Then I lost sight of him as he headed to the front door.
I looked back to the sunken living room which had floor to ceiling windows out in a point that were nearly a story and a half tall and gave a view of the hill, Carnal and the hills and mountains beyond. The family room was vast. Up the four steps it opened into an almost equally vast kitchen that sat at the heart of the house and faced the family room over a high counter with stools. Off to one side and up two steps was a circular room that was a dining room that had huge windows and French doors to a deck. Off to the other side and down two steps was a square room that was an office, ditto with the windows, doors and deck. Down the wide side hall to the front door at the front of the house was a more formal living room and a set of stairs that led to the top floor. Down the other wide, side hall off the office that also eventually led to the living room was a smaller opening that included a butler’s pantry and an area the developers called a “Mom’s Unit” which included cupboards and a long counter with a cutout at one end that gave space for a chair. That was where I had my sewing machine and did my craft stuff. Further down that hall on one side was a half bath, on the other side was the door to a three car garage. On top of all this vast space was another, smaller, open family room, five bedrooms and three full baths, one of those full baths being in Ty and my gigantic master suite that also faced front in a point with floor to ceiling windows to our spectacular view and off the side opposite the bath there was a private deck.
I found the house about three weeks after our ordeal finally ended for good. It was in a cushy development up a hill off the north side of Carnal. The houses were few and very far apart. Ours had been ordered by a family whose father unfortunately and unexpectedly lost his high-paying job so they had to back out. The good news about that was, they’d gone for the gusto on build with all the upgrades they could order and the developers were scrambling to find someone who’d take it off their hands. So we got it for a song though that song was still a whack.
Once I saw it, I went back with Laurie, Wendy, Betty and Maggie who all agreed it was the shit then I went back with Dominic and Kayeleen and they told me I had to have it so I took my husband there thinking he’d say no way.
It was huge. It was pricey.
But it was us.
Ty, being Ty, walked through without comment then stood in the empty space of the master suite that had only two weeks before been carpeted and had criss-cross stripes of tape on the massive windows. He stared out the windows for three seconds then looked down at me and muttered, “Get it, mama.”
I didn’t demur. I got it.
We made a whack on the condo, we had a whack in the bank and we recovered the whack that Arnold Fuller stole from our safe. Our mortgage ended up being the same as the condo and we still had money in the bank.
I had Ella Alexi and finished my massage therapy certification which didn’t triple my salary, it quadrupled it (not to mention, I loved being a massage therapist because I was right, peopled loved coming to see me, I was the highlight of their day).
So it was all good.
I heard movement and mutterings and looked to the side, my hands on a rolling pin rolling pie dough, and I saw Laurie, Tate, Ty and my daughters emerge from the hall. Lella was still on her Daddy’s back but now Vivie had her little arms wrapped around Tate’s neck, one of his arms was behind him supporting her booty, the other hand lifted and holding onto her forearm.
I smiled at him then looked to Laurie who was talking.
“Hey, guys,” she greeted Ella, Bessie, Honey and me, all of us in the kitchen cooking, something Ty told me I should not allow (except Bess and me) but something, since it was Thanksgiving, I really couldn’t stop them from doing.
Laurie got heys back and walked into the kitchen, dumping bags on the counter beside me and saying, “Sorry, honey, but Jonas is a no show. This week he and his girl have decided it’s forever and he’s at her parents’ house for dinner. We didn’t get the news until about an hour ago and thus ensued a father son talk that I was dragged into as an innocent but silent bystander, silent because I couldn’t get a word in edgewise, so I didn’t have a chance to warn you.” Then she leaned in and said quietly, “This has not made his father happy.”