Page 23 of Black and White, Twice the Might (Cadenbury Town #8)

M orning seems to creep up on me too quickly.

I hardly slept last night, thinking that when we got to the bank in the morning, all our money would have vanished and our perfect house would fall through.

It’s weird, I don’t get anxious, but I am about the house. I think because we all want it so much.

I drag myself out of Sly’s arms and out of bed and rush through my shower. Like always, I put Sly’s coffee on as I dress. I hope he drinks it quickly, and the boys are up.

I finish dressing and take Sly over his coffee. Instead of wafting it under his nose, I prod his shoulder. “Come on, love, wake up,” I say, prodding his shoulder again.

Sly cracks an eye open and glares at me. “Are you seriously prodding me awake?”

“Yes, and I have your coffee, but you need to drink up and get washed and dressed. I’ll go and make sure the boys are up.” I put his coffee on the bedside table and go to stand up, but Sly catches my hand.

“Hold up, sweetheart. What’s going on?” he asks, sitting up, looking curious.

“Nothing, but it’s morning time,” I protest.

“And it would still be morning time in an hour, heck, in the next five hours. Try again.” He pulls me into his arms, and I fall against him.

“Ignore me. I’m just being silly.”

“If something’s bothering you, it’s not silly. Tell me what’s up, and if I can help you, you know I will.”

I lean up and kiss him, tangling one of my hands in his hair. I lose myself in the kiss before slowly pulling back. Goddess, I love this man so much.

“So, what’s wrong, and don’t think you can distract me with your kisses? I mean, you can distract me with your kisses, well, with just a look really, honestly, you’re always distracting me and you probably don’t even realise it. I’m amazed I can do anything when you’re around,” Sly babbles happily.

I laugh and kiss him again before pulling back and touching his cheek. “Have I told you lately just how much I love you?”

“Not since last night, so that’s quite remiss of you. You should have at least told me as you prodded me awake. I much prefer the wafting of coffee under my nose, I might add.”

“Sorry,” I say. “Drink your coffee and I’ll wake the boys up.”

“Not until you tell me what’s wrong,” Sly says, tightening his arms around me slightly.

I sigh and relax into him again. “It’s just me being silly, thinking that when we get to the bank, our money would have disappeared and we’d lose the house.”

“Sweetheart, that won’t happen, but if it does, I have no problem magicking the money from somewhere and buying the house.”

“You know what? I’d probably help you do that,” I confess.

“Good, now go wake the boys. I need my coffee moment.”

I laugh and give Sly a quick kiss before picking up his coffee and handing it to him.

We don’t linger over breakfast this morning, all of us excited to go to the bank and transfer the house money. I still can’t believe how cheap the place is. If that house had been for sale in a larger town or village, it would be practically double the price.

We have to drive to one of the larger towns so we can find our bank, and once there, we have to jump through hoops to transfer the money.

There are so many safety checks in place now, stopping you from handing your money over to scammers.

Thankfully, we brought all the house documents with us, our bank account details and proof of our IDs, but it still took over an hour.

Finally, though, we have the receipt showing the money has been transferred.

“I can’t believe we have our very own house,” Enoch says happily, as we leave the bank, a spring in his step.

“Yeah, it will be nice staying somewhere permanently,” Xander puts in, “and you’ll have a permanent chocolate workshop.”

“I know. I can’t wait to unpack everything and start creating again,” I really have missed chocolate making.

“Oh, we can pick up our glass creations today,” Enoch reminds us. “I can’t wait to show John.”

I grin at Sly before looking at my brother. “That’s okay. Neither Sly nor I wanted to see your creations, anyway.”

Enoch rolls his eyes. “I didn’t mean it like that. Of course I’ll show you two, but John told us to show him as well.”

“I’m glad you like John so much,” Sly comments.

“He’s what I always wish Dad was like,” Xander says softly.

I slip my arm around him. “I’m sorry Father turned into a monster.”

“It wasn’t your fault,” he replies, leaning into me slightly.

“And you did rescue us,” Enoch says. He looks at Sly and grins. “Did I ever thank you for throwing him into that wall?”

