Page 31 of Black and White, Twice the Might (Cadenbury Town #8)

“ S hall we walk the Haunted Walk together?” Jodie asks us.

“Yes, please,” both Xander and Enoch say at the same time.

We say bye to the others and head for the Haunted Walk. Enoch and Xander are chatting happily to Jodie and John as Sly and I walk behind them, holding hands and listening to their chatter.

I smile at Sly, and he raises our hands and kisses the back of mine.

“Once we’re settled, we should probably see if the boys want to go to a proper school, or stay home-schooling,” I mention.

Sly nods. “We can do that, but I guarantee they’ll want to stay with home-schooling. They have more flexibility with what they can learn.”

“That’s true. Maybe we could see what clubs are on offer and see if they will be interested in joining and making new friends.”

“We can find out and then ask them,” Sly agrees.

By this time, we have reached the Haunted Walk and walk under the sign and past the now non weaponised scarecrows, following the path around.

I look to see Enoch and Xander pulling John and Jodie over to look at the straw bear that Sly created.

John looks at us as we join them. “This bear is amazing, Sly.”

“The details are incredible,” Jodie adds.

“Thanks.”

“It’s a shame you never thought of bringing it to life,” Xander remarks, looking at him.

I see Sly smirk and click his fingers. The bear lets out a mighty roar and drops down onto his four paws.

We all jump back, and Sly laughs at us.

The bear’s straw head turns this way and that, looking around before turning and walking away.

“You did make sure that was a friendly bear, didn’t you, Dark One?”

We turn and see Molly behind us, carrying a basket of red apples.

“I did. He’s totally friendly.”

Molly cackles out a laugh. “Just checking. This walk should be fun tonight.”

“Are you joining us, Molly?” I ask her. “Nice basket of apples.”

Molly cackles out another laugh. “I might do for a while, then I’ll share my apples.”

“Did you poison them?” Xander asks her.

Again, Molly cackles. “No, these are the non-poisoned varieties.”

We hear screams and then laughter from further up the walk. Looks like the bear is making himself known.

We carry on walking, having fun and chatting. Molly leaves us when we reach the disco, and we have fun dancing.

While Xander and Enoch are dancing with Jodie, John comes over and joins us.

“I hope you know how much we like you all, and how happy we are that Alfred and Ernest made you family,” he says.

We both smile at him.

“We are, too. Thank you for accepting us,” I reply.

“Easy decision. I would like to ask you something, though.”

“Ask away,” Sly tells him.

“We wondered if you would let Xander and Enoch think of us as their grandparents. You two are too old to call us Grammie and Grandpops, you can, of course, if you want to, but we think of you both as our sons.”

“Wow, thank you, John. You're the type of father I wish we had had. As for the boys, I’m sure they would love to,” I say, touched.

“You really are,” Sly agrees. “My father was, or is, a complete psycho, same as my mother. I wished for parents like you as well.”

John gives us a beaming smile, pulling us both into a massive hug. “Thank you. This is so exciting. I now have four grandsons when I never thought I’d have any.”

“Four?” I ask, just as Sly asks, “Why not?”

“With Ernest being gay and never showing any interest in having children, we thought we’d never be grandparents, something we both wanted.

We never put pressure on Ernest, you understand.

He had to live his own life. But then he met Adhan, who already had Alfred.

We got our dream of a grandson. Well, we did once Ernest pointed that fact out to us.

And as Al is married to Justice, we got two grandsons.

Now with Xander and Enoch, we have four. ”

“I’m very happy for you, John,” I say truthfully.

Jodie and the boys walk over to join us.

“Is everything alright?” Xander asks, looking from me and Sly to John.

“It is,” Sly replies.

“Xander, Enoch, John and Jodie want to ask you something,” I tell them.

“What’s that?” Enoch asks, looking between them.

Jodie takes John’s hand. “We wondered what you thought about calling us Grammie and Grandpops,” she says, giving them a gentle smile.

I don’t think the boys’ smiles could get any wider.

“For real?” Xander asks them.

“For real,” John replies.

“Thank you, we’d love to,” Enoch says, practically throwing himself into John’s arms, while Xander hugs the stuffing out of Jodie.

“So, I think that’s a yes from my brothers.”

“Good, we are so happy,” Jodie adds.

After that, we finish the walk and buy drinks and burgers. Thank goodness this is Halloween. It will be weeks of healthy food to make up for all the junk we’ve eaten lately.

John and Jodie leave us after eating the burgers, and we take the boys back to the B&B for sleep. All four of us are excited as this weekend is moving weekend.