“About eighty acres, something like that,” he answered. “Not the house, obviously, that’s only twenty thousand square feet, but the property includes all of this hill, a fair bit of forest, a stream, walking paths, cultivated gardens in the back, and an old coach house from the late eighteen hundreds that we converted into a garage.”
Jennifer leaned farther out the window. The wind hit her face, wildly blowing locks of her hair that had come loose from the twist tie. Rory was more interested in watching her than the road. He pretended to drive while his magick guided the car up the curving driveway toward the mansion.
“Lydia owns the only other house on the hill,” he said. “That’s where she and Erik stay. She runs the business Love Potions out of it. Have ya heard of it?”
Jennifer shook her head in denial.
“All the women in the family seem to love it. They make homemade lotions, candles, teas, bath soaps, girly stuff. I’ll take ya by there sometime if ya like.”
“Yeah, maybe,” she said, appearing as if she were trying to get a better look at the house as they drove closer.
Headlights shone in his rearview. Jennifer turned her head away from the side view mirror and sheltered her eyes. Euann came speeding past to beat them up the hill. Usually, Rory would race, but he let his cousin win this one. He knew once he’d reached the end of this drive, things would change drastically for Jennifer. He still hadn’t figured out how to tell her magick was real. It’s not a conversation they liked to have with mortals.
“We’ve been discussing putting in a golf course, but it would be a shame to cut down so many trees to make it happen.”
There. Golf. Normal.
“Trees are better than golf,” Jennifer said. “I can’t stand it. Watching golf is like receiving a lobotomy in slow motion.”
“Och, no lassie, don’t let my family hear ya say that.” Rory placed a hand over his heart. “Perhaps ya didn’t have the right teacher.”
“If that’s an invitation, thank you, but I’ll pass,” she said. “So they say you all moved here recently.”
“They?”
“They, people, townsfolk,” she answered with a smile. That one expression lit up his whole body with pleasure.
“Aye, we did.”
She sat back in her seat. Her hair still whipped a little from the wind but not as much as before. “Where did you move from? Scotland?”
“The family hasn’t lived in Scotland for many, many years. We discuss going back at various times, but honestly, we’ve been here so long, America has become home.”
“Where did you live before here?”
“New York, most recently. Before that in Philadelphia, and before that a Southern plantation, basically anywhere we can find big enough to fit us all. I think this area might be one of my favorites.”
“Really? You have lived all over the world, and Wisconsin is your favorite?” She seemed skeptical. “From the pictures I’ve seen, Scotland would be amazing. I don’t know how you left.”
“We left when it was time to do so.” Rory still didn’t push a more serious conversation. “Finding a home that can fit us all with so much untouched beauty is rare. I have a feeling we’ll be calling Green Vallis home for a long time.”
He pulled up in front of the Georgian-style mansion, parking the car so that her door faced the house's front. Spotlights were aimed at the stark white siding, causing the home to practically glow against the dark sky.
“Holy crap, you are rich,” Jennifer whispered.
“It’s family money.”
“Still…” She opened the door and slowly stepped out of his car. “I don’t think I’ve ever met someone who could afford to live in a palace.”
“It’s hardly a palace.”
“Um, I live in a seven-hundred-square-foot trailer.” She tilted her head back to look toward the roof. “This is a twenty-thousand-square-foot house. A hundred of my homes could fit in here.”
“Not quite that many,” he denied. Rory started walking toward the house, expecting her to follow.
“Regardless, compared to where I live, this is a freaking palace.” She took a deep breath and didn’t look like she was going to go inside.
“What is it?” Rory walked back toward his car.
In the valley at the bottom of the hill, lights created a beautiful pattern. It was far enough to look like stars covering the earth but close enough that he could still make out which line of light was Main Street.
“Are ya embarrassed because ya live in a trailer? I guarantee that no one here will care,” he said, trying to put her at ease.
“Why would I be embarrassed about that?” She frowned. “There’s no shame in living in a trailer. Or being poor. I don’t regret any of the decisions that have led me to where I am. Sure, if I would have gone to college, I might be making more money right now, but then I wouldn’t have been there to take care of my dad for the last years of his life. I don’t regret a second I got to spend with him. People win over material things any day of the week.”
“I fully agree.” Rory nodded. “But then, can I ask why ya look nervous?”
“I think there was someone in my home earlier,” she said. “That’s why I agreed to come here. I was too scared to go home, but I’m not sure…”
“Ya are most welcome to stay as long as ya need,” he said. “My family can be a handful, as ya well saw, but they mean well.”
“I’m not trying to move in,” Jennifer assured him. She frowned and looked around the lawn. “Do you hear that?”
“What?” He didn’t hear anything.
“You don’t hear someone speaking?” She turned to a line of trees and inched toward them, craning her neck as if that might help her see past them.
“Only ya,” he said. “Lydia’s house is that way. Maybe she
