Adventures of Devon Carlton - 14. ACD Chapter 14

“So, I guess you have had a crush on me, and you were hoping I was gay too?” Devon asked, and shyly Edgar nodded his head and blushed.

Devon felt sorry having to disappoint his cousin that he was not gay, “I’m sorry but I am not gay, but I am fully supportive for you like your parents are, so don’t hesitate to come to me if you have any problems or questions” Devon said giving his cousin a hug before sitting down to eat. “So, am I allowed to stay here then?” Edgar asked concerned that he may still have to go home.

Devon smiled “Yes Edgar, you can stay living here, and your horse too, oh by the way on Friday the guys are doing a 4-day tour of Northern Scotland so it will be just your twin bros as guests for the weekend, ok? Devon mentioned, Edgar, smiled and nodded as he finished his breakfast, before going to his room to dress in his school uniform.

On returning to the cottage after dropping off Edgar at school, and inspecting the duplex just down the road, once again four hungry men were waiting for him, and Devon laughed as he opened the already unlocked door, much to the annoyance of his friends and brothers. Devon showed them the booking form that he had printed off as they ate their breakfast, and asked what they would like to do today.

Flynn suggested just a leisurely day around Inverness would be enough, as they didn’t want to be too tired for the tour the next day, and the others agreed. Firstly, they went to look at buggies and ATV bikes, and eventually, Devon selected two 4-seater buggies and 1 ATV bike with a small trailer, so he can cart things to and from the cottage and bunkhouse, and they would be delivered the following day.

Next, Devon called into the real estate office to make an offer on the two adjoining duplex units that were for sale. Once this was done, he called in to see the maintenance contractor, to ask him to come over and partly enclose part of the lean-too at the front of the bunkhouse, for weatherproof storage of the buggies, plus to check and fix any problems there are to the two duplex’s that he was in the process of buying.

After a relaxing lunch in a café near the foreshore, they returned to the cottage, and because it was such a nice afternoon, Flynn suggested they go hiking around the property to explore it properly, and it was at that point that Devon realised, that not even he had done that yet due to all that had happened since buying the property, and so they set off on foot to look around the bigger property, which had a number of small clearings dotted amongst the woodlands.

Even Devon was surprised at how nice it was to just walk around the place, and he made a mental note to arrange to have an aerial photograph taken of the property, as he wanted to look into building raised walkways through the woodlands, so it is accessible during the winter months, as it was so picturesque to see, when they reached the bridge they explored the remaining acres of land before retreating to the bunkhouse as it was getting cool suddenly.

They played some Xbox games for a while, and Devon played some music on the piano when Flynn came down to watch and listen for a while, eventually, Devon stopped and looked at his brother and motioned him to sit next to him. “How come you have got such a wonderful singing voice,” Flynn asked, Devon, smiled “What makes you think I’m not the only one, let me show you something” Devon replied.

For the next few minutes Devon played some notes on the piano one at a time, then sang that note, and asked Flynn to do the same, after repeating it a few times Devon asked Flynn to sing all the notes together, and he sung the notes in order as an example, before counting down for Flynn to do the same, there was total silence once Flynn had finished, Devon had a huge smile on his face, Flynn was in shock at what he heard in his own voice and three other sets of eyes were on the upper balcony also stunned, Devon motioned Flynn to look up, and at that point Amos, Gary and Mitchell clapped, and Flynn went bright red in the face.

“Now you know how I feel when I’m performing with EQD” Devon whispered to his brother, before looking up at Amos, “Come on down, you can do it too number two twin,” Devon said and Mitchell and Gary grabbed Amos as he tried to escape and hide in the bedroom. Within half an hour Devon had his twin brothers singing alongside him, Gary whispered something to Mitchell who went upstairs, and a few minutes later he was making a call.

“How about singing Amazing Grace as a trio” Gary suggested, and Devon agreed. Meanwhile upstairs, “Sorry for the lateness of this call, this is Mitchell, I wanted you to hear this” he whispered into the phone and he pressed the speaker button and stood at the balcony just as Devon began to play the first cords of Amazing Grace on the piano, which he knew off by heart but he had the music and words so his brothers could read the words.