Sly laughs. “You did. And if I ever see him again, I will throw him into another wall, but not any of our house walls, as we’ll put wards around the house so that if he ever discovers where we are, he can’t enter our home.”

“We could find a spell that will melt him,” Enoch suggests.

Xander stands up straight and moves next to Enoch. “Or one that cuts him into little pieces.”

“A bit bloody, but we could have lasers cut him up, or,” Enoch says, “killer pigs.”

“I like that and pigs eat everything, so no one will ever know.”

I look at Sly and shake my head, grinning, but I don’t stop them thinking up different ways to kill him. If it were me, I’d rip his heart out just to see if he actually had one. Gory, probably, but I wouldn’t have an ounce of regret.

We walk around the shops and buy some things we know we’ll need, like a new kettle, coffee, tea, squash and a few funny mugs, as well as batteries and bedside clocks. We’ll leave them in the boot until we get the keys.

We arrive back in Cadenbury and have lunch at the baker's. We bump into Adhan and Emily as we’re leaving.

“Hey, Adhan, Emily,” I greet, smiling at them.

“You all look happy,” Emily comments.

"We are,” Xander tells her.

Enoch pipes up. “Eb and Sly transferred the money over for the house this morning.”

Adhan laughs. “Just a bit excited, I see, and yes, I saw that. Come for dinner tonight and I’ll give you the keys.”

Emily smiles at Xander. “Xander, what is your favourite dinner? I’ll make it tonight as a celebration for you all.”

Xander grins. “Really?”

Emily nods. “Yes, really.”

Xander launches himself at Emily and hugs her.

Emily laughs and hugs him back.

Xander pulls away. “My favourite dinner is trenchers, with roast pork.”

“Nice,” Adhan says, looking at Emily. “We’ve not had that in years.”

“Well, we’ll be having it tonight. Now I need to dash. I’ll see you all later.”

“Bye,” we say, as she walks away.

“I hope I’ve not caused Emily a lot of work,” Xander comments, looking troubled as he watches her leave.

“You didn’t, don’t worry. If Mum didn’t have time to make your favourite dinner, she wouldn’t have offered,” Adhan assures him.

Xander nods, looking relieved.

“I have to go as well, so I will see you all later. Dinner will be at the usual time,” and just that quickly, Adhan walks off.

“Shall we pop into the bookshop quickly to say hello and then go to Shattered Glass?” I suggest.

We walk in and see Ernest by the counter.

“How’s your day going?” he asks us.

“Really good. Sly and Ebby transferred the money for the house,” Enoch says, happily.

“We did. Adhan said we can pick the keys up later tonight,” I say.

“Nice. We’ll have to have a welcome to the town party.”

“Really?” Xander asks, looking surprised.

Ernest nods. “Oh yeah. Leave it with me and I’ll arrange something.”

“Thanks,” Sly says. “Adhan invited us round for dinner tonight to celebrate. Emily is making Xander’s favourite dinner.”

“Nice. What are we having?”

Xander mimics locking his mouth. “It’s a surprise.”

“Well, I can’t wait to see what it is.”

“We just thought we’d drop in and say ‘hello’. We’re going into Shattered Glass to pick up the boys’ creations,” I tell him.

“I can’t wait to see what you made, and don’t forget Pa wants to see them as well,” he reminds them.

“Is he in today?” Enoch asks, looking around.

“He’s due in anytime around now.”

“Perfect, we can pick them up and then come back,” Xander says.

“We can. Come on then,” I say.

“See you later,” Sly says, as we leave the shop.

We walk the few doors down and into Shattered Glass, and see Jodie just finishing serving a customer.

The boys rush over to the window to see what Nix and Sal are working on.

“Thank you for shopping with us. I hope to see you again soon,” Jodie says to them.

The customer laughs. “You can be sure I will, Jodie,” the lady says, picking up her bag, smiling at us and walking out of the shop.

“Hello boys, Ebby, Sly,” Jodie says, pulling Sly and me into hugs. It surprises both of us, but we happily return them. She looks at the boys. “Are you two too old for hugs?”

