By the time the men were coming back, they had gotten all five rooms up there sorted and swept up. There had been a ton of dust on the floor. Tess was super excited about the hardwood floors.
“I’ve got this image of a bunk bed sitting right there against that wall. I’m going to build it, and if you’ll allow it, I’m going to take a picture of it here. Oh, Sid. I want to come here when you have your tree up and take some back shots for my next Christmas catalog. The fireplace alone will have people begging for your address.” Sid told her that she was more than welcome to take pictures wherever she wanted. “I’m going to take you up on that. I’ll have someone come out here and take them each season, and we’ll use them year round. Oh, honey, I’m ready to put together some furniture for this place.”
The others helped her get breakfast done. Not only did she make pancakes, but she also made sausage gravy and biscuits, eggs, as well as honey rolls that she’d never made before, but seemed to go over well. All of the kids helped her clean up, and Sid thought that they enjoyed that part too.
After they were finished with breakfast, Sid put on three beef roasts for dinner. She had learned that making meals that took very little work helped when they had a lot to do. The men took some of the older kids with them, along with water and snacks, while she and the women worked the rest of the afternoon on the rooms upstairs.
By dinner, Mr. Colby had enough wood to keep him and his family warm all winter. Not only did they get the trees felled, but they’d used the log splitter that Mr. Colby had. Brayden had not only been able to fix it for him, but he’d managed to get his furnace running again, as well as their coffee pot. Wyatt invited the Colbys over for dinner. Mrs. Colby brought them six apple pies that she’d made last fall and frozen, as well as the makings for more homemade ice cream.
By the end of the weekend, the women had gotten the five bedrooms cleaned up and the unwanted stuff taken to the dumpster. The blankets—there had been over two dozen of them that were salvageable—were hung out on the line to air out before washing. Things such as trunks and other things that they’d wanted were placed in the barn to be picked up later. Sid loved that—it meant that they’d come back soon.
The men had cut and split so much wood that it brought tears to the other family’s eyes. Having all the things fixed that had been broken for so long really helped them too. Sid was glad. They were a very nice couple. It seemed that Denny and Lucy were going to be hanging around with them, too, going to socials and such.
Chapter 12
Wyatt loved that the house was coming along. He wasn’t even going to feel bad about his family helping out, because he knew that they’d enjoyed it as much as he had. After they’d left on Monday, he and Sid had the whole house to themselves, as his parents had gone back to their other house to get more things to live here with.
“Your mom wanted to know where we were going to put them. I told her that they’d be in the barn.” Wyatt laughed. “I have an idea, but you can think about it if you want. They really want to have our bedroom. I mean, she didn’t come out and say it, but every time either of them goes in there to get something, they sigh heavily.”
“Where do you think we’ll sleep? Because for as much as I love you, Sid. I’m not sleeping in the same room with my parents.” She had him follow her upstairs. “Here? What did you have in mind? I never realized how beautiful these rooms were until now.”
“I know. I love the fireplace in this room. And the bathroom is right here, so that we’d have our own like we did in the other room. If we were to just widen this opening into the next room here, I think this room will be plenty big enough for our bed and dressers.” He nodded, looking around the rooms as she explained to him what she wanted. “The closets might be a problem, as in there in only this smaller one, but if this wall were to be opened up, I think that we could simply make this into a double closet for us. With the wall gone, the window here would be perfect for a place to put some plants.”
They talked about the rooms for about an hour. It sounded like she’d been thinking about it for some time, but she told him only since they’d gotten it cleaned up. The way she had it laid out, the five bedrooms would become three, as they wanted, but there would be a nursery up here, as well as a room for them to have a nice little sitting room.
“We might have to enlarge the bathroom.” She shook her head at him. “No? Why not? I mean, I love taking showers with you. You don’t want that?”
“Don’t be a dork. But look at this.” She opened the door, and he looked at the stairs that led to another room that they’d not known about. “If we enlarge the bathroom, we’ll lose the access to this. Come on up with me.”
As soon as they were up the little set of stairs, he could understand completely why she didn’t want to mess it up. It was a room that had huge windows all around it so that they could see for miles.
“I was afraid that Tess was going to move her offices up here. She said that the lighting was absolutely perfect. I don’t think she was seeing the big picture.” Wyatt could only nod at her. He was busy watching the horses, hundreds of them. “I want us to be able to come up here whenever we need to reattach ourselves to our lives.”
“Sid, I want to put our bed up here.” She giggled, then told him that she’d measured, and they’d never get the dressers or the mattress through the stairwell. “Christ, I could stay up here all day and never tire of the view.”
