Chasing Cristabel (Ashland Pride Six) (22 page)

“How big is your property?” Chase asked as he
removed the tarp from one of the vehicles, folded it, and placed it
on top of a bale of hay.

“Five hundred acres. Last fall we were able
to buy the farm next to ours so it nearly doubled our land. The
other owner had been renting the land because he was too old to
farm it himself, and he decided he’d rather just get out of farming
altogether.”

They pushed the four-wheelers out of the
barn, and Chase sat down on his and turned it on. The engine
rumbled to life, and he put it into gear, pulling away from the
barn and following Rhett as he drove over the frozen, snowy fields.
In the spring, pride members who worked with Rhett would plant
crops. They also tended to the land and animals that helped Rhett
provide for himself and Lisa. They’d never had kids of their own,
but with Callie, Eryx, Ethan, and their three young kids on the
same property, they had more than their fair share of time with the
young ones. It wasn’t unusual to find the pride kids over visiting
their aunt and uncle, too, especially in the summer when Lisa would
bake pies and cakes to sell at a local farmers’ market.

Rhett and Chase traveled over the field and
through a large opening in a stand of trees to another snow-covered
field. In the center of the field was an old farmhouse, far back
from the dirt road. A white-picket fence separated the field from
the large yard, which was also home to a shed at the back corner, a
huge maple tree in front of the house, and an old, rusty swing
set.

In a heartbeat, he could see the home as
theirs. Sitting in the shade under the tree in the summer, a new
swing set for their cubs to enjoy, and a home filled with a lot of
love. He didn’t even need to see the inside of the old house to
know it would be perfect for them. The heat had been so intense for
them all, but especially physically for Cris, and he couldn’t help
but think how much easier it would have been if they’d been in
their own home, not confined to a room because there were others
living in the house, including impressionable young cubs.

Rhett had called him just as he’d left the
boarding house and told him that there was an old house sitting
empty on their property. It had felt like fate.

“You look like you’re already decorating the
inside,” Rhett said, shutting off the four-wheeler.

Chase chuckled as he followed suit, turning
off his vehicle and climbing off. “Have you ever felt like
something was perfect at first sight?”

“Aside from my mate?” he asked with a
laugh.

“Yeah.”

“My house didn’t feel like home until Lisa
moved in, and then it was like I saw it in a whole new light. It
felt like
home
with her, so I understand how you feel. Let’s
go inside.”

One acre of land had been squared away by the
fence, giving them ample room for their cubs to play. He knew that
he was jumping the gun thinking about Cris having more than one
cub, since she was only pregnant with their first one, but after
they’d made love the night before and then gone for a long,
late-evening walk in the woods, she’d told them that she wanted a
big family. As an only child, she envisioned a house full of cubs
so their kids would have plenty of brothers and sisters to play
with. Chase was fortunate to have grown up in the same house as
Dylan and Hunter. Even though they were cousins, they felt like
brothers to him.

As they stepped up onto the wraparound porch,
Rhett slid his fingers across the top of the door frame and removed
a key. “The house is a hundred years old. The original owners
passed it to their son, and he lived here his whole life. We had a
contractor go through the house before we bought it. The
electricity and plumbing were redone ten years ago, and you can
thank his dearly departed wife for insisting on central heat and
air. Otherwise it would be hot as hell in the summer.”

The door creaked as it opened, and they
stepped into the foyer. Chase pushed the door shut and followed
Rhett as he walked through the house, from the living room, to the
tiny half bath, to the large dining room, to the homey kitchen, to
the family room.

“You’ll need appliances, since these are
pretty old, but the floors can be refinished. One of the nice
things about hardwood is you don’t usually have to rip it out like
old carpet,” Rhett said.

They walked up the creaking stairs to the
second floor, where five bedrooms shared one bathroom.

“Definitely we’d have to add another
bathroom, maybe two,” Chase said as he stood in the center of the
largest bedroom. He wasn’t sure if he’d call it a master bedroom,
considering that it was only slightly larger than the others, but
it had a wonderful view of the fields behind the house.

