Page 22 of Beau (Sheppard’s Shadow #5)

Jameson was laughing at himself as the last piece of furniture had been moved in. There was so very little of it in the house that he wondered why he’d even bothered with getting it without stuff he could move in.

But he’d fill it out. Tomorrow, he had an appointment with an estate lawyer to go over the things that had been left over from when his client had died. The other attorney said that he could buy anything that was left after the kids took what they wanted, which turned out to be very little.

“They’d gotten what they wanted in the way of money, and the rest of the treasures were just junk as far as they were concerned.

One granddaughter took the desk that had been in the office for decades, but she said that she didn’t have any room for anything else to put in her place.

Sad when there is so much that gets tossed away because of greed, don’t you think?

” He agreed with the man, telling him that he’d been picking up things at estate sales for a long time and had them in storage for when he got a house.

“Most people don’t want houses anymore. They want condos where they don’t have to do anything but live there.

Someone else to mow the lawn and get the snow off the driveway. ”

“I honestly love shoveling the driveway when the snow comes in.” Thad, the other man, said he was nuts.

“I usually get tired of it by the fourth or fifth snow that comes in, but I still make sure that I get it shoveled out. I don’t care to have the snow build up on the drive so that I can’t get out at any time I want. ”

“I usually walk to work so that I don’t have to mess with a car.

Sometimes when it’s raining badly, I regret not having one, but usually I can get back and forth to my home before most of the people that I work with can even get out of the parking lot where we work.

” Jameson agreed that it was a good perk for walking. “You walk too?”

“I do. Especially in the summer months when it’s too hot to mess with anything else. I can get in my miles before the end of the week, and that’s been a gift I love as well.” Thad asked him how much else he’d done to keep in shape. “I run a great deal year-round.”

He didn’t tell the other man that he and his cat enjoyed running year-round, but he did tell him that he can run at least seven to twelve miles a day when he’s out.

That was what he was looking forward to the most: having his own place to run around the yard in.

He figured that he’d get to run more with his brothers, too, since all their houses were on the same track of land that their father had left them.

Jameson tried to get out with his cat at least five times a week.

It made him feel better about himself, not to mention all the exercise that was a benefit from being a shifter.

There were lots of perks he thought of being a shifter.

Mostly it had to do with feeling himself at least once a day, even if he had to shift in his condo and stretch out.

One thing that his father always taught him was never to neglect your cat.

It wouldn’t do well if he weren’t there when you needed him in a hurry.

“You really don’t have that much stuff for a house this size.” He told his brother Wrangler that he was working on it. “You’d better be working harder, little brother. You’re the last one without a mate. I would imagine that she’ll be coming along soon now that all of us have one.”

“I’m not worried. If she comes before the house is finished, then she can help me fill it out.

” He told him about the estate that he was going to buy things at next week.

“I’m about as ready for her as I can be without actually having her around.

Like I said, I’m not worried about her coming around. She’ll be here when she gets here.”

It took them no time at all to get the house situated.

There were things in boxes still left over, but nothing that couldn’t be put away by one person.

They were all surprised that he had a nice China set that he’d gotten somewhere that had over twenty place settings with it.

Including silverware that looked really good with it.

Jameson’s plan was to wash it all and put it away so that if he ever had them all over, they’d be able to use the dining room set.

All he needed to make that happen, however, was a dining room table and chairs.

“Dinner at your house, correct?” Beau said that they were expecting everyone to come over for soup and homemade bread as well as desserts.

“I’ve been looking forward to it all week.

Then tomorrow you’re going with me to the estate sale.

That should be fun for the two of us. Some bonding time together. ”

“I’m looking forward to it too.” They finished up moving the boxes; there did seem to be a great many of them into the rooms that they belonged in. “Mostly it’s the company, but I’m starving too, so that’ll be nice to have some good food too.”

At Beau’s home, they were served soup and bread at the magical table.

He might have to think about one like this as it stretched out to accommodate all the brothers and their mates with extra chairs.

It was wonderful to have them all at the same table and to be able to talk to each other.

He missed his family sometimes when it was just the six of them.

He might have to get them all together sometimes, when he could, so that they could just be brothers for a time.

Not that he didn’t love the wives of his family, but he did miss them just being family.

Perhaps that would change when he got his own mate to live with him.

Jameson wasn’t in a hurry to get a mate.

He wanted things to be set up and ready for her when she came around.

He knew that there had been a great deal of indecision when Beau and Danielle had decided to live in the house that she already had, and he didn’t want that with his own mate.

However, he didn’t know what would happen if she came along in the next few days, weeks before he had his house finished.

Maybe she’d be all right with the flux of the house, but he didn’t want that.

After they ate, filled up with the best dinner he’d had in a while, especially one that was homemade, they all sat around the living room talking about the payout on some of the investments that they’d made as a family.

While he didn’t invest his own money, his brothers made sure that when they hit on a great deal to be had, they’d bring him in on it as well.

He was doing all right with his job as a family attorney, but it didn’t hurt to have extra money coming in from investments as well.

Then they got to talking about the holidays and how they were fast approaching.

In just a little over a month, it would be Halloween, then after that, two short months, and they’d have Thanksgiving and Christmas.

Then there would be a whole new year to contend with.

He didn’t know which holiday he was looking forward to most. But he did love Halloween.

It was the children that he enjoyed the most. The way they would dress up and go to each house for some well-deserved treats.

He never minded the older kids out and doing it either.

He had never been allowed to go out trick-or-treating when he’d been younger.

Even though there would have been something free for his mother to resell, she never gave out candy either.

It had been a great embarrassment for him when he’d been a child not to be able to dress up at school on the day of the holiday.

They were just the Sheppard children with the mean mom who never allowed them to do anything that was fun.

They’d never been able to do the trick-or-treating game; their father would sneak them candy for the entire week before and after the holiday.

It was the first time in his life that he had ever known that his father had gone against their mother, and it had been a fun way to pull the wool over her eyes.

It was fun and scary as hell, too, to know that if she caught them, there would be a beating like no other.

But she never did, and their father did it year after year, right up until she killed him.

Mother had never liked their father and was surprised daily that she’d ever let him live as long as he had.

She’d also killed her own mother, so it was no surprise when Dad ended up dead too.

“What do you know about that woman, Marsha Watson? Since we don’t know what her name really is, that’s all I’ve been able to call her.

” Jameson told Archie what he’d been able to find out.

“A game? I doubt that anyone in the Watson family thought that it was a game. Didn’t she say that she was their mother from the very start? ”

“She’s done this to other families, too.

One, she claimed that she was the illegitimate daughter of the man, so that they’d pay her off.

The couple ended up getting a divorce since the man would never admit to having an affair with someone to have created a child.

” Beau thought that was just sick. “She’s done it before that, too.

Pretending to be some long-lost relative that should be part of an estate.

The Feds have figured out that she was getting DNA samples from the bodies at the funeral home where she worked.

Donald had been right in saying that she was the hairdresser from the funeral home.

He’d gotten her scent or something. However, this was the first time that she’d ever been someone who had been dead, like their mother. ”