A Home In The Works

I couldn't wait to see the house. I told Reed as much. "Well then let me show you around," he said as he moved back from me to give me a good view of the house.

"A log house?" I have to admit I wasn't too thrilled about that.

He shook his head, "No, it just looks like one from the outside, I thought it was cool." He gave me a smile, "How about we go inside and you'll see what I mean?"

"Can I look around out here first?" I asked him.

"Of course," he told me.

The one thing that struck me right away was the silence, there wasn't any traffic at all. Well he did turn on to a gravel road, I smiled at Reed. "We aren't in town are we?"

"No," he smiled at me. "I know how much you didn't want to live in town, you wanted wide open spaces for our babies to run and play."

I hugged him, "I can't believe you remembered."

"Amber, I remember everything you told me."

"Tell me about this house Reed," I asked as I continued to look around the front yard. A private driveway winded up towards the house and circled back on itself. As you looked down the driveway you couldn't see anything but trees and the fence that could be closed and locked if we wanted it to be. Along the driveway and up towards the front of the house were flowerbeds, Reed told me that the previous owner said that daises grew there naturally.

The driveway ran along by the two car garage that was attached to the house. "They told me that you can actually get more than two cars in there; they had a boat that they stored in the winter."

I didn't pay much attention to the boat comment, I was too busy taking everything in. To the right of the garage was the house itself, it looked like it was two levels, the top level had a wrap around deck, I figured it all the rooms were on the top level and they all led out to the deck but I could only see one door. Maybe there's a hallway?

"How many rooms? And bathroom?" I asked him.

"There are four bedrooms and three bathrooms," he told me. When I turned to look at him, he told me it was best if I saw the inside to get a good idea.

"Ok, show me the inside," I bounced a little and if I wasn't hold Alexis I probably would've clapped my hands like an excited child.

He took my hand and led me to the front door of the house, only letting go of my hand long enough to unlock the door. He let me go in first after he swung the door open. The first thing I noticed was the light streaming in from all the windows. "Oh wow, it's so bright!" I exclaimed, as I walked further in.

Reed was right, it didn't look like a log house from the inside, it looked just like any other houses. The walls were white but the flooring was hardwood. Just inside the front door, if you turned to your right you would come to the wide open living room. The living room turned into the dining room, which was only separated by a half wall partition. There were two huge windows on the far wall and a fireplace across from the one window in the living room. But what catch my eye was the two fold out couches that looked slept in very recently.

"Reed?" I pointed to them and looked at him questionably.

"Oops, I guess that kinda kills the look of the place." He quickly walked over to one of the couches and tried to make it look nice.

"No," I walked over to him. "I meant, what are they doing here? Who was sleeping on them?"

Reed chuckled and dropped the sheet that was in his hand. "Oh! Why I slept on this one and Devon crashed on the other one."

I stared at him for a moment, there was two things that seemed strange about that statement. "Why were you sleeping here? And Devon?"

"Yes, Devon. He was helping me with the cleaning and the painting. Helping me get things ready to move furniture and what not in. It was easier for me to sleep here than to go back to the apartment so late at night. I've been staying here since you left," he shrugged. "It wasn't the same staying at the apartment anymore. I missed you and Alexis."

"Oh," I glanced at the couch he was standing by. "So this is where you were when I called out the other night? When I didn't get an answer?"

He nodded, "I've been here every night after work. I went home to grab some clean clothes and stuff, I ended up leaving my cell there but I didn't think it mattered because Devon was here and he let me call you from his phone." Reed frowned, "I'm so sorry I didn't get your message until it was too late."

"Why did you tell Devon he couldn't tell me where you were?"

"I wanted it to be a surprise," Reed sighed. "I guess it wasn't the best thing to do but I was hoping that I would've had everything finished by the time you came back to town."

"I wanted to show you I support you and I'm willing to do whatever you want me to do while you figure out what you want for your future."

"Oh Reed," I threw my free arm around him and hugged him tight. "I love you so much, do you know that?"

He grinned, "I'm starting to figure that out."

We stood in each other's arms for a while, we were just gazing at each other adoringly. It felt so right being there with him, I almost told him that I would move in with him instead of my parents house but I didn't. I knew that if I did that, I would always wonder if I made the right choice, if I rushed into anything.

