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I was relieved when Truitt decided that Rus had to stay, even though Liliana begged. I was impressed he held firm on the rule, yet was gentle about it. There was no doubt he would make an amazing father.
My stomach jumped at the idea of someday having a baby with this man.
“Are your eyes closed?” Truitt asked Liliana.
“Yes!” she squealed in delight as she buried her face into his neck. “I’m not peeking! I pwomise!”
My parents and Ryan were waiting for us at the end of the pathway that led to the house. I was shocked to see that someone had come back and added a few more touches to the outside of the playhouse.
“Who did this?” I asked.
Truitt smiled. “Had to be Jack.”
I shook my head and said, “I’m going to have to give him a big hug and kiss.”
“Over my dead body!” Truitt stated.
We stopped next to my folks, and Ryan peeked at Liliana over Truitt’s shoulder.
“Good morning, pumpkin! Merry Christmas.”
“Uncle Wyan!” Liliana exclaimed.
“Okay, Liliana, close your eyes and don’t open them until we tell you to!” I said as Truitt set her down and I slowly turned her to face the playhouse castle.
I leaned down and said, “Open your eyes, Princess Liliana.”
My daughter let out a scream of delight when she saw the castle. She dashed for the front door before any of us had a chance to even move. My mother and father quickly went after her, followed by Ryan. I turned and faced Truitt, who was watching with a wide grin on his face.
“Thank you,” I said.
He looked at me and tilted his head as if confused. “For what?”
I looked at the playhouse and then back at him again. “For agreeing to do the playhouse and not letting me fire you.”
He laughed and pulled me against his body. “It’s just the beginning, sweetheart.”
I nearly swooned in his arms, but my daughter’s repeated calls to come look at this or that had me walking into the castle. The attention to detail was beyond amazing. Truitt had taken me to a few other playhouses he had designed, and I knew he was extremely talented. They had really thought of everything. I was beyond proud of him.
“In one tower is a dress-up area and stage to perform little plays,” Truitt said from behind me. “The other tower is, of course, Princess Liliana’s bedroom with a little place to do art work.”
“There’s a ballet barre in here!” I gasped as I walked in and saw a small area had been made up as a tiny dance studio. Another area was a little lounge with a small sofa and pillows on the floor. A TV hung from the wall and was flanked by family photos of me, Ryan, and our parents. On one wall was a small bookshelf lined with books that my parents kept in their house for Liliana.
I spun around and watched as Ryan climbed a twisting staircase and followed Liliana and my father up.
Another squeak of delight came from my daughter, followed by one from my father. I looked at Truitt who simply smiled.
“That one is for the older kids. It’s a media room.”
My mouth dropped open. “A media room?”
I quickly climbed the staircase and stopped at the top. Six chairs faced a wall that had a pull-down screen. My parents must have paid a small fortune for this playhouse. Hell, could you even call it that?
“There’s a projector. Holy shit, he put in a projector!” Ryan exclaimed. “I’m totally spending the night more often.”
“Think of the football games we can watch up there,” my daddy said.
I covered my mouth with my hand and stared in disbelief. My mother walked in and had to grab onto one of the recliner chairs.
“It’s your own personal movie theater, Liliana!” my father exclaimed.
“Yay! What’s that?” Liliana asked mid-jump.
“It’s where you watch movies, pumpkin. But on a really big TV,” I answered.
There were two walkable bridges that took you to each tower. Liliana’s bedroom was done up in the most adorable way. It was princess-themed with a light shade of yellow for the wall color. My heart soared as I watched Liliana climb up onto the bed. A beautiful net surrounded the bed and could be closed or left open.
“This is too much. Way too much,” I mumbled. I faced my mother. “Did you have to take a loan out on this? How in the world did he get this thing built in just a few months?”
She shrugged. “He devoted all his time to it from what I’m told. Paid his employees overtime to get it done by Christmas Eve. He didn’t do it for me, he did it for her.”
My mother pointed to Liliana who was spinning around the room and laughing.
“I plan on having more grandchildren, so it was a good investment. Truitt said the dress-up room in the other tower can easily be made into another bedchamber, should we need to make one for a boy.”
