With all the preparations for the wedding and the house, mixed in with each running a successful business, Zach and Kendall barely had time to breathe and the month of November was over before they realized it.
They did manage to take off for Thanksgiving, at Erica's insistence. Erica had practically harassed Kendall about showing up for the family dinner at the Valley Inn, reluctantly Kendall agreed after informing her Mother that she would be bringing her Husband along. Erica being Erica, still insisted that Kendall's marriage to Zach was strictly business and that Zach was not a member of the family, but she knew if she wanted Kendall there that she had to agree to let Zach come along. That still didn't deter Erica from taking a jab at Zach any chance she got, which in turn allowed Zach to get a few cracks in himself.
During the second week of December Zach had received a call informing him that the house was complete and awaited his and Kendall's final approval. After Zach had ended his call with the contractor he called Kendall.
"Hey Baby, I just received a call from Mr. Baxter, he said the house is finished. They need us to do a walk through and give our approval. Do you think you can get away for a bit ?" Zach asked
"Actually you are in luck" she answered " I just finished up the last of my work for the day, so I am all yours"
"Great, I will pick you up in 20 minutes. I love you" he said as he ended the call
Forty five minutes later they were pulling up the driveway of their new home, Mr. Baxter was waiting for them.
"Mr. and Mrs. Slater, Thank you for coming out so quickly. I hope I didn't pull you away from anything important" Mr. Baxter said as Zach closed Kendall's car door.
Zach walked over and shook Mr. Baxter's hand " No problem at all."
"I can't believe you have the house finished already" Kendall added
"Well we will leave it up to the two of you to decide if our part is finished or not. Shall we ?" he asked as he unlocked the front door
Kendall walked through the large front door into the foyer followed by Zach then Mr. Baxter.
All the floors in the house were either done in hardwood and stained in a rich maple color or had Italian marble in earth tone colors. Every room in the house, but three, had been painted in a light mocha color with a faux finish of darker mocha shades that made it appear to be suede. Kendall had fallen in love with the faux painting when she saw a picture of it when they were picking out the kitchen cabinets
Kendall's heels clicked on the Italian marble floor in the foyer as she walked to the first room on her left, the living room. She went down the two steps into the room. It was a big room, 14' x 20' with 13' ceilings, cream colored walls and hardwood floors. Next they went across the foyer to the dining room, which was done the same way as the living room. From there the three went into the kitchen and breakfast area.
"Oh it's beautiful, it looks just like the picture " Kendall exclaimed as she looked around.
They had made a few small changes to the kitchen when they were picking out the cabinets. They decided to put a Sub-Zero full upright refrigerated wine rack where the blue prints showed the oven going, and they moved the oven the island with the stove.
As Kendall was moving about the kitchen inspecting all the cabinets she came to the built-in refrigerator.
"Zach can you explain to me why you felt we needed this monstrous refrigerator ? I mean look at it, it is hugh" Kendall asked "and I don't even like to cook, I barely even shop for food."
Zach couldn't help but laugh "Kendall just because you don't like to cook, doesn't mean that I don't. I actually enjoy cooking and find it very relaxing."
"But did we really need one THIS big ?" she laughed
"It isn't that big, its only 36 inches" he replied "remember you wouldn't let me get the one that was 48 inches"
Kendall just rolled her eyes and laughed as she walked into the family room, Zach and Mr. Baxter trailing behind.
The family room is a large room, it is 16' x 24' with 16' ceilings, cream colored walls and hardwood floors. Zach had suggested that they add some open beams to the ceiling to give it more depth and dimension, he also wanted to add two ceiling fans. In the center of the long wall was a fireplace. Zach had requested that the fireplace be fronted with the Italian marble then he wanted the contractors to make a mantle to go along with the style and color of cabinets that were used through out the house to frame the marble fronting. The blueprints showed a built-in entertainment center to the left of the fireplace. Zach had redesigned it a bit to make the entertainment center a corner unit. He also had them make a built-in lighted corner shelving unit with an enclosed cabinet on the bottom to go on the other side of the arch way on the same wall as the entertainment center.
As Zach inspected the room he noticed a series of what looked like speakers built into the ceiling. "Craig, are those speakers in the ceiling ? "
"Yes they are" Mr. Baxter answered
"Mind if I ask why they are in my ceiling ? " he asked
Mr. Baxter just looked at Kendall " I think I will let your wife answer that one"
Zach turned to look at his wife
"I wanted it to be a surprise" she began " I know how much you enjoy your music, so I asked Mr. Baxter to have a surround sound system wired into the house. That way no matter where you are in the house you will be able to listen to music if you want to."
"I can't believe you did that, Thank you" he said with a big smile
Mr. Baxter began to explain how the system worked as he walked up two steps, through the archway and made a quick turn to the right and stopped at the base of the steps. "This is the main control unit for the system." he said as he showed them the panel on the wall " this button here makes it so every room in the house has the music coming into it. If you don't want to have the music through out the entire house you can just pick the rooms you want it in. Each room is assigned a number, simply hold this button down while you select the rooms you want to have music. We have even installed outdoor speakers along the deck as well. The system isn't limited to just music either, you can have your television hooked into the system too "
"How is the control panel hooked into the stereo system ? " Zach asked
Mr. Baxter walked back into the family room and knelt down in front of the entertainment system and opened the bottom cabinet door. "If you look down here you will see that we have the jacks already here. You know how the wires come out of the back of the stereo and plug into your speakers, well instead of plugging them into the speakers you plug them in here. Then if you want to hook your TV into the system" he continued as he stood up " just run audio jacks from your TV and plug them in here"
"Impressive " Zach said as he gave Kendall a hug
"How do the two of you like how the exposed ceiling beams turned out ?" Mr. Baxter asked
" I love how it looks, it definitely adds to the room" Kendall replied
Next they went to inspect Zach's office, which is 14' x 14' with hardwood floors. After checking out the powder room and utility room they headed upstairs. Once upstairs they checked the two guest rooms and bathroom before heading into the master bedroom.
