Victor
When they left Wilson’s place, Burke drove past the preschool and elementary school Lilly and the other children went to. Then he drove by the houses owned by Cooper and Lambchop.
“These homes are beautiful, but we don’t need anything this big, especially if my mom doesn’t move in.
Really, Rich, a townhouse like Jimmy and Rae’s would do us fine.
Theirs is a three-bedroom, which would be big enough.
It has a basement which we could turn into a family room and playroom for the kids. ”
“I still think her moving in is the best plan, for her, you, and the kids.”
“I will get a job and contribute, Rich,” she said.
He pulled to the side of the road and put the car in park.
He faced her and took her hand. “Work, don’t work, whatever you want to do, Donna.
There is one more thing we haven’t talked about.
You know I love your kids, but I’ve always thought I’d have one or two of my own.
Are you open to having another with me?” He couldn’t read the expression on her face.
“I mean, whenever you’re ready to, not necessarily right away. ”
“I haven’t really thought about it, but my initial reaction is that I’m not opposed to it. But I want to wait a little bit. I want time with you before we take that step. I want to do things differently with you than I have in the past, if that makes sense.”
“It does,” he agreed. “I just wanted to know if it was a possibility.”
She nodded. “It is.” Though she really hadn’t thought about it. Making a decent life for herself and her children was all she could do over the past few years. Considering more children had never been on her radar.
“Okay,” he said, shifting into drive and pulling away from the curb.
He turned onto the next street, knowing it led back to the main road that would bring them back towards the place where they were staying.
Halfway down the block was an ‘Open House’ sign in front of a home with a ‘For Sale’ sign.
Coming up to it, he could see how deep it went on the lot.
It was a big house. It was a tri-level, and he knew the bottom section might be large enough to convert into a mother-in-law area if the majority of the bedrooms were above it.
Burke pulled into the driveway. He turned to face her again. “Let’s go in and take a look.”
“Rich, this house looks huge.” She gazed out the front window at it.
“Come on, it’ll be fun,” he prodded her.
They entered through the front door into an entry that opened to a room that would be the living room. It was empty of furniture. There were two sets of stairs on the left. One led up, the other down. Through a short hallway to the right, they saw the kitchen.
“Hello,” a woman’s voice called from the right. She appeared in the kitchen doorway. “Hi, welcome.”
She introduced herself as the realtor and took their names. She handed them the info sheet on the home. Donna’s eyes went to the price listed at the top of the page. Four hundred and sixty thousand dollars. She looked no further down the page.
“This is a great house: five bedrooms including the bedroom in the lower level, four bedrooms upstairs. Three full bathrooms, two fireplaces, a screened-in porch off the lower level, a brick patio out back, and a deck off the master bedroom upstairs,” she said. “And it comes with all the appliances.”
Burke smiled. “Excellent. And it’s vacant?”
“Yes. The owners were transferred and had to move out a few weeks ago. Please feel free to take a look. I’ll be here if you have any questions.”
“Thank you,” Burke said.
Through the hallway to the right was the door to the two-car garage, with a large coat closet across from it.
They went through into the kitchen. It was a large eat-in kitchen.
An opening led through to the dining room, which emptied into the living room, which had one of the fireplaces.
A door on the back wall led out to the brick patio and a fenced-in backyard.
At the stairs, Burke directed her down first. A large room with a fireplace filled the majority of the area. There were three doors on the inside wall that opened to a bathroom, a laundry room, and at the back of the room, the bedroom. The door on the back wall led out onto the screened-in porch.
Burke went back over to the stairs. “We could wall this up and put a door on it to make a private little apartment for your mom. We’d just have to intrude on her space to do laundry.
There’s lots of natural light down here,” he added, looking at the many windows.
“If she wanted, we could even build a little kitchen area for her.”
Donna didn’t say anything. She just looked again at the price on the paper.
“Come on, let’s go check out the upstairs,” Burke said excitedly.
She followed him up the stairs and then up the second set of stairs. The hall bathroom was the first door on the right. Beside it was the door to one of the bedrooms, and across from them were doors to the two other bedrooms. The hallway dead-ended at the master bedroom, with its own bathroom.
