Page 76 of Grave Games

Shiloh

“I’ve got a good feeling about this place. I mean, there’s got to be a lot of good mojo, living in a converted church, right?” Walking along the brick path leading to the back courtyard, I laced my fingers with Romeo’s. “And it backs up to Garfield Park, with the Conservatory right over there.” I waved my free hand at the magnificent botanical garden’s glass roof rising from a blanket of hawthorn trees separating the two properties. “I still can’t believe it’s ours. Thank you for finding us this awesome house, baby. Or should I say home?”

“Definitely home, and it helps when you’ve got the daughter of Chicago’s real estate royalty on speed dial. Ana-Sofia really came through for us.” He grinned as we entered a peaceful courtyard shaded by a massive elm rooted right in the center. It wasn’t a perfect scene; the tree needed to be trimmed, the flowerbeds weeded and replanted, and there was an older, white-haired worker shoring up the one area in the courtyard where the exterior brick wall was crumbling. According to the expert Romeo had brought in to look at it before we bought the property, the entire courtyard wall had been built later than the church itself, with inferior materials. Apparently the expert had taken a bit of mortar in his hand and crumbled it to dust right before Romeo’s eyes. I hadn’t been there to see it, but it didn’t surprise me that this was the first thing Romeo decided had to be fixed. “In fact, Zee told me that Ana-Sofia liked this area so much, they’ve put in an offer on that place just down the road. You know, the yellow house on the corner?”

“Really?” I let out a delighted laugh and looked to him in excitement. “We’re going to be neighbors with Ana-Sofia and Zee? Oh, I love this place so much more now.”

“I had a feeling you’d be happy about that.”

“Now we just have to make this place uniquely ours, like evening out pathways and building a ramp up to the front porch so Ashtray can get his wheelchair up into the house.” As time had moved on and Ashtray had recovered from taking Marvel’s cowardly bullet in the back, the spinal injury had proven to be more severe than the doctors had originally anticipated. All hope wasn’t lost, as the big guy had gained the ability to wiggle his toes, but there was still very little feeling below the hips. For the time being, his way of getting around was a king-sized wheelchair, and I wanted to be sure we accommodated his needs.

“Speaking of, I met up with Ashtray at the Clubhouse earlier today, and he asked when the housewarming party is.” Romeo lifted a brow my way, humor dancing in his eyes. “Are we throwing a housewarming party?”

“Um, I guess we are now.”

Romeo laughed.

“You know, if we’re not careful, we’re going to turn into a couple of cliché suburbanites, complete with inviting friends over for barbecues and borrowing Zee and Ana-Sofia’s hedge clippers while Zee borrows our lawn mower.”

“Nobody’s going to touch my lawn mower. I’m gonna get one of those bad-boy riding mowers and soup it up to match my bike.”

“A riding mower that looks like a chopper,” I drawled, shaking my head. “Only you would come up with something like that.”

“Yeah, and Zee will die of envy whenever he sees it.”

I laughed again before he guided me inside through the back. The cathedral ceiling in the main living room was filled with light thanks to the floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the courtyard. The walls were yellow, but not the obnoxious kind, thankfully. The color reminded me of pale sunshine, just a shade away from white, and it complimented the glowing warmth of the original hardwood floors. Boxes were scattered here and there in the empty space, along with a mattress we’d hauled in the night before so we could spend our first night together in our new home. Our furniture would be arriving later in the day and chaos would most assuredly ensue. But for this moment, all was peaceful.

“Kind of wish we had our actual bed already installed upstairs.” I paused at the edge of the mattress in the middle of the floor, its rumpled surface spotlighted in sunshine. “Either that, or I wish we had blinds that we could pull on the windows. I’m doing all I can not to jump your bones right now.”

“That would definitely be awkward, considering who’s right outside that window.”

“I’ve been thinking about those automated blinds,” I went on, forcing myself away from the temptation of the mattress to close in on the windows. If I didn’t, I’d probably wind up tackling my insanely hot husband and make a lewd spectacle of us both. “We’re going to need some form of covering to keep out the heat of the day. I know it’s only May, but when August rolls around we’ll be thankful to have something that cuts down on the greenhouse… effect…”

By degrees I froze in place, shock warring with recognition as I stared at the white-haired worker outside.

No. It couldn’t be…

“You father’s been working on this house even before we officially closed on it.” Romeo came up from behind to wrap his arms around me. He was warm and strong, my Rock of Gibraltar and my safe port in a storm. Just having him touch me kept me from spiraling instantly out of control as I stared at my father working in the courtyard. “He was with the inspector every step of the way and got fifteen-grand knocked off the asking price due to the instability of the courtyard wall, along with a couple other things he found. Liam’s really been a godsend.”

Liam. Dear God, Romeo and my dad were on a first-name basis. “But… how? How did he even know we were looking at houses? Or that we’re together? Why did he involve himself? Why is he out there right now working on that wall?”

“Liam knew we were looking for a new place because I told him,” he said, his tone low and deliberately calm. “Right after we got married, I dropped in on your folks.”

Well, knock me over with a feather. “Why?”

“Remember how I took you up to meet my folks once we got back from Vegas?”

“Yes.” Meeting my new in-laws for the first time was hardly something I would forget.

“Well, since my parents knew they had a new daughter-in-law, I thought it was only fair to let your parents know they had a new son-in-law. I also thought they needed to know you and I had decided to start house-hunting for a place big enough and safe enough to start raising a family of our own.”

I couldn’t even imagine how that went over with them.

“Your mom cried a little, but your father was great,” he went on as if he’d read my mind. “Liam immediately sat me down and wanted to know what we were looking for—old construction versus new, yard upkeep and how much time and patience I’d have for that sort of thing. He had tons of questions—school districts, flood plains, crime rate maps, and a thousand other things. Ultimately I straight-up told him that if we found something we liked, I’d call him first before doing anything. He was happy to volunteer his expertise, and he's never asked for anything in return, Shy. Not even for me to try to smooth things over between you and him. He just wants to help.”

“But why?”

“You’re his kid,” he chided me gently. “He made the worst possible mistake any parent could make by not backing you up when you were literally broken, bleeding, and at your lowest. Hell, it’s amazing you managed to live through it. He knows he fucked up so bad he can’t even try to make it up to you. I mean, that much is obvious. He’s been helping us out for the past couple weeks on this place, and he hasn’t even tried to approach you. Not once.”

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