Darkmoon(56)

Too late now.

Lucas’ eyes widened. “You’re having twins?”

Connor smiled and sort of ducked his head, as if not sure exactly how to handle this. Then his shoulders lifted slightly, and he said, “Yeah, that’s what the doctor told us. It’s too early to know much more than that.”

“Well — congratulations, you two!” Lucas’ expression of surprise might have been comical under other circumstances, but I knew now that part of it was him trying to figure out how twins fit in with the whole Wilcox heir conundrum. There can be only one, and all that.

“Thanks,” Connor and I said, nearly in unison. We both laughed a little, more to break the tension than anything else.

Then I said, “So…what now?”

“Now I call Dave and tell him the good news, and we’ll set up an appointment with the realtor. This will happen pretty quickly, since you won’t have to deal with getting a loan approval or anything, but I’d still recommend a house inspection, and then there’s a title search, deed transfer — ” He broke off and peered over at me. I must have been looking a little green, because he went on, “Yeah, I know, it sounds like a lot. But buying a house is a big deal. Even with all that, we might have everything ready to go in as little as a week. I’ll see what I can do to help…move things along.”

And I had no doubt that he would. After all, Connor had told me that Lucas’ particular gift was luck. All we needed was him to assist in overseeing the transaction, and I had no doubt everything would go as smooth as silk.

“Sounds perfect,” I told him.

“It sure does,” Connor chimed in. “And it means we’ll have a lot to do.”

“Not that much,” I pointed out. “I mean, the house is already furnished. And most of the clothes I can fit into are at your place anyway, since I just bought them here in town.”

“Okay, so it won’t exactly be a typical move. But….” He seemed to stop himself, and gave a quick glance at Lucas before returning his attention to me. “I guess we can figure out the logistics later.”

“That’s for sure,” Lucas said. “Let me get this call in to Dave so he can be in touch with his realtor, and then I’m taking you two out to lunch to celebrate.”

His tone was so firm that I knew I couldn’t really protest. I smiled, then went over to Connor and held hands with him as Lucas called his friend to let him know we wanted to buy the house. After that we had lunch at the country club nearby, and I was glad I’d put on a new pair of dark jeans and a pretty peasant top so I didn’t look too out of place. As it was, I couldn’t help shooting surreptitious glances at the other people dining in the restaurant during lunch. After all, these people would be our new neighbors. Compared to Jerome, they looked pretty buttoned up, and I couldn’t help wondering what they’d think if they ever discovered that the young couple who’d just bought the house on Bear Allen Way were a couple of witches.

“Did you like it?” Lucas asked as we headed out to the parking lot afterward.

“Lunch was great.”

“Good. I’m glad you enjoyed the food — once you’ve purchased the house, you’ll be members here, so you can come any time you want.”

Seriously? I looked over at Connor, whose mouth was twitching a bit. Probably trying to keep from bursting out laughing at the idea of Angela McAllister, prima of those bohemians from Jerome, being a member of a country club.

“Oh,” I said faintly. A thought struck me. “So how are you a member here? Your house isn’t in this neighborhood.”

A devilish grin, one almost worthy of Damon Wilcox — except that I knew there was nothing more sinister than amusement behind Lucas’ current expression. “I might have called in a few favors.” His phone rang, and he pulled it out of his pocket, glanced at the display, and said, “Hey, Dave. Hmm…two o’clock at the realtor’s?” He paused, raising his eyebrows at us as if for confirmation that this would be okay. We both nodded, and he continued, “Sounds perfect. Down on Riordan Road? We’ll be there.” After ending the call and slipping his phone back into his pocket, he asked, “Are you ready to do this?”

As one, Connor and I nodded. It was crazy, and it was scary, but it also felt right. If the worst happened, I wanted to make sure my children would be someplace safe with their father. Yes, I was a McAllister, too, and they’d need to know that side of the family, but they needed to be with Connor more.

So we drove to the realtor’s office, and met the mythical Dave, who seemed to be a few years older than Lucas and far more high-strung — which, if he was going through a nasty divorce, made some sense. He did seem to relax visibly after Connor and I signed the offer paperwork, and even more so after Lydia, the realtor, said she was fast-tracking the whole process and could have a house inspector out to look at the property the next day, and the title search wrapped up by the end of the following week.