Chapter 251 Chapter 251
Jesse glanced in the mirror to see Thera still giving him that look. She had not been fond of the boat ride at all. Kolten had been a little more than nervous with her behavior the whole trip. Evanna on the other hand was almost hanging out of the boat and asked so many questions that some of them even made him pause to think of the answer.
He glanced over at her, the trip had been more motion than she was used to, so she was sleeping now. Which wasn’t surprising, she’d gotten so excited with the gift his mom had left for her. Leave it up to his mother to think of something like a warm jacket. He was so used to the cooler temperatures at home, he hadn’t thought of it. The fact that she’d gotten Evanna a black jacket and Leah a white one told him that his mother understood their needs more than he did.
Thera moved forward and bumped his shoulder.
“Ten minutes, girl, and then I promise I won’t stick you in a boat or car for a few days.” She huffed out a breath against his neck, telling him she still wasn’t impressed with this trip. “You’ll like the land,” he said quietly, “hills, lots of trees, and more rabbits than I can figure out what to do with.” He grinned, knowing Thera would have a purpose for them.
“Are we there?”
He glanced over to see Evanna was wide awake again. “Soon.”
“This jacket is so warm I think it made me pass out.”
Jesse grinned, “you didn’t have to zip it up to your neck.”
“I have never seen a coat like this before, it’s so puffy, but not heavy. I might never take it off.”
“It’s getting colder up here; we may even see some snow while we’re here.” That made him think of boots. “We’ll have to get some winter boots for you too.”
“I like these boots.” She tapped her feet on the floor mat.
“They won’t be very warm in the winter.”
Evanna laughed quietly, “I had the same pair for five years, anything is warmer than that. Leah was going to figure out how to line them with fur this year.”
He couldn’t argue with that. “Now you have access to stores and won’t have to make anything with furs if you don’t want to.”
“I guess we do. I still want to see inside a grocery store,” she looked over at him and grinned, “Kobie told me about them.”
Jesse laughed, “I don’t know if taking you into one is a good idea. So far, you’ve liked everything you’ve eaten—we may end up with more than we have room for.”
Her expression sobered, “then we give it to others that need it.”
He didn’t know what to say to that. It shouldn’t surprise him that she’d think of others, it was part of who she was. He could only nod. Looking out the window, he pointed to the left, “my property starts here. “
“Where that fence is?”
“Uh, yeah.” It shocked him to see a fence was already up along the border of his land. His father had worked some kind of magic making it happen so fast. It wasn’t along the roadside yet, but still, he had no idea they’d started it. “It’s not fenced in completely yet, so we’ll have to keep an eye on Thera for now.” On cue, she shoved between him and the door. “Hold on.” He grinned and put the window down a few inches so she could scent the area.
Evanna put the window down on her side too and inhaled slowly. “It’s so clean here.” She sounded happy with that.
“I chose this location because it’s not near any big towns, no manufacturing or anything to pollute the air.”
After the coats and fence, he didn’t know what to expect when they reached the trailer. He pointed, “there’s a river just over that hill, it’s not too deep for most of the property, but it’s great for a swim in the summer.”
“Are there fish? I love fish.”
“Yeah, there’s some when it’s not running fast.”
She nodded her head but didn’t look away from the scenery.
“I had my dad get a crew here to work on fencing, but I can’t decide if we need a gate at the entrance or leave it open and put one closer to the house.” He smirked when there is a house.
“Papa Low said seeing the gate from the house was best.” She still didn’t look at him as he turned and went up the lane.
“The house is framed in, foundation poured, but there are no interior walls yet.”
Now she turned and looked at him, “I can help, Papa Virgil taught me how to build, we fixed up all the houses, even the roofing.”
“Another pair of hands would be great.” He’d had Calum and Foster help him out with the framework and trusses, but their lives didn’t allow for a lot of free time at the same time to finish it. “I might hire someone to get the rest of the outer walls up, to seal it up for the winter.”
Her seatbelt was off now, so she could lean forward and look around. “Do you get a lot of time here?”
“Not lately. There’s too many out there that we need to find.”
She nodded, a somber expression on her face. “I’m good with traveling,” she glanced at Thera, “I don’t know about Thera and Leah though.”
“How is Leah after the trip?”
She paused for a moment, staring upward, “she’s quiet, in no hurry to come out.” She blinked, “new things scare her a lot.”
“I hope she’ll be comfortable here. There’s no one around for miles and with the placement of the house, or trailer, for now, you can scent anyone coming from any direction.”
“That’s good. You’re a smart man, Jesse.” She looked back out the window.
He didn’t say anything as they crested the hill, and the skeleton of the house became visible. Every time he saw it, he pictured what it was going to look like when it was finished, now though he was glad it wasn’t finished because he’d like Evanna and Leah to have some input on how the inside was done.
“It’s going to be big.” She said quietly.
“The interior design is just roughly figured out right now, I haven’t decided if I want more rooms or more of an open concept.”
“Can I see the plans?”
He nodded, “yeah if you ignore the bad drawings, I have all over them.”
She chuckled, “I can’t draw at all, so I won’t judge.”
He pulled the jeep up to the side of the house and motioned to the trailer. “It’s not fancy, but it’s a bit bigger than the one at Blair’s.”
“It’s warm and dry, that’s all that matters.” She was out the door before he could put it in park. Thera was right behind her.