“My contractor friend said that was the one
thing he’d change. It’s unreasonable nowadays to only have one full
bathroom. I guess things were simpler a hundred years ago.”

“Aside from the bathrooms and needing to give
the place a coat of paint, it’s wonderful. I’d like to bring Cris
and my cousins here to take a look at it.”

“Great. How about later this afternoon? Then
you guys can stay for dinner. Lisa would love to get to know your
mate better.”

“Dylan and I are heading into the bar at
eight, but we should be able to stay for dinner.”

“Great.”

They walked out of the house, and Chase
waited while Rhett locked it and slid the key back over the
doorframe. “About the house,” Chase said.

“Hold up. First, make sure your girl and your
cousins are on board. And then…Lisa and I want you to have the
house. It’ll help us out, because we’d need to demolish it or rent
it out, and there’s no way I’d have anyone living on our property
except for pride members. Lisa refused to let me demolish it
because she said it had history, even though it’s not technically
our family’s history.”

Chase knew that his face showed just how
shocked he was because Rhett chuckled. “I take it you like the
idea?”

“I don’t know what to say.”

“You could say thanks and promise to name one
of your cubs Rhett.”

Chase laughed and gave him a hug. “I’ll have
to clear it with the boss first.”

“Don’t we always?”

After he parked the four-wheeler back inside
the barn and gave Rhett his gloves, Chase returned home to talk to
his family about the possibilities for their new home. It needed
work, but having a place that would be theirs, still connected to
the pride but private, was worth anything they had to do to make it
their own.

* * *

Cris sneezed when she pushed back a long
curtain to look out the window of the old farmhouse that Chase said
was perfect for them.

“You okay, love?” Hunter asked.

“It was just a sneeze. I’m fine,” she said
with a chuckle. “Remind me not to touch the drapes. I think there’s
about fifty years of dust on them.”

Dylan couldn’t believe how right the house
seemed for them. Even though it had walls covered with outdated
patterned wallpaper, scuffed hardwood floors in every room, and a
serious lack of bathrooms, it was perfect.

“Come here,” Dylan said to Cris. He tugged
her from the largest of the five bedrooms to one of the smallest
ones. “Picture a crib with maybe pink blankets in it, a rocking
chair by the window.”

She leaned into him with a chuckle, and he
wrapped his arms around her. “Pink blankets?”

“Or blue,” he said, kissing the top of her
head.

“I can see that.”

“Do you like the house?” Chase asked as he
and Hunter joined them.

“It needs lots of work, but yeah, I really
do,” she said. “I think it’s just right for us.”

Chase pumped his fist into the air. “Yes! I
knew you’d love it.”

She laughed. “Did you?”

“Actually, I didn’t even need to see inside
to know it was the perfect house for us. The others in town were
okay, some were terrible, but mostly they just didn’t feel like
home. This one does. At least to me. What do you guys think?”

“I love it,” Dylan said. “Big yard, big
house, lots of room.”

“Me too,” Hunter said. “What I especially
like is that it’s still near the pride. Rhett’s and Eryx’s homes
are just across the field. We’re close but far enough away for
privacy.”

“Can we get it fixed up before our little one
comes along?” Cris asked as they left the room and headed
downstairs.

“Of course,” Hunter said as he looked around
the empty living room.

When the previous owner had sold to Rhett and
Lisa, they’d called in a charity organization that had cleared out
all the furniture that had been left behind. They’d left only the
curtains on the walls, which were one of the first things that
Dylan would want to get rid of.

“We can get rid of the wallpaper and paint
first and then strip the floors. If we have a contractor do the
plumbing upstairs, then we’ll be set in two or three months,” Chase
said. “Maybe four.”

“That’s not too long to live in the boarding
house. I’ll miss being there in a way, but it will be really nice
to have our own place,” Cris said.

Dylan hadn’t had the opportunity to talk to
his family about his idea for the future, but before he could say
something, Hunter was already leading Cris outside so they could go
to Rhett’s for dinner. They loaded into their separate vehicles,
since he and Chase had to go to the bar for their evening
shift.