The acoustics in the building was fantastic, and the sound of three voices and a grand piano was incredible, and when they had finished and heard the faint amplified sound of applause, they looked around and saw Mitchell holding the phone as he came down the stairs, when the applause stopped, Mitchell placed the phone on the piano.

“Hello, who is this?” Devon asked not sure who Mitchell had called; “Hello Son, this is Mum and Dad here, who is singing with you Devon?” came the reply of Grace, “Hello Mum, it’s great to hear you, well I guess you have more than one son who can sing well, that was your twin sons” Devon replied, “You all sound wonderful son’s, I am really proud of you all” Hugh said, and they chatted for another twenty minutes before ending the call.

Edgar has dropped off home again after sports, and he had time for a quick shower and change before they all drove to the manor for dinner with the Carlton family, and Devon introduced his twin brothers to the cousins, Douglas, Julia and young Eliza, before introducing his friends Gary and Mitchell.

After a short chat they sat for dinner, which was a 4 course meal, and near the end of dinner, Rupert and Angus dropped a bombshell on Devon, “If its’ alright with you cousin Devon, Mother and Father said it would be ok to stay tonight also, if you can take us to school too,” Devon nearly dropped the silver when they had asked that.

After recovering he looked at Douglas and Julia who just smiled, Devon didn’t know what to say and eventually shrugged his shoulders and nodded yes. Quickly excusing themselves, the twins dashed out of the room at full speed, “Stop, Don’t run” Devon said before Douglas could say it, which made Douglas, Julia, Edgar and Eliza start to laugh, Devon turned to his friends and brothers to explain, “That is how I ended up in hospital the first time, the twins literally bowled me over, and cracked my head on the floor” he said as two sorry looking faces appeared at the door, “Sorry Devon” the twins said before heading back upstairs to grab their luggage.

Since it was a school day and there was a school in the morning, Devon asked to be excused to leave as soon as the twins are ready, and Douglas smiled and nodded, and the twins reappeared with overnight bags in hand, and they were soon on their way back to Inverness. The younger twins were fast asleep by the time they arrived, and the older twins helped to carry them to their beds in the bunkhouse, where Devon and Edgar changed them into their pyjamas and tucked them into bed.

The next morning at 7.30 am, Devon called the bunkhouse to make sure the twins were awake, and when Mitchell answered the phone and Devon could hear crying in the background, he didn’t know what was happening, Mitchell explained that the twins were upset that Devon and Edgar were not with them, and Devon said he would be down there right away, as Edgar was feeding the horse.

A few minutes later Devon arrived at the bunkhouse and he went upstairs to find the twins still crying a little bit, when they saw Devon they raced up to him and hugged him, “We got scared when we didn’t see you and Edgar when we woke up” they said together, Devon hugged them both.

“There is not enough room in the cottage for you two to sleep there, but tonight and all weekend, Edgar will be sleeping here with you guys, as my brothers and friends are going on a 4-day tour” the twins smiled and wiped away their tears as Devon released them from the hug.

“Now go and get ready for school, or you will be late, and no running just walk” Devon said clearly so the boys understood, twenty minutes later the boys were dressed and groomed, and Devon drove them all up to the cottage for some breakfast, just as Edgar came inside from feeding and brushing Horatio.

When everyone had eaten, Devon took the three schoolboys to their schools, and his brothers and friends to the bus terminal so they could begin their tour. On the return journey, he called into the real estate agent, who said she was about to call to say the offer has been accepted and the settlement papers were also completed as a speedy settlement was wanted by the owners.

Devon called the contractor, who agreed to meet him at the duplex units in fifteen minutes, as the Deeds of ownership were finalised, and the keys handed over to Devon. Once at the duplex units, Devon could see very little had been done regarding gardens at the front, and the back yard was mostly lawn, each unit has two bedrooms, a good sized modern bathroom, a good size kitchen and dining area, a comfortable lounge room, and a small sunroom and a storage room at the back, another storage room is located at the back of the carport which separates the two duplex units.

