Chapter 7
Savvy
Once we start to head back, I realize we are not heading back towards my hotel.
“Um, Joshua where are we going?”
“Well, I have a little work to do, and I want you with me. Did you have something to do? If you do, I can go grab my work and come back to the hotel with you. I just want to be with you.”
“Um no I don’t have anything to do.”
Good and he reaches over and takes my hand as he drives us to his family compound. About thirty minutes later we pull up to, I don’t know what to call it. The house itself is nothing short of a mansion but it’s all the other stuff that makes it amazing. There are two twenty car garages and auto shop, an Olympic size swimming pool with a slide worthy of splash lagoon, a pool house the size of most people’s houses, a racetrack and I guess for the little ones, a multi-level go kart track. A full indoor basketball court, tennis courts, a football field complete with bleachers and a score board, a mini golf course and an indoor-outdoor gun range. I mean damn, all that’s missing is a roller coaster.
“Damn Joshua, what don’t y’all have out here?”
He just laughs and says this division was left abandoned. It was part of this huge billion-dollar money scam. Once the ring leaders were arrested, the houses that were built were left abandoned and no one wanted to touch this area. So of course, we had to buy it. It was originally around eight hundred acres of mostly undeveloped land, and because of the scandal the bank wanted to get rid of it, we got it for pennies on the dollar. We took full advantage of the land and built what eight men would want to have in a house. We work hard Savannah, and we gave years to our country so when we get the chance we like to play hard too. All of us will work a job site and as a matter of fact we all make it a point to work on site at least three days out of the week.”
I love their work ethic. It’s more than obvious they have money, but they work like they don’t, and I like that.
” So, were there houses here already?”
“Yes, there were a few but we knocked them all down, cleared the majority of the acres and let Asher loose with the architectural details. Although we all had a say so in the house and the extras Asher is our definite go to for all things design. By the time we were done we had a twenty thousand plus square foot mansion we all decided to live in and an adult amusement park.”
“It would take a few days to experience everything Joshua.
Good thing you have more access than just a few days Savannah.
“Nothing to say Savannah” he asks.
“Nope”, I say.
He pulls up in front of the house and parks the truck. But before he can get around to open my door Joseph is there to open it.
“You get on my damn nerves”, Joshua says. Joseph laughs at his brother as helps me out of the car.
“Stop aggravating your brother, Seph,” Savvy says.
“But it’s so easy. Not to mention fun”, Joseph says.
I just shake my head at him, by this time Joshua has made his way around the car to us and moves me away from his brother. We make it to the front door; he opens the door and ushers me in. When I walk across the threshold my jaw drops. There is a staircase on either side of the front door that must be 15 feet tall, we walk further into the foyer that has Carrera marble floors white settees on either side and it opens up into a huge family room and the entire back wall is glass and retractable.
There is a fireplace along the left wall and a projection TV mounted in the ceiling. The sectional and chairs have undoubtedly custom-made cause they are huge, but then so are the owners of this house. To the right is an amazing kitchen white, navy blue, and gold. It is the type of kitchen that would make Michelin star rated chef jealous. The island is all of twelve feet long and on the other side is a restaurant style booth instead of a traditional kitchen table and chairs.
To the left of the island is a traditional breakfast nook with table and chairs, however the table was large enough for Arthur and his knights to sit around with their swords. I felt like Jack who climbed the beanstalk and was in the giant’s mansion. At five feet eight inches tall I have never felt small or petite, not even when I wore a size four but here, I am five feet eight and a solid size eighteen and for the first time in my life I feel petite. These are some big ass men.
“Joshua how tall are your parents?”
He laughs. “It took you longer to ask that than I thought it would. Our mother is six feet tall she played volleyball in college and was even on the Olympic team that’s how my parents met my dad was at the Olympics for rowing. They both say it was love at first sight and was married in less than three months. My dad is from New Zealand, so they had to work to get my dad here but eventually they did, and they have been inseparable ever since. They eventually moved back to live in New Zealand. My mom came from old money from the steel industry so when my brothers and I came to age we received our inheritances. We put the money into investments and the stock market to grow while we went into the military and lived off that money. When we decided to retire from the service, we had built up a nice nest egg and we decided to go into a business we all could participate in. I love it and I know my brothers do too.”
“That’s a beautiful love story.”
“Let me show you the rest of the house.”
“Actually Joshua, I’m a little tired and this house looks like I need a scooter to get around.”
“Understood, come on I’ll take you to my wing and you can rest while I get this work done.”
“Ok”