“Hold up a second,” Dylan said after getting
out of the car and joining them before they moved up onto the
porch. “This probably isn’t the place, but after dinner I have to
go to work and I’m afraid another day will go by and I really need
to say this.”

“Are you okay? What is it?” Cris asked.

Dylan looked at her for a long moment and
knew without a doubt he’d made the right decision. “I want to quit
the bar.”

Hunter frowned. “Why? I thought you liked
it.”

“I do, well kind of, but I’d actually like to
not
get a job.” He could tell by the looks on their faces
that he had to give them more information. “I want to be our
family’s caretaker, or maybe you’d call it a stay-at-home dad? I
don’t know if you want to go back to work after you have our cub,
sweetheart, but even if you didn’t, I’d still like to be home.”

“I really hadn’t thought much about whether
I’d go back to work or not,” Cris said, “but if you want to quit so
you can help take care of our family, I think that’s an amazing
idea.”

Dylan blew out a sigh of relief. “You
do?”

“Of course! Whatever makes you happy makes me
happy,” she said, going onto her toes and kissing him.

Hunter nodded. “I’m with Cris. Then we don’t
have to worry as much about juggling our schedules.”

“Are you sure you’re not doing this just to
get to spend more time with our mate?” Chase said, a teasing glint
in his eyes.

“That would be a bonus, but no. I thought
about it before we passed out on Monday, but I didn’t have the
chance to say something.”

“You’ll give your two weeks’ to Perry?”
Hunter asked.

“Yes.”

“Then you can spend your days painting and
stripping the floors, right?” Chase asked.

He grinned, so happy for his family’s
acceptance. “Absolutely.”

“Then I’m fucking all for it,” Chase
said.

Cris made a face. “Once our baby has ears,
you’ll have to stop the swearing.”

Chase kissed her with a laugh. “Sorry. When
does that happen?”

“They start to hear at five months,” Hunter
said.

All of them stared at him.

“What? I read,” he said.

“Baby stuff?” Cris asked.

“First thing I did was sign up for an email
newsletter for a baby website.” He shrugged. “I want to be
knowledgeable. I don’t know anything about babies. It seems smart
to be prepared.”

“That’s so sweet,” Cris said. “You guys are
the best mates, and you’re going to make the best dads, too.”

“When we get home, you can call your parents
and tell them,” Hunter said.

“We need to call our dads, too,” Dylan
said.

“It’s a great day for good news,” Cris
said.

They knocked on Rhett and Lisa’s front door,
and it swung open to reveal a smiling Lisa wearing an apron smudged
with chocolate. “Congratulations on the baby. I’m so happy for
you!”

She hugged Cris, who said a muffled thank you
as she was enveloped in the hug.

“I wasn’t eavesdropping, but if you’re ever
interested in earning extra income, Dylan, I could always use
another hand around the farm. I’m sure Lisa wouldn’t turn away help
at the farmers’ market, too,” Rhett said.

Lisa elbowed him. “You can’t say you weren’t
eavesdropping when you most definitely were.”

“I can’t help it that I can hear well,” he
said.

“You hear like a bat when people are outside
talking, but when I ask you to fold the laundry, you go deaf,” she
said, rolling her eyes.

They all laughed at the banter between the
couple. Cris slid her hand into Dylan’s and said, “Promise not to
go deaf when I ask you to do laundry?”

“I swear.”

* * *

The following night they took Cris to the
diner for Lily’s farewell dinner. Cris was sad to see Lily go
because she’d been looking forward to living in the same town with
her, but fate was funny like that. Hunter was still surprised at
how things had worked out for everyone. Cris’s dad could have hurt
a lot of people, but in the end his actions had allowed Hunter and
his cousins to show Cris’s family that they were serious about her,
and it had the added bonus of another couple discovering they were
truemates.

Salem seemed entirely smitten with Lily,
following her closely as she made her way around the diner to say
farewell to her friends and long-time customers. It didn’t surprise
Hunter that the diner was packed with well-wishers, since Lily was
a sweetheart and had called Ashland home for a long time.