36. Layla
Chapter Thirty-Six
Layla
Two weeks after leaving the hospital, I officially moved in with Kellan. Thankfully, he was done with Carly’s family’s house. Now he was working on two smaller projects, which seemed a lot less stressful for both of us.
He put up a Christmas tree in the living room and hung lights on all of the windows of his townhouse.
I’d shopped online for ornaments and decorations.
Considering I barely left the safety bubble of the house, it was probably a good thing to have the place looking so festive.
We were following doctor’s orders in limiting my exposure to the outside world since it was the cold and flu season, and my immune system had taken a beating with both the chemo and the pneumonia.
I was anxious to get on with my treatments. If all went well, we’d start them up again in another week. The delay would put me behind the original plan by a few weeks, but considering everything I’d been through, I was lucky it wasn’t longer. Hell, I was lucky to be alive.
“You all bundled up?” Kellan asked, coming into the bedroom. He was already wearing his coat and boots. Since I was going stir-crazy, he’d offered to take me out for a drive to see the Christmas lights around the neighborhoods.
“I’m all bundled. In fact, if we stay in the truck, I may roast.”
He smiled, making me feel like a kid when he came over to zip my coat all the way to the top.
“We may take one outdoor excursion if you’re up to it and you stay warm.” He kissed my nose, making me giggle.
“I’m up to it. And plenty warm.” I’d dressed in wool socks, jeans, a sweater, a coat, and had a wool cap over my head with gloves in my pockets. It was in the high forties, so I knew I’d be fine.
We drove around the neighborhoods for a while, looking at all of the decorations, before he jumped on the freeway heading north.
“Where are we going?”
“There’s supposed to be this one neighborhood in Shoreline which is full of Christmas lights.”
“Am I getting out of the truck there?”
He flashed me the trademark grin I adored so much. “Maybe.”
We drove along until we got into the neighborhood streets, and there he pulled in front of a darkened house.
“I think they forgot to turn on their lights,” I commented.
“Nobody is home as the owners just moved. Come on. This is our stop.”
I got out of the truck, curious now. “Is this the house you’ve been working on?” I knew he was doing a kitchen remodel on one home while some of his crew redid the floors in another. In a few weeks, he was starting a bathroom renovation in yet another home.
“Nope, not yet, but it’s in the pipeline.”
We walked up the front steps to the porch, where he produced a key and unlocked the door. But before heading inside, he took something out of his pocket. “Here, put this on. It’s dusty in there.”
It was a surgical mask. His thoughtfulness knew no bounds. I put it on without an argument, knowing my lungs were still weak.
He flicked on the lights, illuminating a large house with walls and walls of floral-patterned wallpaper and shag carpeting. If ever a house needed to be remodeled, this was it. It looked as if everything came out of the 1950s. “I take it you’re gutting the place.”
“Pretty much down to the studs. But it has good bones. Solid foundation. What I wanted to show you, though, is upstairs.”
We went up the steps to a second floor, which boasted another living room. Big windows allowed views of the sound, and I imagined one would be able to see the mountains on a clear day.
“The plan is to put a wraparound deck on this second level. Come on, one more flight.” He took my hand to lead me up to the top.
Similar to the downstairs, the decor was outdated, but the bedrooms were large, especially the master, which also had the water view. And a balcony. He opened the double doors to lead me outside. “This is my favorite part.”
I could see why. It was breathtaking to be up so high on the hill, where we could see the Christmas lights from the neighborhood on one side and on the other the reflection of the moon bouncing off the water. “I bet the mountains on a clear day are quite the sight.”
“They’re incredible. It’ll take some time to update this place, but you can’t beat the views.”
He stood behind me, wrapping his arms around me. I loved this sensation of being in his embrace.
“It’s in a great school district. Safe neighborhood. The previous owners are the original buyers. They were married fifty years. Decided to retire to Arizona because of his arthritis. They had four kids grow up here, and now have six grandchildren.”
I turned around to face him. “You know a lot of details about the people who used to live here.”
“It was important to me to hear how much love has been in this house. Because it’s more than a job. It’s ours if you want it.”
“You bought it?” I was surprised.
“I did. The possibility of a remodel and flip was an investment I couldn’t pass up.
But the minute I saw this view, I wanted you to see it, too.
See if it could be our place. I can put in your large closet.
And you don’t have to tell me yes or no now.
I can remodel it over the next year, and once it’s finished and looking up to its potential, you can decide. ”
We still hadn’t talked details about our finances, but I knew this house had to have cost a fortune, despite its present appearance. “How was this possible?”
He tugged down on my wool cap to ensure it covered my ears. “I took all of the profits off of the Williamses’ remodel and put it into this one. Plus, there was the money I made in flipping the place I had in Boston. And we can use the sale of the townhouse to fund the updates we’ll make here.”
“But you said you were investing that money into your business.”
“Changed my mind. In fact, I’m going into business with Brandon. We’re officially partnering up.”
Forget surprised; I went straight into shocked. “What made you decide to do that?”
“While you were in the hospital, he covered for me. It made me realize that if I stay on my own I would never have a true backup. But if we team up, we each have someone we can rely on. I want to spend time fixing up our home. I want to travel with you all over the world. I’m no longer in a silly competition to best him or prove myself.
This might sound corny, but I like the security of combining our efforts.
His father laid a great foundation, and their company has all the staff I was struggling to put together, from payroll to administrative and architects to designers.
My guys are happy, too, as they’ll have more jobs to choose from.
Better long-term security. I prefer to build and remodel houses—do what I love.
Honestly, I prefer leaving the business side of things to someone else. ”
“It does make sense.” And he looked the most at peace I’d ever seen him when talking about his future. I smiled and looked into the dated house, feeling as if it was meant to be. “I don’t want to wait. This is it. This is our home.”
His grin couldn’t have been any bigger. He hugged me tight. “We’re going to be so happy here, but I do have one more thing to ask you.”
He pulled back to take off my mask and put it into his pocket. Then he dropped to a knee and produced a velvet box, which he opened. Inside was a beautiful, platinum-set solitaire diamond ring.
“Will you marry me, Layla, and do me the absolute honor of becoming my wife, having my babies, growing old in this house, and traveling to all the places we dreamed of?”
“Yes. A hundred times yes.” Tears were streaming down my face because this—This was the perfect moment.
A year ago, who would’ve ever thought the perfect proposal would happen when I was without hair, without breasts, during chemo, and while fighting cancer.
Yet perfection was knowing this man loved me the way I loved him.
He slipped off my glove to put on the ring and then immediately tugged the glove on again. I’d have to admire the diamond once I was back in the warm truck.
“But we should probably travel first,” I told him. “Babies after.”
He chuckled. “Probably a good order of things.”
We didn’t talk about my making the five-year cancer-free mark or possible fertility challenges down the road. Tonight was a time for hope. I knew without a doubt that no matter what the future held for us we would tackle every challenge, work through every low, and celebrate every high. Together.
Because this wasn’t a story about cancer, dammit. This was our love story. And I was determined to get our happily ever after.