“Well, we’ll sure miss you and precious little Jacob,” the woman murmured.

“I will miss you too and your wonderful peanut butter cookies,” Jasmine said with a little hitch in her voice. She walked over and gave her neighbor a hug and then said her goodbyes.

“You can follow me,” Derek said, as he climbed into his vehicle. She climbed in her own reliable van, which sadly didn’t hold any appeal to her anymore after driving his luxury SUV and followed him out of the driveway. She looked into her rearview mirror until her home fell out of view. She let out a deep sigh and knew her life would be forever changed.

They pulled up to the new house and Derek entered the code for the gate to open. She drove the long driveway behind him, taking in everything. She’d only been there the one time and so she looked at the place with new eyes, trying to drink it all in.

The home was certainly a show piece, with its immaculately manicured lawns. There was a surprising lack of flowers and she vowed to change that as soon as possible but the fountain in the center of the driveway added a nice showpiece, which was both comforting and homey at the same time. She could grow to love the home, that is, if she could figure out how to get from one end to the other.

She had to park in the driveway, as there were two huge moving vans backed up to the massive garage. There were several men hauling things from the back of the trucks and trudging into the house. Derek and her walked in and the place looked different with the walls all barren and the furniture gone. There were a few pieces of his furniture from the condo but his old place had been much smaller and they were going to have to buy more pieces to fill the place up.

The house looked better to her though, with all the previous owners’ things out. She could now picture her own belongings filling up the spaces. The more she walked around the empty home, the better she was beginning to feel. She was actually excited to use the swimming pool. It wouldn’t be available for use until the next day, because Derek had brought people in to perform a special cleaning on it, though it had looked spotless to her before. He’d said he wanted to make sure, since his son would be swimming in it. She couldn’t argue with him.

It only took the movers a few hours to get the trucks unloaded and then they were in the huge place, alone for the first time. She headed straight for the kitchen, excited more for that room, than any other and started to unpack boxes.

Derek had tried to convince her to let the movers unpack but part of the excitement of moving was to find her treasures and place them where she wanted. She didn’t want the strangers to do it, besides she’d never be able to find anything.

“I’m going to pick up Jacob, we’ll be back soon,” he told her and she glanced at the clock. She had no idea it had gotten so late.

“I can go with you,” she offered reluctantly. She really didn’t want to stop what she was doing. By the smile on his face, he could tell.

“Go ahead and continue what you’re doing. It looks like you’re enjoying yourself,” he said and turned to head out.

“Oh look, there are Lazy Susan’s in all the corner cabinets,” she suddenly exclaimed. “They’re made of really nice wood, too,” she added like a child who’d just discovered a brand new toy.

Derek looked at her like she’d lost her mind. The woman wasn’t impressed with the ten million dollar mansion itself but was giddy when she discovered little turning shelves. He just couldn’t understand her. He walked out the door, as she continued to explore all the crevices of the kitchen. He was actually warmed by her love of the smaller things and was trying to fight the tugging on his heart.

He’d fallen so hard for her when he was a teenager, because even though she was the wealthiest kid in town, she’d never lorded it over anyone, unlike her father. She’d always preferred a pair of worn in jeans and a t-shirt over the latest styles. She’d seemed far more like him than the other snobby kids.

It seemed not much had changed, if he looked at her home, vehicle and possessions. She owned nice things but nothing screamed extravagance. As a matter of fact, her son had far more items in his small space than she did. It was very obvious she loved and spoiled Jacob. He knew how much salary she made as well and it was ridiculously low for what she did. Her own father hadn’t given her a raise the entire time she’d been there. He’d assumed that was all just on the books and her dad was supplementing her on the side but from the way she lived, he no longer believed that.

Maybe she wasn’t the cold person he’d thought her to be when she sent her dad to say her goodbyes. Maybe there was another reason the whole thing had happened. He was determined to find out what those reasons were, even if it broke the semi-truce they’d started to share together.

He reached the school and Jacob was out on the curb and jumped into the vehicle, barely before he had it stopped. He was talking a million miles a minute and couldn’t contain his excitement to go to the new house.

He was asking if all his things had arrived yet and if the pool was ready to swim in. He wanted to know if Derek had gotten him a basketball and if they could buy a new puppy. Derek answered every question he could but he didn’t know if Jacob even heard him, because he’d fire another one off before he’d even finished speaking.

He found himself grinning widely as he enjoyed the enthusiasm pouring out of his son. At least he had made one of the pair happy with his purchase. He had a feeling Jasmine was going to become just as attached to the home though, if her excitement over the kitchen was any indication.

He barely got parked in the garage, before Jacob jumped from the vehicle and ran through the door. He heard him yelling a greeting to his mother, before he heard his footsteps fading away as he ran up the stairs. It was amazing the kid remembered how to get around.

