Page 8 of Barron

“I don’t know anything about it. So I’m asking if I should bring one, not how much I know.” He told her that she might well have one there in the event she had a few legal questions, but other than that, he could help with some answers. “I’m selling. How hard can that be? All right. I’m going to depend on you so that I don’t get fucked over. I’ll be leaving the office now.”

Before leaving, however, she called the realtor about her home. The staff was going to show her around since she had already made arrangements that she could do it all today and then called her butler, whatever his name was, to tell him that she was selling the house as well. All he said to her was very good, ma’am, and then he asked if there was anything else. She wanted him to ask if they were going to be out of a job, but he didn’t. So she didn’t say anything. Maybe this guy, this Gibb person, needed a home too. She was going to mention that as well. The realtor was going to call her as soon as she had a price worked out, and Cailynn was thrilled more than she had been when she realized that Barron had a great deal of money. While she wasn’t going to live in that godforsaken mountain range, they should be looking for a home together. Something that she picked out. He had the taste of a barbarian because of where he lived now, and he wasn’t even going to be able to pick out the lamps in their own home. There is no telling what he’d want. Antler lamps or something. Not that some people liked them, she supposed. But she didn’t want so much as a bug in their home, stuffed or not.

She arrived at the bank a few minutes later than she had planned on. The woman who was going to sell her home said that she’d be out there today to have a look around and had about a million questions about the furniture and curtains and if they were a part of the house.

“Yes, of course. Everything goes but the desk in my dad’s office. That will come with me.” She knew that it had treasures inside of it but hadn’t figured out how to get it open yet, so she thought that she could at least look to see what sort of shit he’d left in it. It wasn’t a deal breaker, so she asked for a price with and without the oversized desk. Then she hung up on her, telling her that she was headed to a meeting.

The banker had led her to a large conference room. Mr. Gibb, David he asked her to call him. He had his attorney with him, and she wished as soon as she saw him that she’d had one, too. The table was lopsided looking, with just her on one side and the two men on the other. She kept staring at the attorney like she thought that she had used him before.

“Do I know you? I mean, have we done business together?” The attorney said that he didn’t know her at all, and no, they’d not done any sort of business together. “You look like someone that I should know. Whatever. Oh, I just put my house on the market, too, if you’re interested. I want myself and my fiancé to start fresh and I think that living in the house that I own now will put a damper on things. So, if you’re in the market for a five-bedroom home, my realtor is there now, figuring out how much it’s worth. I can’t imagine that it will be too much. It’s as old as the hills my boyfriend used to live on.”

“Your fiancé used to live on the mountains, you say? That’s so odd because that’s where I live, too.” She said that they had to stay there in order to keep the park from taking the land back. “I remember that rule. Don’t you, Roger? It’s called the grandfather law from some years—”

“I don’t want to be rude or anything, but I’m here to talk business. You said that you were willing to pay what I’m asking for the building with a few stipulations. I’m fine with whatever you wish. I just want to get out from under it and be a wife of leisure. He’s very wealthy.” Roger, the attorney, handed her a sheath of papers. After looking it over quickly, she was satisfied, too, that it had a check pinned to the front of it for the entire asking price. She looked at her banker. “Did you read this over?”

She had to ask him twice so that he’d answer her. Finally, when he did, he actually laughed, telling her that there were few attorneys that he would trust as much as this man. Caitlynn didn’t know what the hell he was talking about but was so happy that the check was right there. All those zeroes made her kind of giddy.

Signing where the little pink and blue tabs were, she waved the banker off when he started to explain to her what she was signing. The check, she knew, was causing her to be hasty, but that was all right, too. She was going to put this money away, and in the event that Barron left her for some reason, she could have some fallback money of her own.

Just as they were finishing up with the signatures that were needed, the realtor called. Nearly not answering it, just to bask in the check for a bit longer, she did. No one moved when she told them who it was, and she stepped into the hall to listen to what she had to say.

“It needs a great deal of work. Were you aware of that?” She told her that was the very reason she was selling it. “I thought as much. If you wait and have the kitchen redone, as well as a roof replacement, you could get a considerable amount of money for the house and contents. The leaving of the desk doesn’t add or take away much in the value of the home. In fact, since it’s going to be difficult to move whoever takes it, I’m sure that you’ll have to lessen your price by several thousand dollars so someone can have it removed. It must weigh about several thousand pounds, being as it is in four pieces that would have to be taken apart to get out—”

“How much is it worth? I might just be able to sell it right now, too.” She told her. It was much more than she thought that she’d get for the old place, but she was happy that it wasn’t less. “All right. Good then. Are you going to be in your office for a bit more? I don’t want to have to wait until tomorrow to get a fat paycheck and maybe him changing his mind. All right?”

“Yes, of course. I’ll be here until I hear from you. It’s only one now, so I can start on the paperwork while I’m waiting.” She told her that was an excellent idea. “All right. I’ll call you soon.”

Taking a deep breath, she walked into the office. The men were talking, probably about their latest woman escapades, and she ignored it for having a seat. After telling the Gibb person how much the price was, he sat there for several seconds to what she thought was in thought. Christ, this was so easy. She might well go to Barron her luck was so good right now. He might be missing her about now.