Both units were in good order, and just needed a bit of freshening up, so Devon suggested a new coat of paint throughout the inside in soft neutral colours, plus he suggested removing the Lino floor coverings, and replacing them with timber flooring, plus a new gas hot water system for each.

The contractor said it would take about a week to do each one, and Devon agreed with this and made his way back home to the cottage, where it was nice and quiet for a change, and after a bit of tidying up, he went into the study to make a phone call home to Australia.

Devon chatted with his parents, just to let them know he and the twins were fine, and that they and his friends had gone a 4 day bus tour around northern Scotland, plus he mentioned that he had bought two adjoining duplex units just down the road from the cottage, to be able to accommodate future visitors in one, and offer the other one to his new staff who are not happy with their current accommodation in town.

In the early afternoon, the ATV and trailer and two buggies arrived, and they were parked in the garage until they are needed, two hours later Devon drove into town to collect the boys from school, firstly the twins, followed by Edgar, and they drove back to the cottage, where Devon left the car outside as the garage doors were closed.

After the boys had some afternoon tea, Edgar went out to ride Horatio for an hour, while the Devon drove the twins to the bunkhouse to change out of their school uniform and they played Xbox for an hour, till it was time to see Edgar.

Standing nearby, they watched as Horatio was given a good rubdown and his blanket put on, and fed his evening meal, once that was done and the stable doors were closed and locked for the night, Devon motioned the three boys to follow him to the garage, and he opened the door to show them the new arrivals, Devon said to the boys “you are not to drive these buggies unless Edgar or I are onboard with them, that they are not toys and are not to be used as racing cars, breaking any of these rules will result in a very severe punishment” he said sternly so they clearly understood.

Devon climbed into the driver’s seat of one, and Edgar into the other and one twin in each, and they drove off down the track to the bunkhouse, going along the path, over the bridge and Edgar parked his buggy under the lean-too, Devon motioned Edgar to wait as the twins went inside.

“That applies to you too Mr, no racing in the buggies as they are not toys, drive carefully and at a steady pace as we did just now, similar punishments apply to you also, ok?” he said to Edgar who nodded before going inside to see what his brothers were up to.

Devon returned to the cottage in his buggy and put it away in the garage as well as the car, before heading inside to start preparing dinner. Edgar and the boys arrived in the buggy at 6 pm, and the twins set the table ready for their evening meal and sat down patiently to have it served to them, once dinner was over, and the dishes cleaned, Edgar took the twins over to the stables, where they brushed down Horatio, fed him and put his coat on, before driving back down to the bunkhouse.

The next morning was cold, wet and foggy, and he had made a trip out to the stables to attend to Horatio, Devon packed a basket full of goodies and headed down to the bunkhouse in his buggy which has a roof on it for shelter, walking inside it was still silent, so Devon dug out the fruit juice, bread, bacon, eggs, and he started cooking breakfast, and it wasn’t long before Edgar made an appearance at the balcony, “Good morning sunshine, are you hungry, oh and don’t worry about your hag, I have already fed him and opened the door to the yard, but he’s like you and has decided to stay indoors” Devon said with a smile.

“He is not a hag, his name is Horatio, thank you very much, I’m glad he is far enough away to not hear you call him that” Edgar replied in a grouchy mood, as he came down the stairs in his pyjamas, and he dashed over to the pot belly stove to kick it into life to get some warmth into the building. As breakfast was almost ready the twins made an appearance, also in just their pyjamas, and they cheerfully said good morning to Edgar and Devon as they sat down for breakfast.

Once breakfast was over, Devon said he would be up at the cottage if they need anything, and he left them to have fun, and once in the cottage he grabbed his book and went back to his bedroom to do some reading. An hour later, the internal telephone rang and Edgar said he better come down right away then hung up, and a few minutes later as Devon approached the bridge, he saw the other buggy halfway in the brook, nose down, and once he walked into the building, he saw the twins soaking wet and crying.

“Get them in the shower before they catch a cold” Devon ordered and he stormed off outside and returned to the cottage, where he grabbed his mobile that he had left behind in the rush and made a phone call as he tried to cool down his anger at seeing what had happened. Half an hour later the telephone rang again, “Stay there don’t move until I say, that you three can move, do you understand me?” Devon said still angry and he slammed the phone down.