“Two of the three kid’s bedrooms are kind of small,” Burke said. “But I think the kids would be fine in them.” He was all smiles when he turned to Donna. “What do you think?”
“I think it’s four hundred and sixty thousand dollars, Rich.”
He took her hand and brought her back into the master bedroom.
He opened the door that led out onto the deck and drew her out with him.
“Imagine it’s summer.” He pointed into the yard.
“We’re sitting up here enjoying a cup of coffee.
The kids are playing on the swing set out in their yard.
” He pointed at the swing set that sat toward the back of the fenced-in yard.
“Their yard, Donna. You told me when we were at that condo on the beach that you dreamed of providing your kids with a house with a yard for them to play in.” He turned her to face him.
“Donna, you can dream big for them, and it’s attainable. ”
Tears flooded her eyes. “I can’t let you buy this house. It’s too much.”
He kissed her lips and wrapped her in an embrace. “I can afford it. It’s not too much. Besides, if your mom moves in with us, it perfectly suits our needs, and we’ll never outgrow it.”
Donna’s gaze swept over the backyard again.
To the right was the brick patio that lay just outside of the living room.
She could envision a table and chairs on it where they would eat lunch and dinner in the summer.
The driveway was double the length of her mom’s, and it was blacktopped.
The kids could ride bikes and play there too.
“Promise me you can afford this,” she whispered.
“I promise,” he said. “Let’s go pick up your mom and the kids and bring them back to look at it.”
He was so excited that Donna couldn’t help but smile. “Maybe you should just bring my mom back. I don’t want the kids to get their hopes up, in case it doesn’t work out. We haven’t even told them yet that we’re moving here.”
“Then it’s time to tell them. I’d like that news to be one of their Christmas gifts from me,” Burke said.
“I’d like to tell them we’re going to be a family, and if it’s okay with you, that I’m going to be their dad.
” He held his breath after he said it, hoping he wasn’t overstepping, hoping she wouldn’t take issue with him declaring himself as such.
Donna embraced him more tightly, and tears spilled from her eyes. “Yes, that would make all their Christmas wishes come true.”
“We’ll tell them it’s not a done deal, but we’re thinking of moving into this house, if not here, someplace similar. Let them get excited and be a part of the process. Let them dream.”
She smiled and nodded.
Donna was delighted to see his excitement regarding the house as they drove back to where they were staying. His excitement was infectious. She was genuinely enthusiastic about it too when they pulled into the driveway beside the rented minivan.
Her mom was in the family room with the kids, playing a card game when they came in.
“Rich, we can start over and you can play,” Elijah offered.
“Later, buddy, okay,” Rich said. He sat down with them. Jeriah immediately crawled into his lap. “First your mom and I want to talk to you, and then we’re going to go for a drive.”
Donna sat beside him. She was okay with him taking the lead on this conversation. It was his surprise. It was his gift.
Dorthea stood. “I’ll let you have your talk.”
“Please stay, Mom,” Donna said. “This involves you, too.”
“This is a kind of Christmas gift to you guys,” Rich said.
“You know gifts can be things or experiences, like a trip or an outing to go roller skating or bowling, or even a pet.” He paused, his gaze sweeping over the three attentive faces who hung on every word he said.
“You guys know I love to spend time with you and your mom, right? Well, I do travel a lot for work, but Chicago is my work’s home base.
I’m here more than I’m anywhere else. If you guys lived here, I’d get to see you a lot more.
And your mom and I would really like it if we all lived together in one house, so we’d really be a family.
How would you guys feel about me being your dad? ”
All three faces lit up with excitement, and they cheered. Jeriah hugged him.
“What about Grandma?” Jayden asked.
“We want Grandma to move and live with us too,” Rich said. “We just looked at a house that we really like, and we’re going to take you all back with us to see it.”
Dorthea stood. “I’m not sure,” she said.
“I know you’re not, Mom. But come take a look. Besides, we’d love your opinion of the place,” Donna said. “We were just driving through the neighborhood and saw it. There was an open house, and we went in.”
“Are you sure you want me to come along?” Dorthea asked.
Jayden hugged his grandmother. “Please come, Grandma.”