Page 70 of Luna

Dante pulled up next to a white house covered in dark green ivy. It was large, but still looked whimsical with a stone chimney and wrap around porch. It was like a fairytale manor come to life.

We got out of the car, my swollen feet aching in my sandals. I couldn’t help but stare. There was a well-established rose garden in the front of the house adding to the fairy tale vibes.

“Where are we?”

“It could be our future home.” Dante’s voice had a slight tremor as he wrapped an arm around my waist. I still felt a stab of anxiety in my chest. We were two months away from my due date and no closer to finding a house.

To the side of the house were large oaks, and one weeping willow. The yard was massive enough for a large fire pit and seating area that was set off in the distance, and the fresh cut grass scent filled the air.

“Seven bedrooms, two offices, and a yard big enough for your garden and for Peanut to play.” Dante said, kissing the top of my head.

“Can we see inside?” I looked around like a realtor might magically appear.

“Of course.” Dante fished a set of keys out of his pocket.

“Is this yours?” Colton raised an eyebrow, sounding impressed.

Dante coughed. “I had a friend let me know if any listings matched Luna’s list of desires.”

“My list of desires?” I rubbed my hand along the distressed wooden porch. It was quaint without giving me a splinter. I glanced quickly at Halos, Quinn, and Colton. They all looked excited, relaxed. It wasn’t just me and my weird obsession with old-fashioned spaces.

“Yes, pet. The last two houses we looked at were too modern. Felt sterile.”

“Yeah they did,” Quinn muttered. “Who needs all that black and chrome?”

I grinned at my beta. “How are you going to assume your final form as an absent-minded professor in a space like that?”

“Exactly.” Dante’s eyes crinkled with mirth. “We all need some working space and communal space. So my friend let me know this was going up on the market. When I saw the pictures, I placed an offer. It wouldn’t last more than an hour, and I wanted you to have time to look.”

“You own this house?”

“Yes,” Dante said, holding up his hands. “You don’t have to like it. It will sell in a heartbeat if you’d rather something else. But I didn’t want it to sell before you had a chance to make up your mind.”

I swallowed hard. “Thank you.”

“Let’s look around.” Dante unlocked the door.

It opened up to a spacious living room, with whitewashed walls and exposed wooden beams in the ceiling. The kitchen was covered with cream-colored tiles and had a back door that opened up into a small patio.

In addition to the large living room, the downstairs had a massive library with built in shelves, two office spaces, two full bathrooms, a massive room toward the back of the house that could be a playroom, and another living space.

Upstairs there were seven bedrooms. One massive master bedroom with a giant walk-in bathroom and closet, and other well sized bedrooms. We could all have our own room if we wanted to, and comfortably share the master bedroom. Poppy could have her own room, as well as a spare room upstairs and downstairs for a playroom.

The floors were all exposed pine, gleaming softly in the late afternoon light, and the walls were white with brown exposed wooden beams. It felt like an alpine cottage or fairytale castle.

I twirled in the master bedroom. I didn’t see anything like a nest, but that was okay. We could always convert one of the other rooms.

“It’s beautiful. That room in the corner didn’t get much light, we could use that as the nest.”

“If you want.” Dante said, gesturing for me to follow him. “But there’s already a nest.”

We followed him to the end of the hall. He tapped on one of the exposed wooden beams, and with a slight pop, the wall swung open.

“A secret room,” Quinn gasped. “Yay.”

I clapped my hands together.

Dante led us up the winding stairs into a gorgeous nest. It let only a little bit of sunlight in, and there was a huge platform bed raised on a dais. Shelves were built along the circular walls, like Rapunzel’s castle.

---