"Care to see the rest of the house?" He asked me.

"Yes!" I exclaimed and he laughed at my excitement. He showed me the kitchen, which almost made me drool. The kitchen was just on the other side of the dining room, you could walk though it and on one side was a hallway leading to the bedrooms, and a bathroom Reed told me and the other side you would end up on the left of the front door.

In the middle of the kitchen was an island, complete with a sink and a built in lighten over it. Along the backside of the island were four black swivel stools. Across from the island was the outside wall with so much cupboard space that I couldn't even image filling it all. And if that wasn't enough, Reed showed me the walk in pantry. "Think you'll like being in this kitchen darling?" I nodded, it was all I could do. I would just imagine all the meals I would prepare in this house, I couldn't wait for the first time I got to use it.

I walked over to the stove and ran my hand over the smooth top. "I love this, I can't tell you how many times I dropped something down through the unit. And this," I pointed to the built in microwave that sat just off to the left above the stove. "I love that it's not taking up cupboard space! And," I moved across the kitchen to the fridge and pulled open both sides. "This is so cool!'

Reed laughed at me, "Well that's the idea darling."

I rolled my eyes at him as I closed the doors of the side-by-side refrigerator. "I know that Reed, I just..." I trailed off. "Oh lord I probably sound like I've never seen any of this before in my life!"

"Not at all Amber," he walked over to me, his arms slipped around my waist. "You sound like you are just really excited about our home." He kissed my temple, "I'm so happy that you are."

I touched his cheek with my free hand, "Show me more?" I kissed his jaw.

He nodded, "Ok, how about I show you the backyard before it gets too dark?" I said ok and he led me to the french door that was just off the kitchen. "Now you can go out this door, or the front and walk around, or the door that's in between the living room and the dining room." When I stopped short he laughed, "You missed that didn't you?" I told him I did and he told me he did too, the first time.

He held the door open for me and we walked out onto the back deck. The deck was enclosed, there was a nice spot to set up patio furniture. To the right there was a set of steps that led down to the back yard and...

"OH MY GOD!" I turned to Reed and stared at him. "That's the freakin' lake! The park lake!" He nodded slowly, "You bought us a house on the lake?"

"Yes, I -"

"OH MY GOD!" I ran off before he could finish what he was saying. I made it down the steps onto the grass halfway down to the lake before I stopped short. "There's another level to this house!" I forgot about the lake for a moment as I walked, no ran back towards the house. "Reed! There's...did you...oh my god! What's down here?" I walked over to the wall size window that was next to the doorway. I tried to see in but it I couldn't.

"You can't see in through the glass Amber, it's designed that way," Reed told me as he pulled out his keys and unlocked the door. Once he flicked on the light, I could see what he meant, well actually I saw mine and Alexis' reflection. "Oh," I cringed when I saw how disheveled I looked. But I didn't care too much about that, I wanted to see what was on the other side of the glass.

I walked through the door and I gasped. The first thing I saw was the built in bar, I looked up at Reed, "It's not stocked," he told me. "I'm not sure if I'm going to stock it until you and Alexis are here full time." When I raised a questioning brow at him, he explained further. "I don't want to be bored and have it sitting there calling my name. Not that I'm all that tempted by alcohol anymore but I don't want to take the chance."

I nodded, he didn't need to explain, he could've just left it but I was really happy he did talk about it. "So, I was thinking." He walked into the empty room and spun around to look at me. "We could have a games room, you know pool, darts, Foosball, air hockey, maybe a card table over here and the whole time be able to stare out at the amazing scenery." He turned my attention back to the window, the sun had started to set and the moon was high in the sky.

"The moonlight on the water makes me think of that camping trip we took," Reed was now standing behind me, his arms around my waist. "Do you remember?" He nipped at my neck as he spoke, "You were so determined to stay dry, I couldn't help but scoop you up and toss you into the lake. But you got me back," his lips were on my ear now, "Didn't you my love?"

"Yes," I smiled. The night he was talking about, I was so upset that he threw me in the lake, I refused to come out until he came in, in all his clothes. Of course he said there was no way he would do that. So I slowly started to remove my clothes as I stood in the cold water. In no time at all he was rushing out to stop me, he didn't want his friends to see me naked.

