I heard footsteps behind me and turned around quickly. There stood my husband with a small smile on his face. I opened my mouth to speak and he put a finger over my lips.
‘You don’t have to say a word, your face says it all. This is it, isn’t it?’ he whispered.
I nodded my head.
Pulling me close, he kissed me and I closed my eyes. At that moment, I saw the years stretching out before us. I imagined what our life would be like here. I dreamed about the memories we would make and I honestly felt like crying with happiness. This was all too good to be true. Someone needed to pinch me, because I had to be dreaming.
And well … Ted did that for me. Not pinched me exactly, but he ‘ah-hemmed’ loudly enough to indicate that he had walked into the room and was slightly uncomfortable with our public display of affection. I quickly opened my eyes and grinned.
‘You’re absolutely sure?’
I nodded again. ‘Outside of marrying you, I have never been so sure about anything in my entire life.’
‘OK then.’ He stepped away from me and clapped his hands together once, his indicator that now it was time to do business.
Moments later I was left alone as the two men went to make use of the kitchen counters to discuss offers. When I was finally by myself, I did a quick little jig and tapped my heels in a makeshift sort of dance on the wood floors. I opened the patio doors and walked out onto a private terrace that was attached to the space. Oh my! We were going to have a private terrace.
Resting my arms on the thick decorative stonework that lined the terrace and protected me from falling, I let the wind whip my hair around my face as I thought about everything that had led us to this spot in our lives.
We were so lucky, to even be able to consider living in a place like this. But then again, I have to admit that my husband was also a talented and forward-thinking businessman. I’d always known he was going places, and apparently so did his boss, seeing that he was promoted to a management position after only two years with the firm.
There was no denying that I was wildly proud of him. I couldn’t believe that he had already accomplished so much. How many couples at this stage in their lives could to afford live in a Classic Six? I certainly didn’t know of too many.
Of course, I was nervous too. We were making a big investment. But it was a good investment too. The kind that you lived your life in, a permanent sort of thing, not like buying clothes or shoes or other frivolous things that didn’t mean much, not in the scheme of things.
Yes, I loved buying clothes and shoes as much as the next girl, but this was real estate and, truth be told, I knew it was the type of investment that would shape our lives. Hopefully for the better.
I had never known a pair of shoes, or a jacket or piece of jewellery, to ever shape my life.
Although that wasn’t strictly true, I realised, as my charm bracelet twinkled in the sunlight. Confining one's life to a small number of events is always difficult, but as with the bracelet, there was always room to add more. And this journey was far from over.
29
‘So it’s official, the Classic Six is ours!’ my beloved husband informed me a few days later.
‘Are you serious? They accepted our offer? Oh wow! When can we move in? Goodness, there’s so much to do and plan … ’
We were going to be homeowners. Spectacular homeowners!
‘Shhh, soon, soon. The closing will be handled by the lawyers. I’m sure that we can be in by the end of the month.’
I started to do calculations. That was three and a half weeks’ time. Suddenly, my cramped living room threatened to close in on me and I pictured the space that we would be able to grow into, instead of continually tripping over ourselves trying to manage living life in a veritable shoebox. I had a longing to move tomorrow.
‘OK,’ I said, thinking hard. ‘Well, I wish we could move sooner, but I suppose there’s a lot to do in three weeks.’ I gave him another kiss and extricated myself from his embrace, looking for a pen and paper. ‘I need to start making lists. And, you know, I think that this occasion serves for it, so I am going to order these divine change of address cards that I saw in a stationery store over on Lexington to send out to our friends and whatnot. I also think we will have to throw a housewarming party. Now that we are going to have the space, I think it will be so fun to be able to entertain and …
‘ … What?’ I asked, looking up at my husband, who stood there smiling.
‘Do you know you’re beautiful when you are all wound up?’
I swatted at him with the pad of paper I had found on the end table. ‘Oh hush. I’m a planner, you know that.’
‘Yes, you are. But I think you are forgetting one important element. Something that needs to be attended to before anything else.’
I thought briefly. Organise movers, start thinking about furniture, change of address cards, housewarming party – what was I missing?
Seeing the puzzled expression on my face, he put his hand in his pocket. When he pulled his hand out, I saw he had something in his palm.
‘You are forgetting about this,’ he said, displaying a small charm. ‘Isn’t it how we always mark an occasion?’