“Never,” Enoch says, grinning and moving to hug her in return.

“Me either,” Xander says, hugging her when Enoch pulls back.

Jodie laughs and pulls back. “Good, anytime you need a hug, just come and find me. Now, Sal has got all your creations ready to show you before we pack them up. You two created lovely things. I admit I did peek when Sal got them out of the annealer.

“You really liked them?” Enoch asks, almost shyly.

“I did indeed. You’ll see yourself in a minute how lovely they are,” she assures him.

“They really are good,” Sal says, walking out of the workshop carrying a box and putting it on the counter.

“Oh, they look good,” Xander says, looking at them. “Can I pick mine up?”

Sal nods. “You both can.”

Xander picks up the vase he made. “Look,” he hands it to me.

“Xander, this is amazing,” I tell him truthfully. The green seems to shimmer.

“Look at mine,” Enoch says, handing his to Sly.

“Wow, Enoch, yours is just as incredible,” Sly says.

“I like the swirl on the outside,” I tell him.

“Nix did that for me, but I rolled the vase around so he could.”

“And you rolled it well,” Nix said, walking out and joining us. “Check out your paperweights. The colours look amazing.”

We look at the rest of the pieces, and Sal and Jodie wrap them up so they don’t break, giving the boys a box each.

“Now don’t forget to show John,” Jodie reminds them.

Enoch picks up his box. “We’ll go and show him now. Thanks, Nix, Sal, it was fun.”

“It really was,” Xander agrees.

“Thanks, guys. How much do we owe you?” Whatever it costs, I’ll happily pay.

“Nothing, it was a fun treat for your brothers,” Nix says.

“Thank you,” Sly says.

“Yeah, thanks, as you can see, the boys loved it. We’ll get out of your hair and see you at dinner tonight.” That was really nice of Nix not charging us for the boys’ creations. I would have happily paid any amount just to see my brothers smiling happily.

“You will. Enjoy your afternoon,” Nix says, and after a round of goodbyes, we leave Shattered Glass and retrace our steps to the bookshop.

Sly opens the door and lets the boys in first.

John, Ernest and Alfred are at the counter eating cake.

Enoch spies John and rushes over. “John, do you want to see what I made?”

John smiles at him. “I do indeed, and what Xander made. Open your box here, and we can all see your creations.”

“Okay,” Enoch puts the box on the counter and opens it. Inside is a lot of packing peanuts. “This is the vase,” he says, pulling out a bubble-wrapped package. He gently opens it and passes it to John.

“Wow. Enoch, this is lovely. Look, boys,” he says, showing Ernest and Alfred.

“Wow indeed,” Ernest says.

Alfred grins at Enoch. “That is awesome.”

John carefully wraps it up and puts it back in the box.

Next, Enoch pulls out the paperweight and some glass caterpillars. All of them are amazing, and the three of them heap praise on him.

Once they have seen Enoch’s creations, he moves his box so Xander can show his.

“Wow, Xander,” John says, looking at his vase.

“That’s awesome, Xander,” Ernest says, “The way that green seems to shimmer.”

Xander smiles and blushes a little. “Thanks. Look at the others.”

Again, John wraps up the vase and puts it back in the box as Xander pulls out his paperweight and caterpillars.

“These are lovely,” Alfred says, turning the paperweight this way and that.

“You both did so well that you deserve one of Callum's cupcakes,” John says, wrapping the last item up and putting it in the box.

Sly smiles. “Cupcakes?”

“Oh yeah, you’ll love them,” Ernest tells him.

“Then lead us to cupcakes, John,” Sly says.

I shake my head as I watch them walking away. “I seriously don’t think I’ve ever eaten so much cake.”

Alfred and Ernest laugh.

Ernest sighs. “I know what you mean.”

“Jodie made Clarence cake restrict Ernest,” Alfred says with a laugh.

“Ma’s mean,” he mutters.

“Poor Ernest,” I say, laughing, not that I mean it, and walk off to join my family.