Devil's Veil, page 25
part #4 of The Devereaux Chronicles Series
As a thank you gift for all the time she’d allowed them to stay there, Scott and Emma had surprised Doris with a trip to the Lollypop Farm so that she could pick out a new puppy to keep her company.
Doris had never been an overtly emotional woman, but the glow on her face when she first saw Tolstoy spoke volumes. Tolstoy was named, of course, by Doris, and was a shepherd mix.
Most of his fur was a dun color, but his head was dark brown which turned to black further down on his muzzle. He was only a couple of months old and his shepherd ears flopped comically as he loped around all over the place.
He terrorized Callie with his overabundance of energy but she quickly let him know who was the boss dog, and he showed her nothing but respect now. Although, the same couldn’t necessarily be said for the people around him.
He was clumsy and ungainly and was forever tripping people up while he tried to be a part of everything that was going on.
Doris turned to the dog, put her fingers to her lips and gave a sharp whistle. The puppy stopped in mid leap, immediately turned in her direction and galloped up the steps to join them as they entered the house.
The summer was just about over and there was a cool breeze blowing. The leaves were just starting to turn colors and hadn’t yet begun to fall to the ground.
Scott sighed heavily as he looked at all the boxes crammed into the bed of Tim’s truck. “Shall we start here?”
“I guess one place is as good as another,” Tim replied. “I can’t believe how much stuff you have already.”
“I know, right?”
The good news was that since this was their first home, most of the heavy furniture was brand new and was being delivered directly from the stores, but Emma had been doing a great deal of shopping in the last couple of months, and somehow managed to fill their mom’s entire garage with items they would need in their new home.
This was just the first of several trips that would be made today.
Before they started unpacking the vehicles, Tim looked around. “You know, that’s one hell of a lawn, who’s going to take care of it when you aren’t here?”
“You haven’t heard?” Scott asked, trying to bite back a laugh.
“No, what?”
“You know Jeffrey, right?”
“Mom’s handyman? Sure.”
“His arthritis has gotten really bad, so he’s retiring and moving to Florida to be closer to his kids. So, she is going to need someone new to take care of things for her at the house.
Emma reached out to Gabriel and he’s leaving Windy Shot after this season is over, wants to come back this way to be closer to his mom.”
“Gabriel, our Gabriel?”
“One and the same,” Scott said, shaking his head. “Anyway, Emma’s going to hire him on to do the maintenance here, she wants to get horses again and she’ll put him to work with them. He’ll pretty much take care of all the outdoor work for us and for Mom, plus any other odd jobs that are needed.”
“Doesn’t Emma remember that he has two left thumbs? And I’m pretty sure he told me that horses don’t even like him.”
“It wouldn’t surprise me a bit, but I think she feels a little maternal towards him and wants to help him out. In return, he’ll help us out. Day by day, brother. I’m just hoping he doesn’t burn the place to the ground.”
Tim went to pick up a box but stopped and turned towards Scott.
“It’s going to be all different now, isn’t it?”
“What do you mean?”
“For us, you and me. Don’t get me wrong, you can be a real pain in the ass and there are some days I just have to get away from you, but this is going to be a real adjustment for me. I’m used to having you there every time that I turn around.”
“I know, I thought about that, too. I don’t know of any brothers that could be closer than we are. And I, for one, don’t plan on letting any of this change things as far as you and I are concerned. We’ll still hit the road and hunt what we have to hunt.
The only difference will be that, instead of waking up in the morning and sitting around in our underwear making plans, we’ll have to drive a few miles first, or maybe even just pick up the phone.”
“I know, but your priorities will be different, and you can’t deny that. I just don’t see things going the way they have in the past.”
“I’m not denying that it will be a challenge for me to keep focused when we’re on a job, especially now. But that will change.”
“What do you mean?”
Scott turned, sweeping his arm around to indicate the entire place. “This is all new, and something I have to wrap my head around and get used to. Once I know it like the back of my hand and feel confident everything is being taken care of while I’m away, then I can focus more on what I’m supposed to be doing while we are working.”
“That does not make me feel warm and fuzzy, and it could take a long time,” Tim said, feeling a little unsure about the future. “How do I trust you to have my back when you’re worried about your clogged kitchen sink or something equally as important?”
“It’s not like we haven’t gone through life problems before when we were working. We always manage to put them away for a little while when we need to. That isn’t ever going to change and I’m still not going to let anything bad happen to you.”
Scott hesitated and his brow creased as something unpleasant occurred to him. “Do you want to go out on your own now?”
“Of course not, you’re my partner and we’ll get through this, just like we have everything else. But don’t be surprised if I ride your ass and make sure you’re up to par every step of the way.”
“I wouldn’t expect anything less,” Scott replied. “I think that by the time the baby is here that we should be all settled down and have some sort of a routine set.”
“Things slow up for us in the winter anyway, so I guess we can both take that downtime to get used to our new lives.”
“You make it sound like it’s going to be so different, but it really isn’t.”
“Scott, your wife,” he emphasized the word, “is going to have a baby and you have no freaking clue how different your life is going to be.”
“I know, can you believe that I’m going to be a father? I still can’t get my head wrapped around that.” He ran his fingers through his hair and shook his head in disbelief.
“But that makes you an uncle, and not just to this kid, but to Shelly and the boys, as well. The way you handled Shelly with that spirit issue was good. I think you may end up being a decent uncle, after all.”
“I’m not just decent at anything, I’m an outstanding uncle and you know it. Move out of the way, you can’t handle that box, I’ll do the heavy lifting for you, as always.”
Scott laughed as he watched Tim struggle up the porch steps with the heavy box. Then he took a deep breath and exhaled it slowly, looking over his new domain, feeling proud, excited, and scared to death all at the same time.
Whatever happened next, he would be ready for it, or so he liked to think.
THE END
THANK YOU
Thank you for joining me in this adventure with the Devereaux brothers. I hope you enjoyed it.
Please be sure to check out my website at debbieboek.com for information on the next book in this series, as well as all my others.
I think there are more tales to tell involving these characters, but first I plan on exploring some other times, places and people to see what stories they have to share.
I do appreciate your continuing support and welcome any comments you may have about the story, the characters or anything else you’d like to discuss. Please feel free contact me through my website. Thanks again.
Debbie Boek
Debbie Boek, Devil's Veil