It was a sight too. The trees were turned now, and it made for a spectacular scene. Wyatt asked her if Levi had seen this, and she told him that she’d wanted him to see if first. He was glad and thought perhaps that he’d not want anyone else to see it. It was just theirs.
It was difficult for them to come down. Wyatt really wanted to put his bed up there but thought that would take some of the specialness out of it. If they were in the room all the time, they’d begin to not see the colors of the seasons. The horses would no longer be a wonder. This way, they had their room all to themselves. He thought he liked that much better.
When Mom and Dad returned on Wednesday, Sid and he had moved their room to the other place. The walls, of course, would have to wait, but he wanted his parents to be happy to be here.
Dad fussed about it, but Wyatt could see that he was tickled. Mom went on and on about how she was in heaven now. The next time they went home, they were going to bring more of their things with them. There was room for it now, they said.
It was near midnight when Wyatt got a phone call from their local fire department. They asked him if he’d go and keep an eye on everyone while they were at a house fire. Kissing Sid and taking himself some water, he was out the door.
As he was driving, he thought about the school that he’d been asked to help out, but didn’t feel the least bit bad about it. Julian was making good on a lot of promises, and finding someone for the sidelines of games was added to his list.
Helping out with the fire department, he got to meet a few more of the townspeople and was happy about that. The fire wasn’t that bad, and no one was hurt, for which everyone was thrilled.
When he got home at one the next afternoon, Dad had gone down to the Colby home and was helping out with a few things there, and Mom and Sid were being taught how to repair old blankets. They seemed to be having a good time with it.
Life, Wyatt thought, was where it should be. He had a home that he loved. A wife that he loved even more. A child on the way that he was excited about. Nothing, he thought, could mar his happiness right now.
Wyatt kissed his mom on her cheek, then Sid. Getting cleaned up and dressed, he went to help his dad out with whatever he had going on. Smiling as he drove the truck down the lane, Wyatt thought about what Brayden had told him.
“Life can be a series of ups and downs. When it’s up, you enjoy it as much as you can. When it’s down, don’t let it take you along with it.” Wyatt asked him where he’d heard that. “Dane
told me. Now hush, I’m not finished. ‘Because you only get one shot at anything going on in your life. One shot to make the correct decision or not. Don’t fuck it up.’”
Wyatt thought it was the best advice. He was going to start living by it starting today. And he was going to try very hard not to fuck it up, damn it.
~*~
I didn’t put a far out ending for this series. I want you to think about, as a reader, how they all visited Wyatt and Sid so much that the rooms were well used.
You should imagine the Christmases that they had, every year for the rest of their immortal lives, on their little piece of heaven. Thanksgivings, too, were spent on the hill. Not too many times were they able to eat outside, but they did whenever they could.
Imagine that Wyatt became the country doctor that he had always dreamed of, driving his four-wheel car to houses and delivering babies and helping the elderly. He might even help birth a few pups.
Close your eyes and think of the life that they had there with their seven children, all of them boys. All of them just as happy to help their momma as they were their dad.
Lucy showing Sid how to make her jams and jellies. The two of them making the quilts that were found into masterpieces that lay upon each and every bed in the home.
The pictures of their family hanging around the living room, the fireplace, even when it wasn’t roaring out a fire, still the gathering place of the house. A place where pictures of the Colbys sat in a place of honor on the mantle when they passed away.
The chairs that they’d gotten becoming not enough as the family grew. Even the dining room, huge in comparison to other homes, became too small to hold them all.
Wyatt learning to expand the room and adding a fireplace in that room so that they could all have a meal together when they gathered. Putting in extra storage for the boys’ food as they grew to be men.
This story is now in your hands, my wonderful readers. Have fun thinking about this family well after you’ve put the books away, passed them on to someone else, or even picked them up to read a second or third time.
Thank you for everything you give me in the way of support and friendship. You are my heart.
Before You Go…
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Kathi Barton, a winner of the Pinnacle Book Achievement award as well as a best-selling author on Amazon and All Romance books, lives in Nashport, Ohio, with her husband, Paul. When not creating new worlds and romance, Kathi and her husband enjoy camping and going to auctions. She can also be seen at county fairs with her husband, who is an artist and potter.
Her muse, a cross between Jimmy Stewart and Hugh Jackman, brings her stories to life for her readers in a way that has them coming back time and again for more. Her favorite genre is paranormal romance, with a great deal of spice. You can visit Kathi on line and drop her an email if you’d like. She loves hearing from her fans. [email protected].
Follow Kathi on her blog: http://kathisbartonauthor.blogspot.com/
Table of Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Wyatt: The Stanton Pack—Paranormal Cougar Shifter Romance Page 15