Chapter 10 #2
“Why?” She told him. “I guess that makes sense. They would have to come here to do that, and they’re not going to like that at all.
I’m betting you’re right. It’s sad though.
They won’t be a part of her life, and that’s just sad.
My parents are looking forward to the time they have with her.
I’m betting right now they’re planning something to do with her this Christmas. She’s going to be spoiled by them.”
“I don’t care so long as they listen to us when we say no about something.” He said that they’d not go against our wishes. “I hope not. I love your parents dearly, you know.”
“I do, and they love you too.”
The two of them went to their offices, and he went back out to watch the building going up.
It was going up much faster than he thought it would, and he was glad for that.
Once he got the shelves set up, he was going to have a lot of fun changing things around to suit himself.
He’d never thought that he’d done such a good job in the first place, but this time was going to be different.
He knew where he wanted things to go and was going to have the place organized for himself.
By evening, the walls were up and most of the roofing.
The extended part of the building was coming along nicely as well, and he thought that he could have some fun with the extra square footage that was going to be all his.
Just as he was going to go into the house again, his parents came over to see how things were going.
He was excited to show them around and was happy that they seemed as excited about it as he was.
Things were starting to look up for him.
“I know you have things going on in March to go to Europe. We were wondering if you’d mind if we tagged along.
I know that Trinity and Lizzy are going; my goodness, she’ll be nearly eight months old by then.
But we’d like to see your things on display.
” He told them that it would be perfect for him.
“I thought you might say that. We won’t spend our time hanging out with you and your lovely wife, but we thought that while we’re there, we can keep an eye on Lizzy so that you and Trinity can go and see a few sites.
It’ll be good for the two of you to get away for a couple of days. ” He thought that was a great idea.
“We’ve never been a couple without Lizzy in our lives. It would be nice to have some fun with Trinity with just the two of us.” Dad said that they were going to enjoy some of the sights as well. “Good for you two. I know if anyone deserves it, it’s you two. I love you guys so much.”
“And we love you two as much.” Mom looked around the building, and he told her what was going on with his awards.
“They’re going to have their own showcase like you always wanted me to have them in.
I don’t know if I’ll be able to make it that large.
I do have a lot, but I don’t want to have them all out.
I think that having them on display will be epic for a while.
I’ve never looked at them since I got them. ”
“I’ve seen them all and have bragged all over town about how proud I am of you.” Dad said that she takes pictures so that he can see them as well. “I’ve got your dad convinced that he should come over and see them as well. That you’d not mind.”
“I wouldn’t. I just thought that you didn’t care.
” Dad looked hurt, and he told him he was sorry.
“I know that you care, but they’re just awards for me doing something that I love.
I would love for you to come over with Mom or anytime you wish to see them.
They’ll be in a display cabinet now if you want to see them. ”
“I’d like that. And that’s why this trip with you is going to mean so much to us.
We get to see your pieces on display like they should be.
” Dad hugged him, and he hugged him back.
“I’m so proud of all my sons, Audon. I just don’t know what I’d do without you six.
Now that you’re all getting wives and families, I feel like I’ve done a good job on raising you to be good men. I love you so much.”
“And I love you and Mom dearly.” They talked about the trip, and Mom and Dad talked about getting their luggage out of storage to dust it off.
As soon as passports were mentioned, they had to remember where they put them the last time they used them.
“Trinity has gotten hers, and we have one for Lizzy. I was worried about how long they were going to take, but she got hers right away.”
“I’m excited now. Something other than Christmas to look forward to.” They all laughed because Mom and Dad loved the holidays and would go all out for them. “Axel wants to have Christmas morning at his house, and I’m thinking about allowing it. You all should take turns now that you have houses.”
“Trinity and I talked about the upcoming holidays, and we’re excited to have to buy for Lizzy.
She did tell you not to go overboard, didn’t she?
She’ll not remember this one, and there is no point in getting her a lot of stuff she won’t play with yet.
” Mom just smiled at him. “Mom, have you started shopping already?”
“I have, as a matter of fact. With all the new babies coming along, I’m not going to be caught unawares.
It’s going to be the best Christmas ever, and I’m looking forward to spoiling all of my children.
” She would too, simply because she could.
Hugging his mom again, he told her that he loved her and she smiled again.
“It’ll be a great holiday because we’ll all be together.
That’s the best part of it, knowing that we’re all going to have a great holiday and being together as family. ”
After they left, he went inside. He was exhausted, if he was truthful to himself. He didn’t want to say anything to Trinity, but he thought that he could use a good four-day nap. Laughing to himself, he went to find his lady wife.
~*~
Gilman finished the wiring of his kitchen before he finished his dinner.
He’d been eating a lot of fast food of late, and he was frankly sick of it.
He’d have to go to his parents’ house for a home-cooked meal, but they’d been so busy with their things that he’d not gotten a chance to go over and eat with them.
The last time it was his turn to eat with them, he’d had an electrical outage across the town and had to be out all day and into the night.
Now all he wanted was something homemade, and he hoped there would be a feast in his future that he could enjoy a great deal.
Putting his tools away, he watched as the other workers did their closing up for the day.
He was always amazed at how they treated their tools.
Like they didn’t belong to them and they didn’t care what happened to them.
He took care of his tools because he had paid a lot of money for them.
Just as he was putting the last of his smaller tools in his bag, one of the men came to talk to him.
“Are you rewiring the upstairs bedrooms?” He said that he’d not known that they needed it. “I didn’t either until we went in to take up the carpet in the rooms. I guess I have to talk to the owner, but I don’t know how to get in touch with him. I don’t suppose you know.”
“I’m the owner.” He didn’t look like he believed him, but he assured the man that it was his house. “I’ve been saving myself some money by doing some of the work myself. Which bedroom are you talking about? I thought that the carpets would be taken out later after I moved in.”
“It’s the master. I was told that it was going to be ready, but the carpets had to be torn up.
It’s a nice floor under the carpets; I would have taken them up as well.
But now that I’m looking around at the rooms, I think that the main bedroom needs to be rewired simply because you’re going to want a television in there at some point. ”
“I hadn’t thought of a TV. But what does that have to do with the wiring?
” He was confused as to why this man was telling him what needed to be done.
As far as he knew, the job manager had been the one who told him what was needed.
“Are you saying that all the bedrooms need to be rewired or just the bedroom?”
“Just that one. If you have a wife, she’s going to want to plug in some of her hair things, and that will put a drain on your other outlets.
” He didn’t want to think about a wife but didn’t tell this man that.
He had enough to worry about with just having a house right now.
“Wives want plenty of plugs going around the room.”
Gilman didn’t know what to think, so he told the man that he’d look into things.
It wouldn’t take him long to redo the wiring, just that it would be a mess until he was done.
And he didn’t want to deal with a mess in his bedroom when all he wanted to do was move in and sleep there.
He was going to have to talk to the foreman about it and see what he had to say. Or Mac.
His sister-in-law had gone over the entire house to tell him what had been needed, and he didn’t remember her saying a word about the bedroom.
He pulled out his cell phone on the way out to his car to call her.
She answered laughing, and he had to smile.
She was by far the best thing that had happened to this family.
After telling her what was going on and asking her what she thought, she told him that she’d get back to him.
It was just a matter of her pulling up the program that she had on her computer to tell him exactly how many nails he was going to need to finish the project.
Just as he was pulling into the condo where he lived, she called him back.