“I’ll take the house, but I’m not willing to pay that much. From what I’ve heard, the place needs not just a new roof, but the kitchen dates back to the fifties. It will be difficult to have anyone fix a meal for myself if they had to use it. There are carpets throughout the house that are nearly as old as it is. The walls will need to be stripped down and redone. That’s going to cost a fortune to have fixed up even before I move into it.” She asked him what he was willing to pay. Caitlynn nearly fell off her chair when he said that exact amount that she’d been wanting to get, knowing that it was a fixer-upper. “If you’re in agreement with that, I’ll sign the paperwork now to get you paid.”

“Deal.” She couldn’t control her laughter. The man was a fool if he thought that he’d gotten a good deal on the house. It was a great deal less than the realtor had mentioned. She’d wanted to sell it for four hundred thousand. The price that she wanted was fifty-five grand. Since that was what she wanted, Caitlynn decided that she’d just cut her losses and sell it. She’d made a killing off the business, too.

After a certified check was given to her. She looked at the amount of money that she had in her possession and laughed. Mr. Gibb, or whatever his name was, asked if he could take possession now as she was leaving the furniture behind. As she didn’t want anything from the house, including her clothing, she told him it was his as of the moment that he’d handed over the check. She did have to sign another sheath of papers saying he was buying it as is, but she didn’t care for the loss of a few things when she knew that with all her money, she could buy whatever she wanted from now on.

After the attorney for Gibb left, the banker, she figured that she should learn his name. Mr. David Rugby helped her get her paperwork in order so that she’d have the lesser amount in the bank now. He told her that he wasn’t the normal banker of this place but was helping out a friend when this came about.

Like she cared. She asked him if the money was good, and not only did he say it was, but he also told her that she’d have to let the bank know thirty days in advance if she was going to put the larger check in her account. Their insurance only covered two hundred-fifty thousand in any single person’s account.

“Yeah, whatever. I’m going to have me a nice dinner, then go and talk to Barron. He’ll be so happy that I’m doing this for us. I doubt very much he’ll care where we live so long as we’re together.” He told her that he’d read in the paper about Barron Cross lately, but he couldn’t remember what it was about. “It’s more than likely the engagement announcement that I wrote up. He and I are going to be so happy together.”

Caitlynn was so excited she nearly forgot that she’d come to the bank in a limo. There were going to be more rides like this one, she told herself. She was never going to have to drive anywhere again. Just as she was getting into the limo, she realized that it didn’t belong to her anymore and asked the driver to take her home. Surely Gibb wouldn’t begrudge her getting some clothing until she got her some new things.

~*~

Willow laughed every time she thought of the stupid woman. The man Gibb was at the bank representing the banker would have been running windows for the time being while he paid bills and cashed checks. The president and vice president had been the buyers for them. She and Barron and the attorney for them just for fun. She had to laugh every time she thought of Caitlynn asking the president of the free world if she knew him. What a dumb crack.

Just as they had thought Caitlynn would do, she didn’t read any of the paperwork but signed at the tabs where told. Then when she decided to sell the house and contents without reading that contract, Mark made a few calls on their behalf to have the locks changed on the house and the windows reinforced so she couldn’t break them. Amelia had, with her magic, made it so that instead of breaking, it would call the police to let them know that the house was trying to be broken into. She’d be arrested on the spot if she did that.

Being at the homestead was like being with the tribe. The house, of course, was different and not a lean-to. She and the chief had a nice teepee that they shared, large enough for the two of them to have as much room as they needed. Since it had been snowing a little today, she knew that Father would be keeping the leather walls so warm that snow wouldn’t dare drop on it for knowing that it wasn’t long for the world. It made her smile every time she thought about her father when she’d told him that she was mated to one of the Cross bears.

He had arrived just after she and Barron had to Mark’s home. If he was surprised to see the eight great ponies that Father had brought along with several blankets and foodstuffs, Barron nor anyone in his family said a word. Mark, like the rest of his brothers, was born to the mountains and would know, even if it was just a little bit of the ways of the tribes. The bears, the Cross bears, had been here longer than most. The tribes, this one, her tribe, in particular, had been here a great deal longer than they had. Even longer than their grandparents.

They were laughing at the stupidity of the woman named Cait Lynn—how her father pronounced it. After getting things settled about the house and business, the two of them, her and Barron, decided it might be a good thing if they were to go to the offices of the businesses they’d purchased in the morning. It was then that her father stood.

“I will honor you much as I would have if Willow were a child of my body. You are aware that she is not of my blood but closer to me than even my sons before they were killed.” Everyone told him that they were sorry. Willow introduced her father to the men and women in the room. When she came to Mark, she told him that he was the king of all bears and that his brothers were just as honorable as he was. “I have found that out myself. These are good men, the six of them. And when your grandparents passed, it was as if a great wall had come tumbling down on my heart and soul. I was so aggrieved by their passing. The forest itself had mourned that day and daily since their loss was so great, too.”

“Thank you, sir. You’ve no idea how good that makes me feel. The bears had come to us that night. All of them, shifter and bear alike, came to pay homage too. That meant a great deal to all of us, but this, you honoring me with your presence and telling me that you hurt when they passed, means a great deal to me and my family as well.” Mark was asked to get down on his knees with the rest of his brothers and their wives, with the exception of her and Barron. “You’ve no need to give us anything, sir. We’re—”

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