18
THORNE
Being pregnant was a wild ride. Between the hormones, my body changing, and my food cravings and aversions, it was a lot on a good day. Carrying a baby while being a chef brought it to a whole new level of intensity. The team had been great. When we revealed my pregnancy, they were thrilled for us and didn’t complain about the lack of variety in the food. They understood that there were weeks when the idea of a piece of chicken was too much for me to handle. Of course, they came out on the winning end of that, getting steak every day. But even on weeks where it was all pasta, all the time, no one complained.
The people who worked with me in the kitchen were fabulous too. They’d take over tasks when they noticed me turning green and were willing to switch directions with the menu at the drop of a hat. I was surrounded by people who cared.
For so long, I’d felt alone. Thankfully, Junior came into my life when I needed him most. Telling Junior about the baby was one of the best memories. He and the crew at the diner started planning a baby shower the second I let the words out. They were, in all ways, my family.
The first trimester was now over. I no longer wanted to puke every other second and was filled with renewed energy. With that boost came my need to get the house ready for the baby. The only problem was, this wasn’t our house. It hadn’t bothered me before, but my neighbor had knocked on our connecting wall one too many times, and now it was all I could think about.
Raff had been staying over because we wanted to keep things as relatively normal for Rupert as far as school went, but living in a townhouse with a nosy neighbor and no backyard was getting to be too much. And Raff’s place was great, but it would mean Rupert having to make all new friends again, and I refused to put him through that.
So when I overheard one teacher talking about their favorite house being on the market while I was there for school pickup, I didn’t pretend to eavesdrop. I went straight over to them and asked where the house was, if it was in the district, and if they were going to buy it. I might have been single-minded, but I wasn’t about to steal a home out from under someone.
She laughed. “I’m a teacher. I’m not buying a house in that neighborhood. It has land. The price is miles above my pay grade.”
She gave me the address and congratulated me. At first, I thought she meant about checking out the house, but when I followed her eyes, it was my growing belly that was the culprit. It was probably time to think about paternity clothes.
Once home, Rupert went to change his school clothes, and I pulled the listing up on my phone. It was an old house, probably one of the originals in the city, and it had a ginormous fenced backyard that abutted the state park. The more I looked at it, themore perfect I could see that it was. And if fate could send me a mate, why couldn’t they send me a house?
“Hey, Rupert, get your shoes on. We’re going to see Raff.”
“Is he playing today?” He came running out, still pulling up his jeans, never one for missing watching his uncle on the ice.
“No, they’re doing some sort of publicity scheduling.” I didn’t understand all the behind-the-scenes stuff they were currently working on, even though Raff had explained it to me. My brain was a sieve lately. I blamed the pregnancy and really hoped that the baby was just borrowing my brain, not full-on eating it.
I sent him a text telling him I wanted to see this house with the link, and we drove to the arena, my impulse control not quite where it needed to be. He met me at the car.
“Okay, we have twenty minutes to get there,” were the first words he spoke.
“What?”
“That link you sent me… you want to see the house, right? I made it happen.”
It was a whirlwind from there. We arrived with the realtor already there, waiting for us. Another couple was touring, and that had me on edge.
“We normally have you fill out prior approval notices beforehand,” the realtor explained, “but given your position, I think it’s safe for us to focus on that afterward, especially with another couple interested.”
Being mated to a famous hockey player had its perks.
It was possible the house was as perfect as I believed it to be. Maybe it was the competition of having the couple there. Most likely it was my pregnancy hormones. But I turned to my mate and told him to make it happen, and then went inside to tour with Rupert.
Impulsivity aside, it was everything we ever wanted. The kitchen had been redone by someone who obviously adored cooking. There was space for all the appliances I had and all of my dream appliances. There was a refrigerator and a freezer that were separate, giving me plenty of room for ingredients. And the pièce de résistance was a full pantry, one that you had to walk into, not just a little cupboard that so many people in the townhome development referred to as their pantry. It was a chef’s dream.
Rupert found his own joy. Someone had converted the attic into one of the largest bedrooms I’d ever seen, with built-ins around a window seat like the one in one of his favorite series and plenty of shelves for books. When we came back downstairs, Raff was with the realtor, looking outside at the vast yard and discussing details.
“Where’s the other couple?” I asked.
“Your man over here scared them away by asking how much above the listing price it would take to get the house.”
We ended up getting the house for list price, with the closing happening quickly thanks to my mate having a very large signing bonus. Just like everything else that had happened from the day I gotthatphone call about my brother’s death, it was a big change in a flash. This time, it was a good change, one that would’ve made my brother happy.
We settled into our new home for that first night, and I knew with certainty that we’d made the right decision.
I woke up the next morning having had the best night’s sleep I’d had in eons.
“Thank you for indulging my pregnant whims and getting us this house,” I said, settling my head on his chest.
