Total pages in book: 88
Estimated words: 86126 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 431(@200wpm)___ 345(@250wpm)___ 287(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 86126 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 431(@200wpm)___ 345(@250wpm)___ 287(@300wpm)
“Thank you,” I murmured. “You didn’t have to do all this.”
“I didn’t mind a bit,” Heather replied. “I’ve been trying to get in here to clean since he bought it. You finally gave him a reason to let me.”
“It wasn’t that bad,” Titus argued, embarrassed.
“You’re right,” Heather replied, her lips twitching with mirth. “For a bachelor pad, it wasn’t half as bad as I thought it would be.”
“It’s beautiful,” I blurted. “Is that a high chair?”
“Cool thing about the club,” Heather replied. “Someone’s always got the hand-me-down you need—especially if it’s baby gear.”
I felt tears burn my nose and I tried to think of anything else to make them go away.
“Why don’t you give Noel a tour,” Heather said, reaching for Diana. The baby lurched toward her in response, and I suddenly felt naked without the armor of my youngest. “I’ll get the girls a snack and show them around down here.”
“Good idea,” Titus replied, he swept out his arm.
I felt like I was in a dream as he showed me the kitchen, the living room, the half-bath and the laundry room downstairs and then led me upstairs. They’d even thought to put baby gates at the top and the bottom of the stairs, so Diana wouldn’t go tumbling down. I watched numbly as Titus showed me how to open them.
Upstairs he led me down a long hallway. There were two bedrooms on each side of the hall, with bathrooms centered between them. The bedrooms facing the front of the house were Bas and Cian’s—the latter who’d come to meet us the day before as part of my conditions for moving in—and the bedrooms facing the back of my house belonged to me and the girls.
“We didn’t have time to paint or anythin’,” Titus said apologetically, opening up the first door. “But if you want to later, you can. The girls probably want somethin’ more fun than gray.”
I stared at the bedroom, words caught in my throat.
Twin beds mirrored each other on low frames. Between them, a long beautiful dresser sat beneath the windows. A changing table that matched the dresser sat along the same wall as the door we’d stepped through and to my left was a walk-in closet.
“Ariel said that her favorite color was red,” Titus said nervously, gesturing to one of the beds. “And Diana seemed like hers was purple. I mean, she didn’t say it, but she always grabs the purple crayon when she’s colorin’.”
I swallowed hard. He knew what color crayon Diana liked best.
“They don’t really make red bedding for girls,” he continued, his words moving fast. “That’s why her comforter is a little different from Diana’s—’cause I had to get it in the boys’ section. But I don’t think you can tell? I don’t think she’ll be able to tell. Their sheets are the same, though, see? I just did ones with flowers on ’em, ’cause my mom said to get ones that were one hundred percent cotton and most of the kids sheets are like polyester or some shit and I’m not really sure what the difference is, but my mom knows about that kind of thing so I just went with she said.”
My hands were shaking as I ran one over the top of the changing table. There was a basket full of diapers on one of the shelves.
“Come on,” Titus said, that same frantic energy in his tone.
“Titus,” I murmured just as he’d reached the other doorway.
He froze.
“This is beautiful,” I murmured, gazing around the room.
“You like it?” He let out a long breath.
“It’s—”
“I know, I went a little overboard,” he said quickly. “I just want them to be comfortable, you know, and—”
“It’s perfect,” I said, cutting him off.
He just smiled, sliding open the pocket door, and waved me through it. Inside was a bathroom that was sparkling clean and had new towels hanging from the railing. I knew they were brand new because Titus cursed under his breath and reached beyond me to rip off a tag from one of them.
The shower curtain looked like it had never been used either.
“Nothin’ fancy,” Titus said. “But there’s a tub for baths and stuff.”
“Perfect for us,” I replied.
A door opposite the one we’d gone through led to my bedroom.
“This one sticks a little,” he said, sliding the door open and then back closed again. “If you just push it a little toward the bathroom when you open it, it’ll be fine. You won’t get locked in or anything. I was gonna fix it, but it’s gonna take a bit to open up the wall and shit and I figured that we could do it later.”
I nodded, but my eyes were glued to the other bedroom.
My room was a mirror image of the girls’ room. A king-size bed sat on a low platform in the center of the room, covered in a multicolored quilt and crisp white sheets. A beautiful white crib with a yellow sheet was along the wall with the windows, and the wall next to me held a pair of matching dressers. In the corner sat a deep cushioned yellow rocking chair.