Revenge of the Scorned Witch

With the wedding coming up in a few weeks, Bryan and I had to get everyone caught up over at the FBI. I had even come up with an idea of how to get one of the agents close to Ellis. I would introduce one of the older agents as my father and have him walk me down the aisle and all of the things the father of the bride would do. Mr. Johnson, along with Bryan, thought it was a good idea, so they went off to find me the perfect fake dad. They returned to the office with a man who looked like he was about fifty-eight.

"Come on, guys, he is too young to play my dad," I exclaim.

"My dear, that is a nice compliment, but I am almost seventy. I can pass as your father, trust me, I have done undercover for almost thirty years." Agent Randy Harrison assured me. "Trust me, Joy, he is the best at his job. I wouldn't put you in anyone else's hands except mine or Bryan's." Mr. Johnson advised. Bryan stood behind him, nodding his head in assurance.

"Ok, fine." I say, letting out a deep breath as I turn around with a smile, looking at my new father, "Hi, dad, it's been a long time. Wow, you look great." I laugh. Then the whole room is laughing. We knew this was going to work. We exchanged numbers so we could keep in touch with each other like a normal father and daughter would. Randy would be coming to stay with us in a couple of days, so Bryan was nice enough to give him his room and sleep in Laura's room while she wasn't there. I'm starting to wonder if I needed to buy myself a bigger house with more bedrooms and bathrooms. After a while of mulling it over, I decided it would be a good idea since I do have a very large family. I call Christine, the same real estate lady who helped me the first time, to find me a big beautiful house with some acreage so I could have horses. She told me she would get right to work on it. Later that night, I had told the girls about me looking for a bigger house so everyone could have their own bedroom, even when we had guests. They were so excited, hoping that the real estate lady could find one soon. Being the sweetheart she is, Laura let Bryan keep the room while she bunked with Kaylee, so she was even more excited, so much so that she got on her tablet and started looking for houses.

A couple of days later, I received a call from Christine saying that she had found me the perfect place. It was south of town, and if I was available, we could go look at it. We set a time to meet up at the house. Sure enough, I knew that I would love it when I saw how far off the road it was. I turned into the long driveway that had pine trees on either side of it. At the end was this older but beautiful two-story brown brick home with a wraparound porch. When I went to the side of the house, I saw it had a privacy fence that blocked off half an acre for the backyard, and in the backyard was an in-ground pool with a hot tub built beside it. When she showed me the inside of the house, I really fell in love with the five bedrooms with three bathrooms. It was perfect for what I needed, but what sold me instantly on the house was the large kitchen with the solid oak cabinets. I even had to ask if the oak kitchen table and chairs stayed with the house. Christine instantly called the owners to ask, and they agreed to let me have them if I bought the house that day. So, after lots of paperwork, I was the new owner of the house. I couldn't wait to show everyone and get moved in.

When I make it back home, Ellis and the girls are home too. Before I tell them anything, I load them up in my pickup on the pretense of me wanting to show them something. When I pull onto the long driveway with the pine trees, I hear Kaylee and Laura in the back seat oohing and awing as we pull up to the house. When we get out, the girls jump out so they can start looking around.

Ellis looks over at me and asks, "What are we doing here?"

I look straight into his eyes and reply, "I just bought us a bigger house so everyone can have their own room and not have to fight over one bathroom. Also, I wanted some land so I can have some horses."

He looks up at the house and mumbles, "It sure is big enough for everyone." Ellis looked like I pulled his heart out of his chest. "There is no way I could buy you this place, Joy," He says sadly.

"You don't have to. I've already paid for it." I advised him. "I have the deed and the keys right here. Just as I said that, the girls had come back around to the front of the house.

Kaylee obviously heard me say that I had bought the house because she exclaimed, "You mean this is our new home?" I looked at her with a smile on my face.

"Yes, my dear, it is our new home," I answered her. I unlocked the front door then said, "Why don't you girls go pick out your rooms."

It was such a rewarding sight watching them run up the stairs like little children to pick out which room would be theirs. Bryan and my new dad Randy showed up a few minutes later. "Wow, sis, nice house. I'm impressed!" He exclaims as he comes into the house.

"Nice place, babe, want to point your ole man to his room."

Ellis freaks out. "You're her dad?" He asks. "Joy, you didn't tell me he was coming?" I just look at him in disbelief.

"I gotta have some family at my wedding, and dad, you can have whichever room the girls and Bryan didn't take," I say after noticing Bryan's quick departure. He might be a forty-something-year-old man, but at times, he seems like a little kid. Well, I guess I could say he is a kid at heart.

I followed Randy up to check out the master bedroom, which I was hoping nobody decided they wanted. "Hopefully, nobody decided to take the big master bedroom, because it's my room as the owner of the house," I yell upstairs. "Don't worry, we didn't take your room," Laura yelled back. I made it to the master bedroom. It took my breath away: light blue walls with white trim. But the main thing was this room was twice the size of my manufactured home. It was huge. Also, it had a bathroom just as big as the room itself.

I had come back downstairs to see where Ellis had gone off to. After searching the whole house over, I found him in the basement, sitting in a chair that had been left there.

"Hey, there you are. I wondered where you went to." I say in a worried tone.

"Well, I figured I would find my room since everybody else was choosing theirs," Ellis replies sarcastically.

"Sure, you can have the basement. They have always creeped me out a little bit anyway." I say as I look around the huge space, "I think this space is as long as the house. Just remember, this isn't your bedroom, that's in the master bedroom with me." Ellis comes over to me and gives me a kiss.

"But I could make it into my man cave." He chuckles. I just laugh and head back upstairs so I could gather everyone together so we could move everything over to our new house.

We finally get everything moved over to our new home just after nightfall. Thankfully, the utilities are on, so we don't have to head back to town. Ellis still didn't seem too happy about me buying the new house without him, but I didn't care. It was my money to do with as I please. I didn't need his permission. Besides, we weren't married yet, so he still didn't have any say. I talk to Randy and Bryan to see if they could get through to him before I lost my self-control and blew this whole

case.

The next morning, Randy joins me on the front porch for a cup of coffee.

"Morning." He says as he sits down in one of the rocking chairs.

"Morning to you," I reply.

"How did the talk go last night?" I ask, being my nosy self.

"Just as you figured, he got his balls in a bunch about you buying the house, but not to worry, Bryan and I got them unbunched for him." He chuckled. I had to laugh with him at his use of metaphors. "Thank you so much for doing that for me." I laughed.

"So, Joy, what's on your to-do list for the day? Bryan was mentioning something about you wanting some horses."

"Yes, I do. That was my main goal for today, to find some decent but already broke horses."

"Mind if an old man tags along, I know a few things about those animals."

"I would be grateful for the use of your knowledge on picking out some with me."

"Well then, let me go make my daughter and her family some breakfast, and we will be off."

I smiled at him calling me his daughter. I really liked the sound of it since I hadn't really known my real father, who had passed away when I was eleven.

"Mind if your daughter helps with the cooking?"

"I would be honored." He offers his hand to me to help me out of the chair, and we head off to the kitchen.