"Yes, I managed to dodge those bullets. Didn't dodge the last one, no-siree." Not in the least. Looking around the room, she could tell that Spencer and Joel had but a lot of effort into it. It was beautiful. It was... everything she would have wanted for a child of her own back in that other place. Where she was the happy homemaker, ready to show off all the humble touches that made a house a home. For a moment she was paralyzed with envy at what Joel and Spencer were doing here. They made it seem so easy to be in love, so effortless and all it was to Essie was a weakness she couldn't afford.

Just because her family's internal feud hadn't followed her here yet, didn't mean it wouldn't. And she wouldn't inflict her family on anyone else if she could help it at all.

"I should show you picture of the house I grew up in. Well, the mansion, really. One of the wings was damaged in a storm before I was even born and instead of rebuliding it, Grandy just sealed off the rest of the house and let the forest have the damaged part. There's plants and even small trees just growing out of the different rooms and around the furniture. Reminds me a bit of this." She made a mental note to find one of the better pictures and get it blown up and framed for them. It might be perfect for the room.