Before The Beginning

Chapter 33: House Hunting

Begin!

~Beatrice's POV

"What about this one, honey?"

"I like it, it's very spacious," Bertie said, putting his hands on my shoulders from behind me, "It'd be the perfect place to raise our child."

I couldn't help agreeing with that statement. The mansion we were looking at was not only available, it was gorgeous too. It clearly had at least a dozen rooms and possibly multiple kitchens. The ad even said it had a large parlor that I was thinking we could use for a library. It also had a huge fenced-in yard, and an area for a flower garden. I amused myself briefly by imagining our future children playing in it. Despite being close to the busiest street in the city, it was far enough away that the pressures of city life wouldn't get to our children, or us.

I glanced up at Karrie as she walked past. "Karrie what do you think? Should we try for this one?"

Karrie looked down at the paper in my hands. "It's very nice; what's the address?"

"Uh, 511 Paradise Drive; it's one turn away from Dark Avenue."

Karrie looked thoughtful for a moment. "667 Dark Avenue still has that fake elevator shaft that leads down to our tunnels. If you're going to move in close to there I'd suggest looking for a trap door inside the place first. That whole neighborhood is full of mansions, so some of them have to be volunteers."

"That's what the tour is for," Bertie replied.

~...

Upon scheduling a date for us to look at the place, I found I liked it more and more when I saw it in person. The agent showing it to us was very nice, and detailed in talking about its rooms and features. Bertie was right about it being spacious, but I wasn't sure how right he'd be until I saw it myself.

"Now are you quite sure you can afford it," He asked us, "I mean you would do well with something less extravagant for an expecting family." Obviously he was referring to the fact that us having a baby would be quite expensive.

"Money's not an issue," Bertie answered confidently. "We wouldn't have come here if we couldn't afford it."

"We're quite well off," I added with a smile. (Not only from my inheritance and work as a bat trainer, but also from some side jobs as an actress that helped out a ton.)

I could see how someone would ask that question though, not that it really bothered us. Once his back was turned I gave Bertie a signal to search the place for a trap door while I distracted the agent with questions about the lawn and gardens.

"Oh yes, the soil is very fertile, you'd be able to grow all kinds of things out there, Mrs... I'm sorry what was your name again?"

"Baudelaire, Mrs. Baudelaire." It still wasn't official yet but strangely it didn't matter to me anymore.

I asked him more frivolous questions to continue passing the time. Well , some of them weren't that frivolous. I did include questions about child safety, since that was obviously top priority. (Top priority... damn it I've spent too much time with Jacques and Kit over the years, that's their saying.) After about the tenth question, Bertie returned to us in the main hall and gave me a discreet thumbs up to let me know the place had what we were looking for.

"Ah, there you are sir, did you have any other concerns about the place?"

"Yes, when can we sign for it?"

We'd have to set up an appointment at the bank to do that, but it could be arranged. Once Bertie and I were out of the place and back in our car I asked him what he had found.