heart feeling so full I’m going to need another one to help carry all the happiness I feel roosting in there.
Mrs. Bell claps once loudly and then turns back to us. “Well, let’s give you the tour of your new place,” she says brightly.
I look to my mates. “Sounds great,” I answer her.
She smiles and threads her arm through mine. “Good. Then after we eat, we can talk about what y’all wanna change and what y’all wanna keep. I went down to the fabric store and picked out some options for curtains, and Mr. Bell already started on a bed for you. He went a little bigger, and it creeped in on the sittin’ area I thought would be perfect by the window, but lookin’ at your strappin’ fellas over there, I think it’s good he did,” she tells me with a wink.
“What’s that, shug? Did you just say I was right? I’m not sure if I caught that correctly,” Mr. Bell teases from behind us, his arms slung over both Medley’s and Delta’s shoulders as he follows us in.
“Hush now, or I’ll give you somethin’ to catch,” she scolds playfully, and I hear the collection of mates behind us chuckle.
I’m ushered into the house, and I find the whole main floor is completely open. There’s a huge kitchen off to the right and a massive solid wood table in a dining room next to it that could fit all of us for a meal and then some. In the living room to the left, I spot purple wings up on a ladder, and my eyes widen with shock when Nefta turns around, holding an old curtain rod in her hand.
“Hi,” I greet in surprise.
She looks a little sheepish as she steps down and waves to us, my sisters seeming just as taken aback as me.
“Mrs. Bell invited me over to help,” Nefta explains, the curtain rod still in her hand like she isn’t really sure what to do with herself. “I’m taking down old rods and putting up new ones,” she adds like that’s that.
“Thank you,” I answer, a little astonished. “It’s good to see you again,” I offer, and her nerves seem to melt away as she gives me a warm smile.
“This isn’t nearly long enough to reach your entire back,” I hear Tazreel’s voice call, right before tromping footsteps make their way down the stairs at the back of the room. “Does the Mortal Realm not appreciate vanquishing a good back itch?” he asks before turning around and showing us how his new back scratcher doesn’t quite reach where he’s aiming.
I snort out a laugh, which turns into a full-blown giggle, pulling Medley and Delta right into amusement with me.
“That’s a toilet brush, Taz,” Medley squeaks out as we all bust out hysterically.
Within seconds, Tazreel’s face goes from arrogantly annoyed to horrified. He goes to throw the brush, but Mrs. Bell warns him not to defile what she’s spent hours cleaning, so instead, Tazreel stalks through the open back door and out into the yard where he chucks the offending back scratcher and proceeds to move around like he has a bee caught in his pants.
Even our mates start laughing by then.
“I’ll go hose him off,” Delta volunteers when we finally start to get a hold of ourselves again, but the picture of her hosing off the Pride of Hell just sends me right back into another fit of giggles.
I wipe laugh tears from my eyes as I wander through the rest of the house, my guys grinning and giving me all kinds of looks as we check out the gorgeous bed that Mr. Bell made for us. By the time we’re done looking through everything, my cheeks hurt from smiling so much.
Ire pulls me back while everyone else leaves to head back down for lunch. The four of us are alone upstairs, and my mates look at me expectantly. “Well? What do you think?” Ire asks.
“It’s perfect. It’s better than perfect,” I tell them again, and they all puff up with pride and their own excitement.
I wondered a little if Ire would be comfortable here after seeing his palace, but the more I observed him walking through the house, the more I could see that he felt like he fit here too. I found that same sense of comfort in Vudu and Toreon, and I know with absolute certainty that this place isn’t right for just me. It’s right for all of us.