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“The big stroller?” Ana’s mom said, noticing that he had gotten it out of his truck.

“I thought we might take a longer walk than usual,” he said with a mysterious smile.

Theo ran right up and grabbed the stroller to push it down the sidewalk himself.

“Careful,” Ana told him, smiling at his boisterous energy and turning toward Harvard, where the cherry blossoms were blooming and drifting down from the row of trees that led toward the park.

“Let’s go the other way today,” Rory said, heading up Ambler toward Park instead of down.

“Okay,” Ana said, wondering why he’d want to go that way.

But Theo was in danger of running the stroller into a nice couple who were walking their dogs, so she had to sprint after him to make sure there wasn’t an accident instead of asking Rory about the change in their usual route.

When they got to Park, they turned right and headed down past the shops toward the park from the other direction. But Rory said they should go left onto Columbia.

Ana was pretty sure he was up to something, but keeping Theo from plowing the stroller into front lawns and driveways was enough to keep all three adults busy, so there wasn’t really time to get into it. He would tire himself out soon, and then either walk hand-in-hand with one of them, or ask to go in the stroller himself for a nice rest.

A bit farther along, Rory indicated they should go down Vassar Avenue.

Theo stopped, finally feeling ready to get in the stroller, much to Ana’s relief. Once he was settled in, she turned to ask Rory what was going on.

But before she had a chance, she spotted Sloane Greenfield standing in front of a pretty Arts & Crafts bungalow with a porch swing and a deep front lawn.

“Rory,” she said softly, not believing what she was seeing.

“I didn’t buy it,” he told her right away. “But if you like it, we can make an offer.”

“Oh,” Ana breathed.

“Only if we all like it,” he said, turning to her mom.

“Hello, everyone,” Sloane said. “Let’s go in and take a look.”

Her smile was so happy that Ana couldn’t help smiling back. Sloane had lots to be glad about these days, but it seemed that she was especially happy to see their family looking at a home of their own.

“I’ll stay out with Theo so you two can have the first look,” Ana’s mom said softly as Sloane opened up the house.

“Absolutely not,” Rory broke in before Ana could answer. “You both need to see it. I’ll carry Theo.”

“Of course, Rory,” her mother replied, squeezing Ana’s arm. “We’ll all see it.”

“Now, the backyard is on the smaller side,” Sloane said. “But the front is very nice and the house is more spacious than it looks.”

They went inside and Ana could have cried. The wood floors were so pretty and every single window seemed to have a gorgeous view of trees and flowers. There was a nice living room, a separate dining room, and a great big kitchen. Upstairs there were two large bedrooms and one smaller one along with a nice big bathroom.

By the time they came back down, Theo was wide awake, admiring all of the rooms and looking for things to fix.

“Kids,” Ana’s mom said quietly beckoning them to her when they were back in the living room and Theo was talking with Sloane about fixing cars.

The three adults moved closer to the fireplace while Theo asked Sloane important questions about the house, like whether or not there might be rabbits in the yard.

“Listen,” Ana’s mom said to her and Rory. “I need you to know something. I’m very happy in the apartment. This is a perfect house for a young family, and if you decide you want another child, there’s plenty of room for more kids if I’m not tagging along.”

“Mami, no,” Ana said. “We would never…”

“It’s true,” Rory said, heading back toward the kitchen. “There is room upstairs for another child or two if we wanted, Ana.”

“Rory,” she said, trying to keep up. “You know how I feel about…”