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“Nice to meet you, Butters.” I dabbed at his floppy head in an attempt to show him I wasn’t food.
“I’ll give you a tour, Ivy, but we should get your stuff inside first. The weather can change in a matter of moments here.” Reid grabbed my bag while I rolled my suitcase behind me, breathing in the fresh evening air. As we walked toward the house, I couldn’t help but notice how grand everything looked. The door flew open, and a woman walked toward us. She was a positively stunning sight in a fabulous knee-length designer wrap dress. She smiled warmly at me.
“You must be Dr. Knight. Welcome to Shadows. I’m Savannah.”
“Nice to meet you, Savannah. Please call me Ivy.”
“Only if you call me Savi.”
“Deal.” We both smiled happily at one another as she reached for my suitcase. She chatted away to the big dog as we followed her inside. Reid gave me a knowing grin. Okay, fine, he won a few points with Savi. I really liked her already.
I was handed a glass of cabernet sauvignon once I told her I liked red, and as the others whisked my belongings away, Savi took me on a tour.
“This will be a lot, but everyone here is super friendly and will stop whatever they’re doing to help you out.” She beamed as she sipped her wine and moved on. “You’ll get the lay of the land in no time.”
“Okay.” I took a sip of what proved to be a really tasty wine and followed her.
“Now, this is the living room, and it’s where we often come together before and after dinner.” I gasped at the spectacular view of the mountains. They were all you could see through the massive floor-to-ceiling windows. A huge stone fireplace stood in the center of the room, and exposed dark wood beams crossed above me and made the place feel even larger than it already was. Red couches had black blankets draped over the backs of them. When I looked over at Savi, she was admiring it with me. “Sometimes I like to just stop and look at where I live now. I try not to take any of it for granted.”
“For the record,” I felt I should say it, “Doc Roberts hasn’t told me anything about this place or any of you.”
“That’s what makes him such a great doctor.” She smiled at me. “Over time, we’ll catch you up, and I’m sure you’ll learn a lot from Blackstone.”
“I’d rather learn about them from a friend’s standpoint.”
“That was a really good answer.” Savi gave me an interesting look as she motioned with her head for me to follow. “Here’s the dining room. As you can see, it seats a lot of people. There are always guests over, other teams, children, you name it and we feed them.”
I loved the sound of that. I always enjoyed it when all my friends would get together, and we’d host dinner parties.
“And here’s the kitchen.” She laughed at something. “This was the first room I was shown on my tour when I arrived, and I remember this right here was pretty amazing.” She opened a door and let me peek in at the wine cellar.
“If heaven had a door.” I grinned and folded my hands against my cheeks, as she laughed harder.
“Come on.” She showed me where her husband’s office was by the stairs which led up to where the bedrooms were and then showed me where my office was. It was right next to my uncle’s, which was nice. Downstairs had a huge entertainment room, games room, other bedrooms, another kitchen, and conference rooms. Savi said over the years as more people joined the family and they had to increase some staff members, they had to build on to the property to accommodate everyone. I lost count and knew I’d be asking for help at some point. Outside was impressive too, but as Savi said, we were getting close to her kids’ bedtime, so she’d show me the rest the next day.
She ended the tour at my room. I had to count how many doors down it was from the stairs. She pulled a yellow band from her pocket and wrapped it around the handle.
“This is a little trick I taught my daughter, so she’d remember which room was whose.” I loved how warm and understanding she was about my being there. I had felt like an outsider being imposed on them, but I already felt welcome. “So, this is your room.” She opened the door, and my mouth opened at how stunning it was. A sleigh bed was against the left wall near a big window. There was a huge fireplace of my very own with a leather chair and couch placed close enough you could enjoy its warmth. A big table sat in front of the couch, a walk-in closet was straight ahead next to the bathroom, and a TV was mounted on the wall so you could watch it from the bed. Nothing had been left out, it was wonderful.
“Don’t worry, you’re not kicking anyone out of this room, and each room is basically the same. Once the guys on Team Blackstone began to marry, we built them their own homes right here on the property, so the house is fairly empty up here now. The staff quarters are just past our place.” My eyes grew wide. “Yeah,” she laughed, “we have lots of NDAs in place now.”
“That’s good to know.” I felt tiny in such a huge room, let alone in the house. “May I ask who is up here on this floor besides me?”
“Of course. Well, there’s a new soldier arriving tomorrow, I believe. He’ll be the new team’s leader. Doc Roberts will be working with them. I’m sure you know that.” She smiled as I nodded. “More men will arrive as he builds his team. They’ll take over the rest of the rooms up here.”
“I see.” I couldn’t help but feel nervous about that.
“Frank handpicked the new guy who’s arriving tomorrow. He’s a pretty big deal. I know if Frank likes him, he must be a stand-up guy. I actually had a chance to look at his file, and I’m confident he’ll fit in here or he wouldn’t have invited him.” She must have read my nerves.
“Frank is picky, so that’s good to know,” I agreed.
“I’m really glad you’re here, Ivy.” She seemed to hesitate. “There’s been a little shakeup here at the house in the last while. I think you might just be a positive distraction we all need.” She drew me in for a hug, and I noticed we were the same height and build. She was warm like a sister, and she eased my nerves immediately. “I’ll let you get some sleep and see you in the morning. We’ll have lots of time to finish your tour and meet everyone.”
“Thanks, Savi. I really appreciate you being so welcoming.”
“Oh, Ivy?” She turned when she got to the door. “For the record, we know very little about you either. Well, Cole and Daniel do, but we don’t. The other wives and I all have our stories, some worse than others, but nonetheless, all of us—the spouses of the team members, I mean—we’re all seeking the same thing here. To be happy.”
Ivy
