why are there so many stairs?Did they get a discount on them or something?”Yes, he was enjoying the banter.
“I’m near the woman now.I’ll tell her that we’re headed to the next house so that we can move on.I don’t like the house either.Like you said, too many stairs that lead to nowhere.”As he told the realtor that they were ready to see the next house, she smiled at them.Like she knew they weren’t going to buy the place.“The second house, she said, is better because it only has one flight of stairs that we’ll have to figure out.”
The second house was a great deal better, but the yard was a mess.It had dead trees that lined the driveway.He didn’t mind a little extra work on something, but he didn’t want to spend his life’s fortune in replanting a hundred trees so that he could get rid of the ones that had died some time ago.Plus, any of the flowers that had been planted to make the yard look better had been neglected, and they were mostly dead as well.
While there was only one set of stairs in the house, it led to the second floor, where there were nine bedrooms and two bathrooms.That, too, could be fixed, but again it would be costly.He didn’t want to spend that much on a house that he only wanted because it was time to move.Kendrick and Sharon drove to the next house with no hopes of finding a house for them.
The third and fourth houses were fixer-uppers.He didn’t want that, and he was sure that Sharon didn’t either by her comments about having a house livable by Christmas.That was still some months away, but if they were to take on a project house right now, there was no way that it was going to be ready by next Christmas.There was just too much work to be done on both of them that they’d make a single good house.That was sad when they had to think in terms of getting into a place to live by Christmas and knew that they had a slim chance of doing so.
The fifth house was nearly perfect.It did need some work, but not all that much.As they walked around the new home, he couldn’t help but notice that there were no carpets in the place.Something that he was only just beginning to realize he didn’t like in a home.
“They’re not laid as yet so that the new homeowner can pick the colors out for themselves.”He asked what would happen if they decided to go with hardwood flooring.“I would imagine that it would cost a bit more, but I could ask.This house has only been on the market for a couple of days, and I’ve yet to be asked that question.Thanks.”She walked away to make her call.
“What do you think of this house?”He could tell she liked it by the way she squeezed his hand.“She’s asking about hardwood floors over carpet.How do you feel about that?I should have asked you before.”
“If your feet are cold, then put on some slippers.I love the clean lines of the hardwood floor in the dining room.I didn’t think I would, but it’s nice, isn’t it?”He said that was what he thought as well.“It’ll take them about a month to get it taken care of, but I’d like to see the other house first anyway.They sell better when they have furniture in them anyway.”
“I love the office.It’ll be perfect for you to take for yourself.I can see myself using the library as my office.I don’t need one, but it will be good to have one for the paperwork to get done that your mother gives me.”She loved working for his mom, and it showed.“She said that all I’d need is a phone and a calendar, but I might need to make copies of something too.”
The realtor came back.“He wants to know if you mean all the bedrooms or just the master?It won’t be anything more if you go that way.However, he did say that the price would increase if you wanted them all done.”He looked at Sharon, and she turned to answer the realtor.
“Tell him that we’d want the master for sure and at least two of the other bedrooms.That will be five that will need carpet.”He only just realized that the house had eight bedrooms.It was a bigger house than the one they were currently living in.“Also, we’ll need the kitchen repainted.I don’t care for the darkness that’s in there.”
He hadn’t either and was glad that she mentioned it.The room was already dark with only the one window and door, but with the dark blue cabinets and walls, it seemed like a closet rather than aroom they’d spend time in eating the first meal of the day.
While the realtor was on the phone, they decided to put an offer in on the house with the things that were to be done to it.Buying the lots on either side of them and the one in the backyard, they had a pretty nice space in which to live.He was excited to start a new life with Sharon.He accepted the offer, and they had a new home.They didn’t even bother with the last house as they were satisfied with the one that they’d gotten.
With the purchase out of the way, they decided to head home and renew their packing.Mostly, it would be stuff inside of things.Like books and clothing.But none of the furniture.They were planning to start fresh, and this would be the only way that he wanted to do this.As they were sitting down to dinner, his brother Yuri came to visit.He had some investments that he wanted him to look into, and wanted to see about getting together for some investment information.
“We’ll be halfway through the year soon, and I want to go over some of the investments that I think we should drop.There are only two, but they’re not performing well, and there doesn’t seem to be anything more we can do for them.”He told him that he trusted him to do the right thing.“All right.I have two other investments that only you and I share, and I think we should double our money on.I can see a huge return in about ten years, and that’s what we need to be looking at.You have a lot of other items in your portfolio that look good, too.We could sit down and go over them together, so you know where your money is going.I don’t want you to think that I’ve ever cheated you.”
“Christ, I know you won’t do that.”He hugged his brother.“I have all the faith in the world in you doing me right.But I’d love to get together and see what sort of investments you think we should work on together.I know that Conri has a couple that he takes care of on his own.I like doing that.It’s like my own little nest egg.”
“You’ve built up a nice nest egg for the two of you, too.Sharon needs to understand what she has in being mated to you.”She said she’d like that as well.“Good.We’ll have dinner one night and then go over money.Also, the property that you own has been transferred to Sharon’s name, and in a few years, I’ll make sure to switch it back.Some companies aren’t so open-minded when the same person’s name has been on the dotted line for centuries.There is a lot of property that I’ve fixed that way for you.”
“So I’m a wealthy woman.”Yuri, not one for understanding jokes, said that she was anyway with her being on Kendrick’s books.“But I own all the property now.What if I were to leave Kendrick and take it all?”She was joking, but Yuri didn’t get it.
“I’d hunt you down and make sure you understood that without my brother, you’d be nothing.I take care of what is mine.”She told him that she had only been kidding around and would never leave Kendrick.That she’d fallen in love with him.“I’m sorry.I don’t understand people.I hope I didn’t offend you.”
“No.I’m glad to know that Kendrick has someone in his corner.That’s good to know, too, that you take money very seriously.”He said it was the only thing that he took more seriously than life.“I love that about you.”
“Did you just say that you love me?”Kendrick pulled Sharon into his arms for an embrace.“Say it again.Say that you love me.I want to relish in the fact that you’ve finally said the words I’ve been waiting to hear for a long time.”
“I’ve fallen in love with you.It just happened.”She reached up and kissed him on the chin, a place that he was beginning to find sexy.“I think it’s when you turned to look at me when the realtor asked about carpet.It made me feel a part of the process that we’re going through.Then it hit me.I’m your wife, and you love me.I should love you back, and I realized then that I did.I really did.”
“Then I’m going to claim you.Right here and right now, so that nothing happens to you while we’re still in the beginning stages of our life together.”She asked him what that meant.“That you belong to me and that I belong to you.It’ll make you immortal as well.We can live a long and happy life together.”
