This was not what I was expecting.
There’d been digging all right. A hell of a lot of it too, but it was the concrete that had me stunned.
Carefully, I walked around the edge, making sure I didn’t trip on the bits of discarded metal, piles of dirt, and clumps of concrete. There were empty cans and trash everywhere, but something big was happening here.
“It’s our home,” a deep voice I’d recognize anywhere called out.
Lifting my gaze, I saw Jake standing at the opposite end, hands on hips watching me intensely.
“What do you mean it’s our home?” I replied, almost laughing at the way my question carried on the wind.
Jake pointed to his left and headed in that direction. When he stopped and beckoned me to him, I moved like a moth to a flame. My heavy feet couldn’t move fast enough.
When I made it to his side, Jake stepped behind me and draped his arms over my shoulders, holding me against him. The warmth of his chest seeped into my back, keeping away the early evening chill.
“This is where our front door will be.”
“Front door?”
Jake ignored my question and pushed on. “That there…” he started and pointed to the left, “… will be the living room and next to it, the kitchen. Over there, in the back corner, there will be a mud room.”
“Kitchen? Mud room?”
“I’m building you our house, Kellie.”
“Our house?”
I sounded like an idiot repeating everything he was saying, but his words weren’t sinking in. Or maybe it was the meaning of those words which was making my head foggy.
“The house we talked about all those years ago. I’m building us a home. You, me, and Cassie.”
“And Cassie?”
“Of course, Cassie. Her bedroom will be upstairs, just down the hall from ours cause you know, we don’t want her to overhear what Mom and Dad are up to,” Jake teased with a wink and a suggestive wriggle of his eyebrows.
My heart was beating out of my chest. For some reason, I’d had it in my head that Jake and I were Cassie’s mom and Cassie’s dad. I hadn’t let myself put it together that we were Mom and Dad. One unit. One team. One family. It was all I ever wanted but was too scared to let myself believe it was possible. If I let my head go there, or worse, my heart, and it didn’t work out, I knew I’d be shattered. I survived it once, but I wasn’t sure I’d be able to take a second round.
“Cassie gets her own room?” I choked out.
“Yep. So will her brothers and sisters.”
I tensed in Jake’s arms before turning to face him. “Brothers and sisters?”
“I can’t wait to knock you up again, Marshmallow. See your belly round with my baby. In fact, why don’t we start practicing right now?” Jake teased, but when he bent down and scooped me up in his arms, I had to stop him.
“As much fun as practicing is with you, right now, we need to talk.”
My words made his steps falter.
“Talk?”
“Yes. You know that thing when adults have a conversation and figure shit out.”
“Do they do that naked?”
“Some do.”
“Can we?”