“I hope he doesn’t get lost,” Jasmine said with some concern, as she stared at the tornado of energy her son had just left behind.

“Well then we could play Marco polo,” Derek answered with a laugh. She looked at him for a moment and then caved in and let the amusement take over as she laughed with him. “I will make sure he found his room and then see what I can do to get the place straightened up,” he said as he disappeared. Jasmine didn’t see either of the boys for a couple hours, as they all got lost in their different projects.

Chapter Eleven

“Well look who’s coming up in the world,” Drew said into the speaker, as he waited for the gate to be opened.

“How did you find me, I thought I was hiding,” Derek replied. He’d been wondering who was buzzing him.

“Oh, it’s always easy to find my prey,” Drew replied.

“Hey open up this gate before I climb over it and kick your sorry butt,” Ryan’s voice spoke into the microphone.

“What the heck did you bring him for?” Derek said, as he pushed in the combo for the gate to open. He walked out the front door and waited for his cousins to exit the truck.

“Nice place, got an extra room?” Ryan said, as he came up the stairs and slapped Derek on the back.

“Sure, I do need to hire a gardener,” Derek replied, which earned him another punch.

“Heck someone is growing up to be a real boy, you got the house, the kid and soon a wife, whatever happened to our vows of being bachelor’s forever,” Drew said as he made himself comfortable and walked through the doors.

“Damn, I don’t think you have enough room,” Ryan called out, with a low whistle, as he took the place in.

“Whatever Ryan, your net worth is equal, if not more than mine,” Derek replied with a roll of his eyes.

“Well yeah it’s more than yours, because I haven’t spent it all for one house,” the man replied with an evil grin. He knew the money hadn’t even dipped into what Derek had.

They made their way out towards the back and the sound of Jacob splashing in the water. He spotted the two men and his eyes filled with curiosity. Derek considered them both more like his brothers and introduced them to Jacob as his uncles. Jacob was ecstatic to find he had uncles, since his mom was an only child and he had little family.

“I hope you have extra trunks, because I’m getting in that water one way or the other and I don’t want to make you look bad in front of your fiancé by showing her how lacking you are,” Drew said with a waggle of his eyebrows.

This time Derek punched him in the arm and then directed him to the changing area next to the pool, that was already stacked with extra suits. His two cousins changed quickly and soon the four boys were having a splashing war that had Jacob giggling uncontrollably.

“So where is Jasmine, I haven’t seen her in forever?” Ryan asked.

“She had to go pick up some groceries so we could eat. Jacob, here, is a bottomless pit. Apparently he doesn’t like grocery shopping though,” Derek said fondly. He hated to go food shopping himself. He couldn’t wait to get a staff hired to take care of it all.

They played in the pool a while longer and then finally dragged themselves out, with reluctance. They got changed and then helped Derek get things unpacked. There was a floor to ceiling library Jasmine had about cried over. He wanted to surprise her, by getting all her books loaded up onto it. The room was pretty great, with a wood fireplace and a huge window with a seat in it. They were going to spend the week shopping for furniture to fill this room, along with many others.

With his cousins there helping him, they had the library and living room unpacked in no time. They even managed to get most of the artwork hung on the walls. He looked around, feeling pretty good about their progress.

They’d just sat down, when he heard the garage door open. He stood up to help Jasmine carry in the groceries and Drew and Ryan followed him.

When they stepped out into the garage Jasmine saw them and her entire face lit up. “Drew, Ryan it’s so good to see you,” she said, as she ran towards them and threw her arms around one and then the other.

“Jasmine you’re looking more gorgeous than possible. Are you sure you want to stay with this bum, I think I can convince him the kid’s mine and we can run away together,” Drew offered her with an evil grin towards his cousin.

“Drew I have so missed your sense of humor. You have to tell me everything you’ve been up to for the last ten years. I’m sure there’s a trail of heartbroken women in your wake,” she said with a genuine smile.

“Yeah Drew is just a barrel of laughs,” Derek said, not loving that Jasmine was so open and easy with Drew and so withdrawn from him.

The guys grabbed groceries and set them on the counter so she could get it put away. They sat on the counters so they could continue talking to her while she put items where they belonged and then begin making dinner.

Soon spectacular smells were surrounding all the men and she had to push them out of the kitchen, because they wouldn’t quit picking at things. “You guys go play for a while and I will let you know when everything is ready,” she told them.

“We may wither away and it will all be your fault,” Ryan said before jumping down and exiting the kitchen. She finished her salad and had the casserole in the oven, so she decided to go work on the library. She was really anxious to get it all put together. She couldn’t wait until the day the shelves were filled from top to bottom. It would take many years but part of the fun was adding new additions to it each week.