In my arms, Alexis was starting to nod off. "I guess we better hurry this tour along," he said and then asked if he could hold her. Once she was comfortably in his arms, he led me to the stairs that took us back up to the main hallway, through a door I thought was a closet.

"Down here," he nodded as he walked. "Are the bedrooms," he flicked on the lights as we passed by each one. "And the bathroom." I didn't really get a chance to look at each room because he seemed to be in a hurry for something.

"Wait," I placed my hand on his arm as he kept walking. "That was only three bedrooms, where the fourth?"

Reed smiled at me, "Follow me my love." He walked to the end of the hall and turned to the right where there was an almost hidden staircase. He led me up the stairs to a darken room.

"So where is the bedroom?" I asked him.

"You are standing in it," he reached out and flipped on the light to reveal the biggest loft room I ever saw.

"Oh...my..." I walked further into the room and still couldn't believe my eyes. "This is amazing."

"I hoped you would like it," Reed walked along the wall and disappeared.

"Where did you...?" I walked over to where he disappeared and entered the third bathroom. "OH...wow," I held my hand to my mouth as I glanced around the bathroom. In one corner there was a jacuzzi tub that overlooked the backyard, "same glass as in the games room," he told me. There also was a huge shower, "big enough for both of us," he whispered against my ear.

I was so in awe of this house, it's almost like it was built... I spun around and stared wide eyed at Reed. "Did you buy this house?"

He frowned, "Of course I bought it, I wouldn't have the keys if I didn't own it."

I shook my head, "I meant, was it already built?"

"Well," he hesitated.

"Reed! You had this house built for us?"

He rubbed his hand against the back of his head, a move he only did when he didn't know if telling the truth would get him in trouble. I grabbed his hand, "You did, didn't you? You had this house built for us."

"Yes," he looked into my eyes, trying to see if that was a bad thing. "I told Devon what I was looking for, what you wanted. He designed the house for me in no time and his father's company pushed back some other houses they had in the works back so that they could build our home for us."

I didn't know what to say, I never thought that he was listening to me when I told him about my dream home. I never wanted to live in a big stuffy house like my parents did, I wanted to have a house that could be a home. And he had done everything he could to provide that for me, even when we weren't talking.

"I..." I tried to tell him what I felt at this moment but I couldn't find the words. I just stared into his eyes, hoping that he could read my thoughts.

He went to say something but at that moment the front door banged open and we heard Devon's voice, "Hey man where are you? I got the catalogues you were asking about, I almost had to knock the old man out just to get him to let me take them from the office." We heard him drop some stuff on the floor downstairs, "Reed? Where the hell are you?"

"Up here," Reed called out, his eyes didn't leave my face once. "Please don't be mad at me for the house Amber," he said softly. "I just want to give you everything you deserve."

I heard Devon's footsteps on the stairs, "So did I tell you I ran into Amber today? She was..." Devon rounded the corner and saw me. "Oh...hi Amber."

Devon stood there looking back and forth between Reed and me, "Umm? Should I make myself disappear or something?"

"No," I turned to him and smiled. "Reed was just showing me around the house," I looked over my shoulder at Reed. "I absolutely love this house, I wouldn't change a thing."

Devon chuckled, "Of course not! I'm damn good at my job, I can design anything!"

I kept my eyes on Reed, "I wish I had more time to walk through the rooms with you but" I glanced down at Alexis. "I think I should get her to bed."

Reed nodded, "Yeah that's probably a good idea," he smiled down at our daughter who was sound asleep in his arms.

We went downstairs and headed out to Reed's car. "I have some stuff I wanted to do with the house tonight," he told me after he strapped Alexis in. "Would you mind if I stayed here and did them? I'll just get Devon to drop me off when we are done."

I didn't want to leave him there, I wanted him to come home with us but how could I say no after all that he's after doing for me? I gave him a smile, "You will come home though, right?"

He nodded, "I'll certainly be home tonight. I'm not going to pass up a chance to spend the night holding you in my arms."

We kissed and then Reed helped into his car, "Drive careful my love."

I got home and put Alexis to bed and then got ready for bed myself. I ended up falling asleep before Reed got home but when I woke up in the middle of the night, I couldn't help but feel a rush of excitement as I felt his arms around me.