A Rose in Shadow

Chapter 101

Answering the door after peeking through the curtain and seeing Mr. and Mrs. Connor waiting outside, Samantha smiled brightly and invited them in. "Two of my favourite people" she said hugging them both and leading them into the living room to sit down. "Can I get you some coffee?"

"Maybe in a minute, sweetheart" Mrs. Connor said coyly glancing at Samantha's left hand. Laughing Samantha called out "Adam! Company!" She sat down beside Mrs. Connor on the couch and linked her arm with hers before holding out her hand to show off her engagement ring.

Adam came around the corner to see Sam and Mrs. Connor squeezing each other and squealing girlishly and it made him smile. He walked around to shake Mr. Connor's hand and hug Mrs. Connor when she jumped up from her seat.

"I see you went with the square cut" she twinkled at Adam. "You have good taste".

"I'm glad that you steered me in that direction".

Surprised Samantha looked back and forth between them both. "You knew that Adam was going to propose?"

"I did. Months ago." Mrs. Connor sat up proudly.

"And she managed to keep it a secret too" said Mr. Connor, tongue-in-cheek, chuckling when his wife gave him a glare.

"We'd like to run something by you two".

"Okay" Samantha said expectantly and reached for Adam's hand when he sat on the arm of the couch beside her "Are you both okay?"

Waving this off Mr. Connor spoke "We're fine sweetheart. We've just decided to sell our house".

Samantha shot Adam a panicked look before she caught herself.

"Is this a sudden decision?" she asked.

"No, we've been thinking about it for a few months now and have been looking at places in Arizona. The winters are too hard on us anymore and Jim's brother and wife live there".

Feeling suddenly sad Samantha said "We will miss you so much. When are you moving? When do you need us to leave?"

"That's what we wanted to talk about".

Sharing a glance with her husband, Mrs. Connor continued "We were wondering if you two wanted to buy our house"

"Really?" Adam asked. "We talked about getting a house but figured that would be a few years from now".

"We would be willing to give you a good deal and could even hold a mortgage for you if you needed. We don't need the money for the move but the monthly income from the payments would come in handy with expenses. That is if you want it? You could rent out this space like we did, for extra income".

Samantha and Adam were both silent.

Getting up the Connors held hands and made their way out the door. "We've given you a lot to think about so we'll leave you to it. If you decide it's not for you, no hard feelings. We wanted to give you the first choice before we posted a sign for sale."