Total pages in book: 50
Estimated words: 49189 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 246(@200wpm)___ 197(@250wpm)___ 164(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 49189 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 246(@200wpm)___ 197(@250wpm)___ 164(@300wpm)
She hugs my neck, and I almost tumble into her lap as she sits in my office chair.
Making me wonder just how quickly a couple of days can change everything.
“I love you too, Michael Hart. With all my heart,” she whispers back.
And lifting her up, I carry her to the elevator and back down to the car.
Back home.
For now.
Tomorrow?
Well, who knows what tomorrow will bring. But with Vanessa in my arms, it feels like I could take on the whole world, already the instant winner.
Because she’s all mine.
EPILOGUE
THREE MONTHS LATER
Vanessa
I never did get around to that little list of things to do in accounting that Jase left for me.
Michael’s kept both of us way too busy for office work. And besides, he has Dad to help around the office now too. No more hard labor for him either. He’s taken to his new job with enough passion and common sense for Dad to leave a lot of major decisions up to him.
And I’m so glad that he has only one job now, not three.
Jase works in the office still, if you could call it that.
Once he figured out I wasn’t gonna be there every day for him to boss me around, plus his thing with Emily in full swing, Jase does just enough to keep his Dad and the business happy without being ‘boss’ of everyone.
“There!” Michael exclaims with triumph, adding in a few tiny plastic barnyard animals into their pens and yards.
Part of the scale model of our future house he’s finished.
The grand unveiling tonight as we sit by the fire after dinner.
We have the whole place to ourselves now since Jase and Emily recently bought a place of their own.
It’s an incredibly detailed model, but after I kept telling him that I couldn’t see the home in his house plans Michael drafted all by himself over a couple of weeks, I told him all I could see were lots of lines and squares. Not a home.
So he set to work with the model.
And I have to say it’s beautiful.
“The roof lifts off, so you can see inside,” he says, proud of his work, but I can see he’s itching to get building the life-sized version for us both.
He leans over and lifts off the pitched tile roof, beckoning me over with a flapping hand.
“C’mon. Come see,” he urges me, and lifting myself from the deep lounge chair, I try to center myself in a way that doesn’t show what I’m trying to hide.
The little person growing inside me that I’ve waited until tonight to tell Michael about.
We’re gonna have a baby. And tonight’s the night to tell Michael because I know it’s the two most important things to him, home and family.
And me, of course, but that kinda goes without saying.
But for now, I let him give me the guided tour as we look down from above.
“No tiny furniture?” I joke, and Michael creases his mouth, reminding me that the farm animals are just for scale.
But I saw how he was playing with them, how he was telling them all about the kids that’ll be looking after them.
Feeding them hay and riding on the ponies.
I’m nervous as hell to tell him, but I know I’ll feel better when I do, having no one to share this with since I found out just last week. It’s been hard, but something’s always come up every time I’m about to say I’m pregnant, that we’re gonna be a Mom and Dad together.
“…I went with neutral colors in these rooms, but they could be any color. It’s more the size and structure I want you to see,” he instructs, talking to me as if I’m a client. Like he’s pleased with it, but the final plans and decisions will all be shared.
Ours. Together.
Seeing all the details as I listen to his reasoning behind things, I can’t help but feel transported. Like he’s not just telling the story, he’s actually showing us where we’re gonna live. What each area could be for, and how easy it’ll be to just build up or out if we need more room.
“And nowhere near as strange as this place looks from outside, I promise,” he tells me.
I can see that from the model, but I’ve grown to love this place in my own little way.
Probably since Jase moved out, but I wouldn’t be in a hurry to tell him that.
I suggested keeping this house as a kind of beach house. We can visit whenever we feel like it, and the kids can have as much room as they want and plenty of privacy on what I have since learned is our own little beach.
It’s an image that blends with the one Michael’s showing me.
And I can almost see our little ones running around, playing barnyard for real when they’re not building little sandcastles during our time here, at the big house on the hill.