Page 81 of Safe at Home

“Did you three help with this surprise?” I pointed at them and asked Mack, who was leaning against the booth the kids were sitting in, how to sign surprise.

“Touch your pointer fingers to your thumbs, right at your eyes. Then pop them open like you are really surprised,” Mack said with a huge smile.

Nico nodded enthusiastically and brushed his hand up and out from his chest a few times.

“He wants to know if you’re happy?” Mack explained.

I nodded my head and repeated the sign back to him before giving Mack a huge hug.

“Ok, kids. Now, you can pick out any one item from the bakery. Thank you for waiting patiently,” he said and signed it at the same time.

Tyler came over and gave Mack a big hug, too, and then showed off his daughters to him.

“Is it all the same in the back, too?” I asked.

“Let’s go for a tour!” Pen said. “Cash? Can you watch up front?”

The gangly teenager that had hit on me during his interview said he had it and took over at the front counter.

We walked to the back to see the kitchen was exactly as I had it before, and I was really glad. I saw Janel putting ingredients into one of the stand mixers. Near her, another woman with dark blonde hair in a ponytail and wearing a blue apron was putting a tray of items into the oven.

Penelope introduced me to Cash’s older sister, Robyn Wehmeier, who had just moved home. She and Janel were best friends in high school, and she was very excited to work here.

“You even still have my colored stand mixers!” I said with excitement as I saw them all lined up on the back counter. “We have even more colors now!”

“The company actually heard about the tornado and donated them! You have a whole bunch in the AF Kitchen, too!”

“No way! That’s so awesome!” I exclaimed.

“Hey, baby, Liv is fussy and probably hungry,” Tyler said as he came back into the kitchen, carrying our sweet girl in her Raptors jersey.

“They are probably both hungry. It’s been almost two and a half hours since I last fed them. I can go to my office to feed them.”

“Why don’t you go upstairs?” Dominic asked. “You can feed them in comfort.”

“Upstairs?” I asked, not sure if I heard him correctly. “The upstairs is done?”

“Why don’t you go check it out,” Penelope said with a huge grin.

“Oh my god, you guys?!” I exclaimed and went up the stairs with Olivia in my arms as Tyler followed close behind me.

“Can someone bring Hazel up?”

“I’ve got her,” I heard Dom say.

I walked up to the front door of our apartment and got teary-eyed as I saw a sign written in children’s handwriting with little drawings all around it:

I entered the door and walked into the family room. It was exactly as I had described to the contractor and designer. There was a navy-blue sectional couch that faced a big screen TV. I noticed that in the middle of the couch was a white pillow with the number seven on it and STONE on the back. Mrs. James had made the pillow out of my wedding day jersey!

On the same wall as the TV, there were two baby swings. We could watch baseball games and have the babies around us at the same time! There was also a box of baby toys next to the couch as well as a small bookshelf filled with the romance novels I loved to read. On the far wall, there was a big cat house with scratching pads and places for our cat to sleep and play. Peanut was asleep on the top platform. She woke up when she heard my voice and meowed at me. I stroked my hand through her hair.

“Oh, wow! This is amazing,” Tyler proclaimed. I walked over to stand next to him to look at the wall behind the couch. One of Tyler’s Raptor jerseys was in a frame, and next to it was his Lightning jersey. In between the two jerseys was the homerun ball he had given me that I had found in the tornado debris. It was in a special case, and I loved that it was on the wall.

“You guys thought of everything!” I exclaimed.

At the sound of my voice, Olivia began to cry loudly. I knew I would have to explore our apartment later and needed to tend to our baby. I sat down on the very comfortable couch and began feeding my hungry daughter. Peanut jumped off her cat house and came over to sniff the baby as I fed her. She curled up and laid down next to Liv. It was the sweetest thing to see. After feeding her, Tyler took her and burped her while I fed Hazel.

After the girls were fed and burped, we put them in their swings. Dominic and Cooper proudly gave us a tour of the rest of the apartment. The kitchen was exactly as it had been before. My beautiful island now not only had stools around it but also had two highchairs. I knew the girls wouldn’t use the highchairs yet, but I loved that they were there when they were ready for them. It still had the built-in shelves next to the double oven, and I was glad they had kept the kitchen the same.

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