Page 50 of Savage SEAL's Virgin
“I did fall in love with him instantly.” Troy laughed and I pounded on the door. “What’s so funny out there?”
“Oh, nothing.”
I finished up Tatum’s potty time and we washed our hands, then went back out where Troy scooped her up and kissed her cheek. She put her little hands on his cheeks and kissed the tip of his nose. “I think I love you insanitily too.”
We laughed at how hard she tried to say the word right but couldn’t manage it. “Tatum, I’ve loved you from the moment I knew about you. And I think it’s time to show your grandparents their new home. We’re all a big family now. You can see them all the time too.”
Happiness radiated off her pretty little face as we went into the main living area. His mother got up. “Are we ready to take the Sandoval’s out to their new home?”
“We are,” Troy said, then we all walked through the house to get to the back door.
There was a lavish guest house on the other side of the backyard. Three bedrooms and four baths, along with three living areas, an office, and a bonus room that was all windows and filled with plants. Troy’s mom called it a green room.
The outside matched the main home beautifully, with dark woods and brown stones. A three-car garage was attached to the guest house too. The third bay was opened to reveal the golf cart that was in it. Troy’s father pointed out, “That’s for your use, Juan. Feel free to use it to go all over the winery. Make this place your home. We want you to feel absolutely comfortable here.”
Mrs. Sandoval was fanning herself. “This is just so beautiful! My goodness. Our old car will look even older in these surroundings.”
Mr. Sandoval was quick to add, “Never mind that, Lucy. I’ll get us a new one as soon as I can afford it.” He looked at Troy’s father with pride. “I retired a few years ago. Our budget is pretty strict, but I won’t bring the beauty of this place down with our car. I’ll keep the garage closed.”
Troy’s parents looked at one another, then his father winked. “Oh, I think we can set you up with something. We have fifteen cars. We can afford to let you two have a couple of them.”
Mrs. Sandoval put her hand to her chest, and I hurried to her side, putting my arm around her. “Please don’t let this overwhelm you, Mrs. Sandoval. We’re all family now. And family takes care of each other. These wonderful people taught me that. You’ll never find better people in the whole world than the Mastersons.”
Troy opened the front door and in we went. “Oh, my goodness!” Tatum shouted. “You’re giving this to Momo and Papa, Daddy?”
“This will be their home for as long as they want. They took such good care of you that I wanted to do something for them.” He kissed her cheek, something he just couldn’t seem to stop doing.
“This is too much!” Mrs. Sandoval said as she looked around the gorgeous home.
“Nonsense. We have a maid who cleans this home three times a week. And you can use our cook’s apprentice whenever you want. A groundskeeper takes care of the outdoors. You have no need to worry about a thing,” Troy’s mom said as she went to her and took her by the hand. “Come on. I want to show you the master suite. It has this great Jacuzzi tub.” Off they went as his father took Mr. Sandoval to show him some interesting man things.
“Do I have a bedroom here?” Tatum asked.
We’d made her one right next to ours, in hopes we’d get to settle her into a routine of living in the main house. Troy looked at me with a bit of worry in his expression.
I stepped in. “Well, there are three bedrooms here, and when Daddy and I are out of town, then you can sleep here. But we have your room all ready for you. It’s right next to ours. We’d like you to sleep there, Tatum. Daddy wants to read you bedtime stories. Wouldn’t that be nice?”
“It would,” she said hesitantly. “But what if I get scared?”
“We put a little monitor right next to your bed. All you have to do is call out for us and we’ll wake up and rush to you.” I patted her on the back. “How does that sound?”
“It sounds like I want to go see my new bedroom. Can we do that now?” The smile she wore made my heart leap.
“Can we, Daddy?” I asked him.
“Sure.” He called out to everyone else, “My little princess wants to see her new bedroom, so we’re taking her to see it. We’ll meet you guys in the dining room at dinner.”
Tatum’s grandmother came out of the hallway. “You sure you want to stay over there, honey? You can stay with us, you know. We don’t want to rush you.”
“I want to go see my bedroom. I think I want to stay in it.” Tatum kissed her father’s cheek. “I love them already, Momo.”
Her grandmother nodded, and I saw a tear. “You go with your daddy and mommy, baby. Me and Popo are right here when you want to see us. We’re really glad that you love them already.”
“Me too!” Tatum shouted.
Off we went to show her the bedroom we’d put a lot of thought into. It was all going smoothly, something that had never happened when I went to a new place. I was happy the little girl, who’d lost her mother, wasn’t having similar experiences to mine. And I’d try hard to make sure she never did.
Troy
