Page 32 of Black and White, Twice the Might (Cadenbury Town #8)

W e’re all up early Saturday morning. The boys are chomping at the bit to move into our house.

There is excited chatter over our breakfast table. The boys try to rush their breakfast, but Sly makes them slow down.

“The house isn’t going anywhere,” he assures them. “The earliest we can move in is tomorrow, so eat slowly.”

“Your brothers are excited,” Janice says, walking by our table and stopping.

“Not just them. We’re all excited to have somewhere permanent to live. We should be all moved in by tomorrow evening,” I reply.

“It will be a shame not to see you all in the mornings, but I’m glad you’re moving to our town.”

“Us too, Janice,” Sly replies.

Janice pats his shoulder and carries on her way to the next table.

“Is it weird I have excited butterflies in my stomach?” Xander asks.

I shake my head. “No, because I do too.” It looks like we have all finished eating.

I just need to finish my drink, and we can head for the storage lockers.

The Stone family will be meeting us there at around eleven, so we can pack some of the smaller boxes in our car while we wait for Adhan to bring their big van.

I finish my drink and look at Sly and my brothers. “Shall we go?”

“Yes,” both Xander and Enoch say excitedly, jumping up.

I laugh and get up slower, Sly following, and we make our way out of the B&B towards the car.

Sly offers to drive, so as we leave, I remember to message everyone with the address.

We stop off at the baker's and pick up cakes, sausage rolls and bottles of water. Patty wraps the sausage rolls up in heatproof wrappers before putting them into a bag. The cakes are in another and the water bottles are in another few. We couldn’t not buy refreshments for those who help us.

We might have brought too much, but I’d rather have too much food than not enough.

We settle back in the car and start our journey.

As we drive away, I pull my phone out to check for messages.

Patty wasn’t kidding about the town chat.

Ernest added Sly and me, so now we know the local gossip, even if we don’t know the actual people.

We were also added to the Stone family group, as well as the town witches’ group and a true witches group, which seems to be anything the witchlings don’t want their mates to know about.

Seeing both Sly and I added to the family group and true witches’ group gave me a sense of belonging and filled me with the warm fuzzies.

I click on the town chat, and I’m surprised to see that we’re the gossip of the moment. “So, we’re the hot topic on the town chat. So far, everyone seems happy that we’re moving into the old Myers house.”

“As they should be,” Sly replies, with a laugh.

I chuckle. “Looks like the town is looking forward to sampling my chocolates.”

“Good job, you have a dedicated workshop as you’re going to be busy.”

I laugh. “Yeah, I think I might be. Well, I can hope anyway.”

“Sweetheart, you don’t need to hope. Just watch.”

I place my hand on his thigh. “Love you too.”

Sly picks up my hand and kisses the back before putting it back on the wheel.

The boys are happily sitting in the back, headphones on, watching something on their tablets.

“I can’t wait to see all our possessions in our house,” I say happily.

“Me either,” he pauses for a moment. “I had another email from my father, again inviting me to the family meeting. But I received one from my mother as well, telling me how much she misses me and how much she wants to see me.”

“What are you going to do?” I ask. If I had my way, I would delete those emails without him opening them.

Sly sighs. “I honestly don’t know. Part of me would like to see my mum again, just to make sure she’s not gone full-on psycho, but I honestly don’t know.”

“If you want to visit them, we can leave the boys either at the manor or with John or Jodie, and I can come with you,” I offer. There is no way in hell I’d let Sly go and see them without backup.

“I’ll settle us into the house first and then decide,” Sal replies.

“Okay,” I say, but I’m not feeling okay, pretty sure and knowing Sly, he’s going to do something stupid, like meet with them.

We reach our first storage locker. I open the door, and Sly opens the boot of the car.

We made sure it was empty of everything but a first aid kit.

This locker holds, amongst other things, all my chocolate-making equipment.

With the boys’ help, we load my equipment into our boot, just as a truck and a parade of cars turn up.

“Cavalry’s arrived,” Sly says, grinning.

“The whole infantry, by the looks of things,” I add.

Everyone gets out of their vehicles and joins us.

“Morning, folks,” Sly says.

“Thanks for this,” I say.

“No thanks needed, you’re family and we help family. Now, where shall we start?” Adhan replies.

“How about we split up? Most of the larger pieces are in that lockup there,” Sly replies, pointing to one a few containers down.

“We can do that. Let me move the van over and open the back while you open your lockup,” Adhan says.

“And while they do that, we can start loading our cars up with items from this one,” Titus says, walking forward.

“Pick a box and have at it,” I reply.

I’m surprised how quickly we manage to fill the cars up, and we still have half this lockup to empty.

Occasionally, I look over to see how Sly and his group are getting on.

I smile when I see Sly’s desk being carried into the van.

We bought this from an antique place we visited.

Sly fell in love with the desk at first sight.

So, I bought it for him before he even moved away from it and surprised him with it a few days later when I had it delivered to the lockup. The smile on his face was priceless.

I look at the time. “Break time,” I call, walking to the car and pulling the bags out.

Sly and his group come and join us, as I hand out warm sausage rolls, water, and cakes.

We sit on the ground to enjoy our break.

“Thanks for this,” Kean says, unwrapping his sausage roll.

“We couldn’t not bring treats for you all,” I reply, biting into mine.

“Yeah, you’ve given up your time to help us. The least we can do is provide treats,” Sly adds.

“I can’t believe we have so much stuff,” Enoch says, shaking his head.

“Well, the good news is, we can fit one more wardrobe in the van for today. So, once we load that, we can head back to Cadenbury and unload everything, ready for tomorrow,” Jude says.

“And our boots and back seats are full,” Ben tells us.

“I think we can fit something small in the back, then it will be full,” Temp says.

“Ours is bursting at the seams,” Nix says.

“We could fit another few boxes in, if Jude doesn’t mind going back in the van,” Sal puts in.

I shake my head. “Don’t do that. There is always tomorrow.”

“Are you sure? I don’t mind travelling with Adhan,” Jude says.

“Yep, we’re sure. We can leave Xander and Enoch behind tomorrow, and they can start unpacking their rooms. That will give us more space,” I say.

I see concern flash across Enoch’s face.

“Or they can stay at the manor with Mum, Nora and Connie. The cousins can all play together,” Adhan offers.

“Cousins?” Xander asks.

“Yep, you’re family, remember,” he reminds them.

Xander nods and gives a shy smile.

“We can do that,” Enoch replies, giving a relieved smile.

“Tonight, us true witches can help put protection around your house and gardens, if you want,” Titus offers.

“Thank you. We’ll happily take you up on your offer,” Sly replies.

I’m watching Enoch, and it looks like he takes a sigh of relief.

I internally sigh. Enoch is going to need a lot of reassurance again to feel completely safe.

“Thanks. Our house will be one of the most protected in town,” I say, grinning at my brothers.