She straddled him in the seat and hugged him tight.“Why?What made you do this?”
“I want to make all your dreams come true Liesl.I want you to laugh and smile with happiness.I never want you to be sad and if you are sad,I want to be close enough to you I can wipe those tears away and make you feel better.I grew up with my dad right there all the time and I want this for our children.He never once had to leave us for weeks on end and I don’t want it for our baby.I want what my parents had and as I sat in the meeting yesterday morning thinking of my dad the day,he walked out of a million-dollar meeting because my mom needed him,well,let’s just say I was inspired.”
Her sobs were giving way to hiccups and sniffles as he made long sweeping motions up and down her back,holding her tight to him.
“Want to go look around?”
“Yes.”
“Good,because I think Mallory is quite worried,we’re going to have sex in the front seat of the car.I can see him strategically hanging back with the guys through the rearview.I bought the house last night from the son of the couple who owned it.It’s been sitting vacant a few years.I made him an offer they couldn’t refuse and when I told him I wanted to raise our family here the way he was raised,he was glad.I guess most of the offers he had received were to bulldoze the place and put in a subdivision.Overnight I had a cleaning crew in and then Mallory had his team retrofit security in the house.It needs a lot of work,the kitchen is over twenty years old,the bathrooms are just as old if not older.The hardwood floors though are in great condition and with a good sanding and a coat of stain and they’ll be brand new.”
Liesl giggled as he started to excitedly talk about the renovations.She started to get off his lap,but he held her tight.He opened his car door,and she instinctively wrapped her legs around his middle and her arms around his neck and he carried her towards the front porch.
He stood on the porch and smiled,“imagine sitting out here in the morning with a cup of coffee while the kids chase our free-range chickens through the yard or jump in mud puddles after a rain.”
She felt her heart clench with joy at his words,“kids huh?”
“Yes.I believe you said you wanted two of each.We’re just getting started.”
“You want a big family?”
“With you?I’ll have a dozen as long as it’s what you want,my love.All I want is to give you everything you ever dreamed possible.”
He punched a code in the security door,“the code for the front door is your dad’s birthday.That way you won’t forget.”
“My dad’s birthday?How did you figure–”her bottom lip trembled.
“Easy,Liesl.I talked to Fred when we had dinner with him one night.He told me how much of a daddy’s girl you were.He said even as a teenager you used to sit on his lap and play with his hair.He said when he passed away you took it harder than anyone.He said you didn’t paint for a full year.”
She nodded as he set her down on her feet in the middle of a foyer.“My first painting when I started to paint again was a painting of him.It hangs in mom’s living room.I’ve painted him a thousand times.”
“I hope we have a girl.I want a little girl to spoil like I can her mama.”
She looked around and pouted her lips changing topics,“Isaias,are you going to remove the wallpaper?”
“Babe it’s from the nineteen sixties.”
“But I love the big bold flowers.”
“We’ll negotiate.Many of these walls will come down to make a big open floor plan so we can see the kids from any room down here but maybe I can get the paper recreated to do one wall.”
“Maybe,”she grinned at him cheekily.
He showed her through the kitchen and living room areas.Liesl couldn’t help but smile at the bright light from the huge windows in the living area.He motioned to the large wall,“I know you noticed already in our house back in the city I don’t have a television in the living room but there is one in the den.There’s a basement downstairs we can refurbish into an entertainment area with a theater room.I know your brother keeps a television in the living room for football games and to keep Winnie distracted but are you okay with only the one tv downstairs?”
“Yes.Absolutely.”
“Good.You can paint this wall then.”
“I can do what?”
“A mural.Can you use this wall as a canvas?”
“Yes.”She jumped up and down with excitement as he shook his head at her antics.
“Come on,I want to show you the bedrooms.”
She held his hand as he led her up the narrow stairs explaining he’d widen them out a fraction.As they reached the landing,he pointed out how the long corridor extended on either side of the stairs.“That end is the current master suite,but I have a plan and I hope you’re on board.If not,we’ll sort it out.”
“Okay.”
He took her down the left side first,“there are four bedrooms at this end and two full baths.Each bathroom shared between two bedrooms.”
“Neat.”She looked around each room.“They’re a good size too.”
“They are.”
He stopped in the first one,“think this would make a great nursery?”
She smiled huge and put her hands on her belly,“I think so.”
“Good.Eventually they will all be nurseries,but we’ll start with one.”
She laughed at his words.“Four bedrooms for four kids?”
“Yup.We can expand if we have to.”
She laughed,the sound echoing off the empty room.
He motioned to a set of stairs at the end of the hall.“Come with me.”
She preceded him up the stairs and was surprised to find what she thought was an attic space was really an oversized large area.
“The previous owners used this for a playroom.”He pointed to a wall.“On the other side of the wall is a lot of storage area.I want to blow this all out and make this the master suite.I’ll put a bathroom up here.We’ll be at the same end of the house as the kids,they’ll be right below us,easily accessible by the stairs.”
She blinked at his thoughtfulness.“I love this idea.”
“You haven’t even looked out the window at the scenery yet.”He motioned to the window,“I’m going to build a Juliet balcony there or maybe a breakfast patio.Enough to put a telescope on to star gaze and a couple of small chairs to cuddle in.”
“I love it,”she moved to the window and then gasped.“Isaias.”
“When I took the job here twenty years ago to do the kitchen refurbishment,they showed me through the house and this view has been forever engrained in my head.The mountains in the distance.The field below.The stream at the edge of the property. The barn off to the side there,”he pointed over her shoulder,“will be your studio.”
“It will?”
“Yup.”
She stood staring in the yard for several minutes,his arms wrapped around her middle,her back to his chest,feeling safe and protected in his arms.“How will we keep Sandy away?”
“My men have orders to shoot on sight.”
“Isaias.”She looked to him in horror and saw the smirk on his face.“Very funny.”
“I’ve always wanted to say it like a bad guy in a movie.We’ll build a security perimeter around the estate,and I’ll have a full team here all the time with you and the kids.”He took a breath,“I’ll always be around.We’ll be busy and have things we’re doing on our own,and eventually I’ll pick up design jobs like I did before,and I’ll pick and choose a few jobs a year but if I have to travel,we will work around our schedule together and we’ll go together as a family.I want to be with you Liesl.I mean,don’t get me wrong,if you want to go for a weekend or a week even with the girls,I’m going to pay for the plane tickets to wherever it is you want to go.I’ll probably go with Joaquim and Mallory on boys’weekends.I simply want us to come home to each other.”
