Page 325 of As The Shifter World Turns

“That’s a painful topic.” Micah sighed.

“Ours is taking a while, longer than a while,” Daire noted, referring to the house on the other side of the Manor that he owned and where his and Neil’s family lived. “But guys, I had an idea.”

Everyone stopped talking, even the kids. In the years I’d known the grizzlyshifter, he’d come up with some amazing ideas—also a few hare-brained ones—but as we’d been discussing our living situation, this was something to do with our homes.

“Who knows when the houses will be repaired and while I love living in the manor again, it’s too small.”

Everyone nodded. I expected him to say he’d bought another home and my eyes filled with tears at the thought of us all going our separate ways. It had to happen, we couldn’t live together until we were old and gray. Could we?

“My folks haven’t used the lake house much in years.”

“Probably because we’re always there,” Neil joked.

“That’s partly it.” Daire nodded. “But they prefer the house at the beach.”

“Are you saying we all move into the lake house?” Ivor asked.

While the house was big, it was a house, not a bunch of apartments, and it only had one kitchen.

“Not exactly.” Daire went on to explain that we could all build separate houses on the estate, and use the existing building for guests, celebrations, and Friday nights on the patio.

“But what about me?” Poor Anthony was worried he’d be left out. Neil put an arm around his shoulder and Dyani took his hand.

“Don’t worry.”

“You’re one of us, Anthony.”

“You go where we go.”

While Daire and Nate could afford to build a new home and so could Micah and I, Neil and Martin didn’t have that sort of money, Anthony certainly didn’t, and after Ryder’s recent cancer scare and the subsequent loss of income, I wasn’t sure he and Ivor could either.

“Won’t that be expensive?” Ryder glanced around, his wary expression confirming my fears about his and Ivor’s financial situation.

“Depends what you mean by expensive,” Daire said.

I sent the grizzly shifter a “Don’t say that” look and elbowed him in the ribs because while he had almost unlimited funds thanks to the success of his and Micah’s business, the others didn’t.

He ignored me and continued. “Look, no one needs to worry about money.”

“Says you,” Anthony piped up.

“Babe, just tell them.” Nate had Benate over his shoulder and was patting her back because she was fussing and not wanting a nap.

“I’ll build you each a house, and we’ll do them around the estate, depending on where you want to be. Closer to the lake or in the woods or wherever.” He went on to say there’d be a large house for Neil and Martin and their three kids and one for Ryder, Ivor, and Dyani.

“That’s very kind of you, Daire.”

“We can’t thank you enough.”

We interrupted and said we’d pay for our own having received word thismorning, our other house, the one a street away from the manor, had been repaired. We’d been discussing selling it because while it was huge and had a separate apartment and a beautiful garden, we no longer wanted to live there. In some ways it was too big for our family.

Anthony made to speak and Daire held up his hand. “Yes, Anthony, you’ll get a house too because you’re part of our family, unless you want to live in the existing one.”

“Thank you. I’d love a small place of my own, if possible. What will happen to Sunshine Manor?” Anthony asked.

“I’ll rent out the apartments to new tenants.”

“Oh.”

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