Another half hour passed and Devon heard the arrival of a car with a horse float on the back, Julia came to the door and knocked, Devon let her in and went back into the study, closing the door so Julia went into Edgar’s bedroom and packed up all of his belongings, meanwhile Eliza and Douglas were in the stables packing up all the horse feed, saddles, blankets, lead ropes and bridles and loaded them into the storage section of the float, once this was done, Eliza came inside to help with her brothers belongings, carrying them to the car, and help to load them in.

Once all of this was done, and Douglas had Horatio loaded into the float, Julia took the buggy down to the bunkhouse to collect her three sons, when she walked in, she could see all three were upset but that didn’t faze her, after seeing the other buggy half way in the brook.

“No arguments not a word, pack all of your belongings this very instant, all three of you have been banned from this property” Julia said sternly, and her words were a total shock for Edgar but did as he was told, and they climbed into the buggy for the trip up to the cottage, where to their surprise they saw Horatio loaded in the float and all of Edgar's luggage packed in the back of the vehicle.

Douglas instructed them to get their luggage into the back and their butts into the car and they were soon on their way back to the estate. About an hour later after making a phone call earlier, the maintenance contractor arrived to assist Devon with getting the buggy out of the water, and towed back up to the garage so it could be inspected for damage, the front had a large dent and the right wheel rim was buckled, the windscreen was cracked and it was not sure what water damage there was to the engine, the contractor agreed to take the buggy into town with him to have it looked at by the company that Devon had bought it from, and they would contact him with an estimate for repairs.

Devon was miserable for the remainder of the day, and he ignored the three phone calls from Edgar, and the two from their home phone, and eventually he went down to the bunkhouse and spent a few hours cleaning up, gathering the dirty sheets, cleaning the unwashed dishes from breakfast time, when he returned to the cottage he put the dirty linen into the washing machine and he made himself an early light dinner before going to bed early with a book to read.

The next day Devon left his mobile turned off, and he stayed in bed most of the day, only getting up when he really needed to, and he was in no mood to eat much at all, when he was woken up with a knock on the door at 8 am Monday morning, Devon remembered that Adam and Sue Kilthorne were starting work today, so he quickly dressed and went to the door. “Good morning sir, I am Adam Kilthorne and this is my wife Sue,” the man said as Devon opened the door.

Devon motioned them to enter and closed the door behind them, and they made their way to the kitchen, where Sue immediately got to work to put the kettle on and get some cups and saucers out of the cupboard, while Adam sat at the dining room table, Devon sat down at the table also and said nothing. “Sir, Mrs Carlton rang me last night and informed me of the incident that occurred on Saturday with the rascals, she asked me to inform you that they will pay for any damages to the buggy, and they have already been in contact with the buggy company to sort that out, now how do you like your tea? Sue said respectfully.

“Oh, um… white tea with no sugar thankyou Mrs Kilthorne” Devon said snapping out of his daydream and smiling to her before turning to Adam, “I have been told that your rental in town is not the ideal place for you both, so I have a proposition for you, just 400 metres down the road are a group of 8 duplex units, of which I now own two of them, adjoining each other.

They are currently being given a freshen up and one will be ready in about a weeks’ time, you can live in one of the units rent free if you can maintain the lawns and gardens for both properties for me. It will make it easier for you both being closer to work, and after this cuppa, I can take you there to have a look at the unit so you can decide if it is suitable for you both or not” Devon said warmly as he accepted the cup of tea.

“Oh, sir you are so good to us, and we have only just begun to work for you” Sue said all emotional from the generous offer, Devon smiled and continued to drink his tea, while Adam went outside to check out the garden, hedges and vegetable garden patch, which has been empty for some time.

Devon finished his cuppa and went to make himself a bit more presentable, and in the meantime Sue found the damp washing still in the machine, and she took it out and hung it out on the line outside, while Adam was in the workshop looking at what was available for his gardening duties, and made a list of suggested extras that would be needed to get the work done properly.