Twenty-Four

“Be careful, or I might start to think all I am to you is a cook.” Nessa punched Gaius’ shoulder lightly and rolled over to get up, eager to explore what other new changes he’d made to the house since she’d first seen the almost bare frame two months earlier.

“You’re everything to me, Ness. I should’ve figured that out ages ago and said it a hundred times. I mean to make up for it every day for the rest of our lives.”

Looking back over her shoulder, she found herself overwhelmed with love and utter adoration at the sight of his handsome, rumpled visage. His hair stood on end in all directions, the silver strands glinting in the early morning sunlight. Impulsively, she reached over and tousled his tangled curls. She leaned in to kiss him, then turned and hopped off the bed.

She shrugged back into his old shirt and padded across the room to a door to one side of the fireplace that hadn’t existed last time she was here. Inside she found a large and mostly empty closet, a quarter of it filled with soft flannel shirts and jeans and work boots. It smelled of sweet evergreen wood and was illuminated by a skylight.

To her right just inside the closet was another door. She opened it and peeked in, letting out a sharp gasp at the sight of the vast, luxurious bathroom complete with a giant sunken tub large enough to fit two and a rain shower built from the gold-hued stones the waterfall coaxed out of the mountain in its path down the peak. She took a leisurely stroll through, marveling at the attention to detail. Like the bedroom, it was even more beautiful than she could have pictured on her own.

Nessa came to stand in front of the mirror over the counter and stared at herself for a moment. Like the closet, sunlight filtered in from a series of skylights high above and lit up her flushed cheeks. Gaius filled the second doorway behind her that led back out into the bedroom on the opposite side of the fireplace from the closet.

“Gaius, this is beautiful. Somehow I don’t feel the least bit worthy.” She smoothed her hand over the shining surface of the counter, similarly crafted from a large slab of the same golden stone as the shower and polished to a high shine.

“It isn’t what you pictured? We can change it.”

“God no! Don’t change a thing. It’s perfect . . . better than I imagined.”

He grinned at her in the mirror. “Wait’ll you see downstairs.”

Nessa took his proffered hand and let him lead her down the stairs, which were now fully finished with shining wood banisters. She stared out the massive two-story windows as they descended, breathless at the sight of the spectacular Nova Aurora sunrise. Both big orange orbs were chasing each other up past the horizon, casting twin sets of rays down over the vivid purple trees in the distance. The river fed from the waterfall shimmered as it passed by the deck outside.

This was Nessa’s home now. This view, this house, and this man. She paused at the bottom of the steps, still drinking in the vista, and turned back to express her love to Gaius again when something oddly familiar and out of place caught her eye.

She turned her head and her heart stopped.

“Oh Gaius . . .” She was only able to get the two words out before her eyes teared up and her throat constricted. Her hand flew to her mouth as she collapsed against his side, unable to hold herself up from shock at the wonderfully unexpected sight before her.

Gaius hooked his arm around her waist, supporting her, and kissed the top of her head. “It would’ve been a shame to see the whole lot go to reclamation after all the times I made love to you in that kitchen.”

She swiped at her eyes, but was unable to stop the flow of tears and the soft sob that welled up. It was too much. Not only had this wonderful man finished his house just the way she had imagined . . . better than she had imagined . . . he had also installed a kitchen that there was no mistaking was for her and her alone.

It wasn’t a new kitchen, by any means. The old enameled equipment with its copper accents had been polished so the copper gleamed. The worn wood-slab island still had the same well-seasoned surface. Even the deep copper sinks had been installed—also polished and shining in the sunrise. Her father’s entire kitchen had been transported to this house. Every last piece. And she had no idea how in the world she would ever thank Gaius for something so grand.

He shifted his stance beside her and rumbled uncertainly. “Ness . . . You do like it, don’t you?”

Shakily, she inhaled and spun around, surging up into his arms and claiming his mouth in a kiss, at a loss for any words to express exactly how she felt.

But Gaius needed no words to grasp what she needed from him. He carried her into the kitchen and set her on the island in the center, then proceeded to make love to her, re-christening every surface as if the room were brand new. While they made love, Nessa reveled in the absolute fullness of her heart, and knew without a doubt that she had earned this love and would never, ever let it go.