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“If someone will take a nap and let me, yes.”
“No nap!” Natalie wails. “Already had nap today!”
“Not now,” Nate says with a smile. “It’s time to wash up and eat.”
“Yay!”
After Natalie finishes watering the floor as much as the tropical plants in the greenhouse, she scurries out of the structure and down the walkway to the farmhouse. She stops at the wraparound porch and yells at us to hurry up. Nate is all smiles as he takes my hand, swinging our arms between us.
Clearly, we don’t move fast enough for Natalie, and she rushes back to shove herself between us. Nate and I each take one of her hands, and we all head down the short path to the house. We pass the large garden area, which is mostly bare after the fall harvest, and a grove of trees. I glance around the six-acre property—“Our little haven,” Nate calls it—and smile.
Nate has spent a lot of time fixing up the outside of the house, including landscaping, making the box gardens, and even building a deck. However, he’s proven to be nearly useless when it comes to inside handiwork. Thankfully, I’ve managed to figure out some basic plumbing and electrical skills, so we don’t have to call someone every time something breaks.
My husband gets nervous when we have a person we don’t know come to the house for any repair work. He’s still a touch on the paranoid side though we haven’t had any indication of anyone in the Ramsay family trying to find us or take revenge. Antony and Nora swear the Ramsay family is completely disbanded, and we have nothing to fear, but there is always an outside chance. Nate doesn’t talk about it, but I know those old feelings occasionally resurface.
At least he’s found a good counselor here, and he’s never had a relapse of his sleep disorder or hallucinations of his father.
“Nora called earlier,” Nate says as he serves dinner. “She wants to know when we’ll be there for Thanksgiving.”
“My last class is over at two o’clock, Wednesday. We should be able to leave here by five and get to Cascade Falls around midnight if you want to drive straight through.”
“That’s my preference.”
“Did she tell you what to bring?”
“Apparently, my pies went over well last Christmas,” he says, “so I’m going with pumpkin and sweet potato. The sweet potatoes are taking over this year.”
“You’d better make a test pie this weekend though,” I say with a sly g
rin, “so I can make sure it’s okay.”
“I want pie!” Natalie pulls at my hand and then demands to be held.
“See? You can’t deny this face.” I hold Natalie up, and she gives her daddy a big, goofy grin.
“Fine. Test pie it is. I’ll get one done Saturday.”
“I want pie now!”
“Ugh!” Nate rolls his eyes.
Natalie reaches out for him, and Nate takes her in his arms. She makes the same goofy grin again and points to her cheek.
“This face!” she says, and we all laugh.
After an overly lavish dinner and a few educational games, Nate ushers me into the bedroom with my study notes for my plant-microbe interaction class while he puts Natalie to bed. After about an hour, he joins me, still smiling.
“You really like this, don’t you?” I grin at him as he climbs into the bed next to me.
“What’s not to like?” Nate leans over and places a gentle kiss on my lips. “I’ve got two beautiful girls, a ton of land all around us, and you’re just about to graduate with your degree. Now, if this one is a boy, I’ll probably explode with joy!”
“We’ll find out next week.” I place my notes on the nightstand and turn toward him.
“I can’t wait.” He pulls me close and kisses me again.
After a few minutes of making out and cuddling, Nate breaks away with a more serious look on his face.
“Hey, I wanted to tell you something,” Nate says.
