Chapter 6
Sammy liked this house, but she was bored looking at houses that were bigger than she could afford.
When she’d offered half of the amount they’d be paying for the house, Melbourne had said he had it covered, but she insisted.
Now she was regretting not just letting him pay for the whole thing.
And they’d have to start from scratch, too, in order to move into a house rather than the condos that both of them had.
“It has six bedrooms, not including the master suite, and five full baths as well as three half baths.” That was a great deal of house, she thought to herself, but the relator continued.
“There is a family room as well as a living room that is set up for large families. The pool out back is nice too and has been used until recently.” Melbourne asked her what she thought.
“It’s very large.” He said that he had a big family. “They’re not living with us, are they? I mean, they have their own homes, correct?”
He laughed. “Yes, they do. I just meant that when they come over, we won’t have to crowd up in one room where we can watch sports on television.
I never asked, but do you like fall sports?
” She told him that she loved football. “Good, so do I. We usually meet at my parents’ home and watch it there, but I think I’d like to have them over here sometimes to watch and pig out on snack food. Do you like to cook?”
“I’ve never been one to cook, no. But I can if pressed.
I usually get my meals from the restaurant, so I don’t have to mess with it.
” Instead of being mad like she thought he would, he told her she was brilliant at working around that way.
He would, too, if he owned a place that served food like they did there.
“Does anything bother you? I said I don’t cook, and you took that as it was all right.
I mentioned that I don’t like to keep house, and you said it would be all right because we’d have staff. Do you ever get upset?”
“Not since I met you, I don’t. I don’t see the reason for getting all tied up in bunches just because you’d rather not cook.
There are more important things than getting pissed off because you don’t like to dust. I don’t either.
For either one. I can cook too when I have to, but I work full time and so do you, so there isn’t any way that we’re going to have time for cooking us a meal at the end of a busy work day.
” She blurted out that she didn’t have enough money for a house that big.
He pulled her aside and into a dark bedroom.
“As much as I’d like to kiss you right now, I have to make something clear to you.
I have more than enough money for us to have whatever we want and have enough left over to give every man, woman, and child in town a million dollars.
I don’t know if I mentioned this, but I’ve been around for a very long time and have been able to save billions of dollars since I was old enough to get out of the house.
And the thing about dragon tears is true.
I have, in addition to money, a great many gems that I’ve saved over the years, too.
I want you to be happy. That’s my sole purpose in life: to make you happier every day that we’re alive.
And that’s going to be for a good long time, too. Understand?”
She nodded. “I’m still worried that you’ll find someone else better than me to hang on your arm.
” He laughed and told her that he’d have to be a dead man if he were to find someone better than she was.
“You’re serious, aren’t you? You actually believe that we’re going to be together for the rest of our lives. ”
“The rest of our lives and beyond, love. And in all those days, I’m going to do my damndest to make you happier every day that we’re together.
Also, to tell you how much more I love you today than I did yesterday, and will love you more on the morrow.
And if you want to have children with me, they’ll be just as happy as you because I will make sure they are.
They’ll also know that they’re loved, too.
” She told him not to spoil the children.
“Never that. We’ll raise them to know value.
Of work and of money. I swear that I’ll only spoil them a little when they come along and that will be enough. ”
The rest of the tour of the house they were in went much better.
But they didn’t put an offer in on this home.
It was too small in the yard. He wanted a large yard so that he could shift and lay about in the grass.
She couldn’t wait to see his dragon. It didn’t matter to her how big he was; she was going to enjoy seeing her first dragon of her life.
The next house, they both liked, but held off on making an offer.
It was all right with its six bedrooms again, but it was the yard again that kept them from buying the home.
The realtor said that they should buy some land and have a house built on it.
They might consider that if nothing else was coming to them.
The last house they looked at was the winner all the way around.
It had seven bedrooms in it and six full baths.
They were talking about putting a half bath down the hall from the kitchen, but they were just looking for now.
The yard was tremendous, and it had a high-fenced backyard with a pool and plenty of room for him to shift if he wanted.
He loved that most of all. Sammy liked that there were two offices on the main floor, and they didn’t have to share one.
She didn’t have an office in her condo and wished she had.
Even the kitchen had been updated recently, and they both appreciated that as well.
Just as they were going over the specs of the house with Ms. James, the relator, his cell phone rang. He was surprised to be hearing from Allen because he thought he’d be in the house by now. Instead, there had been an accident.
“She pushed me down the stairs.” He asked him if he was all right. “I don’t know. I hit my head hard on the stairs. I don’t know where Belinda is, but I’ve called an ambulance. She pushed me down the stairs, Melbourne. Why would she do that?”
“I’m on my way to see you now. Actually, we’ll meet you at the hospital. You just hang in there.” He told Sammy what was going on, and she was ready to leave right then. “I just have to take care of one thing, and we’ll meet you in the emergency room. I’ll pick up Justine on the way.”
“Thank you. I don’t know what was in her head.” He said that they’d take care of it. “All right. Just tell the girls that I’m all right. I have a lot of blood on me from the head wound, but I think I’m going to be all right.” The ambulance arrived just as he was telling him that they’d be careful.
They put an offer in on the house because they didn’t want to lose it.
After signing the papers, Sammy called her sister to be picked up, and they made their way to her house.
She lived in the condo units where Sammy did, but Justine didn’t know that she owned the area.
When she got into the car, she looked like she’d been crying, and Melbourne decided to just drive and let them talk between themselves.
He had a lot on his mind anyway, with Belinda shoving Allen down the stairs.
What was wrong with her head in doing something like that, he wondered too.
The ambulance was just pulling in when they arrived.
They had his leg in a splint because they’d told him that they thought it might be broken.
As he was rushed off to have tests done on his head and leg, the three of them waited in his room.
It was going to be a long night, he thought, and asked Sammy what she wanted to do about their mother pushing their father down the stairs.
“We’ll wait and see what he wants to do.
They might have been having a fight, and that’s what happened, or he could have tripped thinking that Mom pushed him.
There are just too many things that could be wrong about this.
Don’t you think?” He agreed with Sammy, and Justine said it was something that their mother did when she was upset.
Just shove someone down; it didn’t matter if it was stairs or not, she’d just push a person down to prove her point. Whatever that was.
His leg was indeed broken, and it was starting to pain him quite a bit when he got back from X-ray.
As they were giving him something for pain, he started telling them what they’d been talking about when she got mad.
Melbourne said that he was afraid something like this would happen; he was just glad that he’d given him a cell phone so that he could call 911.
Otherwise, there would have been no way to know how much longer he would have been lying there bleeding and in pain.
“I don’t know where she was when I left the place.
I was unconscious for some time, I think.
” Sammy asked her dad if he thought that she pushed him or had she just fallen into him when he was near the stairs.
“No, she pushed me. I remember hearing her laughing and saying that would teach me to disagree with her. I’d forgotten about that part of her. She didn’t like to be told no either.”
“It’ll be fine. We’ll take care of everything.” Justine startled her by saying that to their dad, and she wondered if her feelings had changed. “You just concentrate on getting better, and we’ll make sure that you’re safe.”
“Thank you both so much for coming in tonight.” He cried himself to sleep; the drugs were finally making his pain a lot more bearable.
As he laid there on the gurney, Sammy wondered where her mother was.
Not that she cared if she was all right, but just so she’d not hurt her dad anymore.
Things about her mom were coming out that she didn’t think she cared about right now.