“Really?” Xander asks, looking a little concerned, having come in and joined us, Enoch by his side.
“I can personally vouch for every witch in town if that helps,” he tells them, giving them a gentle smile.
“Well, the ones we’ve met so far seem nice,” Enoch says, before smiling. “But have you checked out the whole of the upstairs? The family bathroom looks like something from history, and my room has a secret door that leads to a large room.” As always, his arms are flying around as he talks.
Adhan laughs. “They designed that for their granddaughter. She had that as her reading room.”
“So unfair,” Xander gripes, stomping off.
Enoch follows him out. “We could set it up as a secret den or games room.”
I shake my head at them.
“This really is a lovely room,” Sly says, looking around.
It is. At the moment, it’s a massive empty space, but all our bedroom furniture will fit in here with room to spare. It even has a large walk-in wardrobe that looks like a mini shopping mall and a huge bathroom with a shower and bath, both of which can fit us both with room to spare.
“All the plumbing and electrics have been recently checked. We have the certificates for everything. There is nothing structurally that needs doing. We had a full survey done,” Adhan tells us as we look around the other rooms upstairs.
“I can’t imagine how upset the previous owners must have been leaving here,” I say as we walk down the stairs. If it wasn’tfor being surrounded by so many witches, I could see this being our forever home.
“Tom and Evie lived here for nearly fifty years. They are both in their mid-eighties and have health issues. The house got too much for them. They thought about putting a chair lift in to help them get upstairs, but Evie had dementia and Tom was concerned for her safety. They are happily living in an assisted living flat near their family.”
“That’s sad,” Sly says, “but I’m glad they’re happy.”
We wander around the rest of the downstairs and notice the small golden bells by the kitchen. I can’t believe we missed them last time.
Sly really does love the study, and we both love the kitchen.
Adhan shows us the massive garage and then the business building. My potential chocolate-making building.
“Tom was a baker. He made custom cakes and was very popular, which is why he had this built. Everything was bespoke and of the best quality he could buy. Again, it’s all been checked and is in working order. Would you need to change much for your chocolate making to work here?”
I shake my head, looking at him. “I wouldn’t have to change much at all. I would just need to add a CoolBot to bring the temperature down in here, but that shouldn’t be too complicated.”
“Alfred will be delighted to hear that,” Adhan says with a laugh. “I don’t know if you noticed, but this building has air conditioning, if that helps.”
“I hadn’t noticed, but it does help. I’ll have to see how well it keeps cool.” I give a happy sigh as we walk outside. “It will be nice to have a permanent chocolate space.”
“And house,” Sly adds, “but we need to discuss everything first.”
“Understandable,” Adhan says.
We finally find the boys laughing together in the garden and walk out with Adhan hours later.
“Dinner will be at six. At the end of the High Street, turn right, and my house is literally at the end of the road.” He looks at the boys. “My mum and some brothers will be home, keeping you safe. There will be two wolves and three witches looking after you and the girls. Connie is only a few months old, and Nora is seven. I promise you’ll be perfectly safe at our house tonight.”
The boys nod, but don’t say anything.
“Thanks, and thanks for showing us around. We need to let Ernest know we’re helping out tonight,” Sly says.
“I’m off to see him now, so I can tell him for you if you want.”
I nod. “Please, thanks.”
“Enjoy the rest of your afternoon and see you at dinner,” and with that, Adhan strides off.
“The house really is perfect,” Xander says.