The master suite is 16' x 20' with hardwood floors, Off to the right of the bedroom was a dressing room which contained two large walk-in closets. Beyond the dressing area was the master bath.
Upon first entering the master bath Kendall couldn't help but notice the large 3' x 6' black whirlpool tub directly in front of her on the far wall. The tub was surrounded by a large platform of black marble and had a wooden facing to match the cabinets.
"What do you think ? " Zach asked
" I love it " was all she could say
"Well Mr. Baxter, I think it is safe to say that the house is finished." Zach said " I want to thank you for getting it done on time, we really appreciate it "
"It was our pleasure, and I am so happy you like it. If there are any problems don't hesitate to give me a call." he said "Here are your keys, and I think I will see myself out so you and Mrs. Slater can enjoy your new home. "
After Mr. Baxter left, Zach walked back into the bedroom and found Kendall on the little deck outside of their room.
"You are going to freeze out here" he said as he came up behind her and wrapped his arms around here "So you feel like doing some shopping ? "
"Sure " she said with a smile " Not that I have ever been one to turn down a shopping trip, but can I ask what we are shopping for ? "
"Well in case you have forgotten, we will be moving in here in two weeks, it might be nice if we have some furniture. Unless you were planning on using the furniture we put in storage when we sold the condos " he teased
"Come on, lets go " she said as she ran down the stairs "Loser has to pay "
Zach just laughed as he chased after her down the steps and to the car
"You cheated " he said as he climbed into the car
"How did I cheat" she grinned
" I had to lock the house up" he joked as he drove down the highway
The first thing they purchased was their bedroom suite. The bed was a California King, with a tall wooden headboard that had a wrought iron decorative piece on the top.
" Ok, we have all we need, lets go get some dinner" Zach announced
Kendall laughed "We need more then just a bed Zach"
" We bought the rest of the set too. What else could we possibly need ? " he replied with a grin on his face
" I plan on spending just as much time in this bed as you do, but I think our company would appreciate a place to sit besides our bed" she pointed out
"Who said anything about company, and having company would require us wearing clothes" he argued
"Zach" she laughed
"Fine, where to next" he pouted
Next they bought an oval pedestal table with arrowback chairs for the breakfast area. From there they found a mocha colored sectional for the family room and a mocha recliner. Zach found a square white stone table with an iron base for the coffee table.
For the living room Kendall picked out a more formal looking couch and ordered two for the room. She also found a large rectangle shaped table that had a wooden frame and had dark shades of slate inlaid in the top, the legs were done in wrought iron along with the matching end tables.
Next Kendall found a bed for one of the guest rooms
"Zach, what do you think of this bed ? " she asked
" I like any bed that you pick out " he said with a grin
"I am serious, do you like it ? " she laughed
"Yes I like it, but I thought we already picked out our bed" he answered
"We did. I was thinking of this for one of the guest rooms"
"Kendall, do we really need to pick out all of the furniture tonight ? " he smiled
"No" she replied "but I just saw this and I love it. I think it would look great in the house."
Zach turned to the salesman "You heard the lady, we will take this set as well"
"Yes Sir" he said as he added it to the list of items they had already picked out
Kendall just smiled "Ok, now I think I am done. How about that dinner you promised me a while ago"
Zach had ordered some food from a local Chinese place and they picked it up on the way back to the casino. Once they got to their suite they began unpacking their dinner. As they ate Kendall couldn't help but babble on about how she planned on arranging the furniture in their new home. Zach just sat back and smiled at her.
"What are you smiling at ? " she asked
"You " he laughed "I love how excited you are about the house. Your eyes are just lit right up"
"I want to thank you for today. I had a lot of fun" she said as she leaned over and gave him a kiss
" I would of taken you shopping a long time ago if I knew it would make you smile like that" he said as he brushed a curl out of her face
"You make me smile like that" she said as she kissed him again. "Can you believe Christmas is a week away ?"
"That reminds me. What would you like for Christmas ?" Zach asked
Kendall sat there looking at him "Zach, you are all that I have ever wanted, I don't need anything else"
"As nice as that sounds, I can not get you nothing for Christmas. So come on and tell me, what would you like ?" he pleaded
"Seriously I don't want a thing. I have all that I could ever want right here" she replied
Zach just let out a sigh " I had thought about getting you a new engagement ring, but I thought I would ask you first. I mean the one you have now wasn't exactly given to you with the true meaning of an engagement ring"
"Don't you dare, I love this ring. I know when you gave it to me we weren't in love, but that changed and to me this ring is a symbol of the love we found in each other since we got married" she protested
"Have I told you lately how much I love you" Zach said as he kissed her forehead
Kendall just smiled "Yes, but I never get tired of hearing it"
"So when is Bianca going to arrive ? " Zach asked
"On Wednesday " Kendall answered
"Don't you think Mom will be a bit suspicious that Bianca is staying through New Years ? " he asked
"All my Mother cares about is the fact that Bianca is coming for a visit. Besides Bianca told her that since she was coming from Paris she wanted to stay a few weeks and visit since she didn't get to see everyone when Mother and Jack got married. Trust me, my Mother is none the wiser"
Before they knew it the week was over and it was Christmas