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Jo looked around wildly for King. There was no sign of him or Paul anywhere. She tried to get closer to the hole to look, but it was still collapsing in on itself as the quarry below claimed the entirety of her house and the father of her child. Tears began streaming down her face until she heard a familiar voice.
“A little help here,” King panted, launching himself over the edge of the hole and falling onto the ground naked before pulling himself across the lawn toward her.
“My God,” she said. “Paul?”
King shook his head and stood up, walking toward his motorcycle and retrieving his spare clothes to slip into. He was barely dressed when Sarah came wandering out of her house to see the hole that was now formed only meters from her house. She looked at King and then at Jo.
“You know any good realtors? I think I might want to sell my house,” she said without a hint of a smile.
King and Jo laughed and sat on the edge of the lawn, marveling at what had just happened. The house was completely gone. Claimed by the earth, along with Paul.
“Do you think he caused this?” Jo asked.
“No. I think it was just a matter of time. That’s why all of these houses are empty. People know that they can fill the quarries and still may find themselves experiencing slag or cave-ins.”
“Or sink holes,” she responded.
“Well, look at it this way. You don’t have to worry about selling the house anymore,” he laughed. “Were you insured against sinkholes?”
Jo’s eyes widened as she seriously considered this.
“I don’t know!” she replied finally.
They laughed again and waited for the police and city to arrive to secure the giant hole now opened up on the street. Everyone would have to be evacuated. With this one cave-in, there would be others. Some would be those that had never been subject to repair and allowed to just sit atop the quarry and others would be people like Sarah, who had filled in the section of the quarry beneath her house, but now found their patchwork destabilized. Only the city could determine how far reaching the problem was in regard to what would be condemned.
Jo and King spoke to the police once they arrive and then made their way home, far away from the craziness that seemed to be the cornerstone of owning the house from hell, a house that now seemed to have been returned there.CHAPTER TWENTY-SIXThree months later, King and Jo were married in a small, private ceremony held near the water behind Hank and Patty’s house. It was a simple wedding attended by just a few friends. It was not what you’d expect at all from a couple as wealthy as the two of them. Though Jo had taken a bad hit on her house, which turned out not to be insured at all-rather uninsurable as it turned out-she was the beneficiary of a large life insurance policy from the death of her husband, as well as his considerable assets.
At first, she had considered not accepting them, but King had convinced her that she deserved every penny after what he had done to her, both during and after their marriage. On top of that, King had paid her the remainder of her fee for posing as his wife.
“King, this is silly. I’m pretty sure that deal went haywire somewhere, and payment is no longer something expected.”
“I always honor my business dealings,” he joked, insisting that she accept the money. Between his payments and what Carter had left behind, she was independently wealthy in her own right.
“I’m the richest woman in this state and I don’t have a house,” she joked.
“You do have a house. The cabin belongs to both of us now,” he told her.
“Do you really think we can raise our child in a tiny cabin in the woods?”
“The pioneers did it,” he mused.
“The pioneers also died at like age forty or something. I’m sure it was from being closed into confined spaces with children all day.”
“Maybe. All right. What did you have in mind? Should we go down and see if we can pluck a magical house out of the quarry?” he asked.
“Don’t tease me,” she complained.
“Here’s an idea. How about we build our own house just the way we want it. You can have anything you want. Trey can put it together for you,” he told her.
“Now, that sounds like a brilliant idea,” she told him. “We’ll just need to find some land.”
“How about we look for that together?” he asked.
“Don’t trust me with that task?” she asked.
“Not in the least little bit,” he said with a smile.
“That hurts.”
“Really? Where? Show me and I’ll kiss it all better.”
Jo pulled her pants down a bit to expose her backside playfully and he planted a big kiss on it without hesitation as she giggled.
