"Wow! Our new house!" Katrina ran through the front door, marveling at the site of their house now filled with furniture.
"Oh, Rafe, it looks great!"
"Are you sure? Because we can always arrange the furniture another way if you don't like it. The moving men had to sit it all down somewhere."
Alison looked to Rafe and smiled. "It's perfect."
"I wanna see my room! Can I?"
Rafe laughed. "Well of course, Princess! This is our house now! Look around! And I think you'll get a big surprise when you go up there."
Katrina laughed, making her way over to the staircase. She began to run.
"Don't run on those stairs!" Alison warned. "Why do I have a feeling I'm going to be saying that a lot?"
Rafe laughed. "Come on, let's follow her. I want to show you too."
"Show me what?"
"Just come on." Rafe took Alison's hand, leading her up the stairs.
"WOW!" Katrina ran out of her bedroom, meeting her parents in the hallway. "Mommy! Daddy! Come look! You've GOT to see this!"
Rafe and Alison followed Katrina, and once in the room, Alison could see what all the fuss was about.
The room was fit for a princess, and for a little girl who really loved horses.
"Look! Pink walls! And my name over the bed! And look at that! It's so pretty!" Katrina pointed to a framed picture of a running horse. "And look at this!"
Over in the corner, there was a carousel horse. Katrina wasted no time and hopped on. "My room's the BEST!"
Alison couldn't help but laugh. "Katrina, you have a beautiful room!" She turned to Rafe. "You had something to do with this, didn't you?"
"Well, just a little bit. Lucy did most of it. The carousel horse was her idea by the way. She about drove Don crazy sending him all over town to look for that."
Alison laughed. "Well when Lucy sets her mind to something, there's nothing stopping her. Looks like she did a fantastic job."
"She did the nursery too."
"Lucy's been busy!"
Rafe laughed. "Well she figured with all of the moving and packing, we'd need some help. Less work for us, right?"
Alison laughed.
"Princess, you want to come see your brother's room?"
"Yeah!" Katrina hopped off the horse and followed her parents.
The nursery walls were painted blue, which made this definitely a boy's room according to Katrina. Over in the corner, a rocking chair sat, which Alison had almost forgotten they still had. It had been sitting in the shed ever since they didn't need it anymore.
"I hope you like the bedding," Rafe said. "Lucy picked it all out herself and she swore up and down that we would be pleased."
Alison walked over to the crib, running her hand along the blue blanket. "I love it." Alison felt tears starting to sting her eyes.
Rafe was used to Alison being all emotional lately. "What is it?" he asked, putting his arm over her shoulder.
"It's just the crib, and the rocking chair. It's just that I almost forgotten what they looked like I hadn't seen it in so long."
"Well I told you we'd be keeping them. I knew we'd be needing them again."
Katrina peered into the crib, wondering what all the fuss was about.
"This used to be your bed, Princess."
"I used to sleep in that?"
Rafe laughed. "Yes. When you were a baby."
"How come I slept with boy covers?"
Alison and Rafe both laughed.
"You had different covers, Princess. These are your brother's."
"Oh."
"So what do you think of your brother's room, Katrina?" Alison asked.
"I like it! But my room is better."
Rafe and Alison laughed again.
"Ooo!" Katrina pointed to the letters on the wall. "G-A-B-R-I-E-L," she spelled slowly. "Does that say 'Gabe'?"
Rafe walked over to Katrina and scooped her up in his arms. "Close. It says Gabriel."
"Oh. I wanna go write Gabriel's name. I wanna learn how to spell it."
"That's a great idea. Why don't you go to your room and practice it. I think you have some markers and paper in your bookbag in your closet."
"Okay!"
Rafe set Katrina down and she ran out of the room.
"So, we've seen the children's rooms. How about checking out ours?" Rafe asked.
"I was hoping you would suggest that." Alison took Rafe's hand and they walked out of the room.
xxxxxxxxxxx
"What do you think you're doing?" Rafe asked, walking into the kitchen and seeing Alison opening up boxes.
"I'm unpacking. Katrina wanted a sandwich so I made her one, and I had to get a plate out of the box. Then I decided to unpack all of the dishes."
Rafe walked over to her, placing his hands over hers. "Let me do this. You rest. It's been a long day, and you must be tired."
"But I'm fine."
"But no buts," Rafe said, putting a finger to her lip.
"Rafe, you're being totally unreasonable, you know this, don't you?If you won't let me unpack the kitchenware then I'm just going to go right upstairs and start unpacking my clothes. Besides, you don't know where any of this will go and I bet you'll manage to break something."
Rafe sighed. He had to admit it, but she was probably right about that. "Okay. But look, do me a favor. Don't pick up anymore of these boxes. Some of them are really heavy."
"Alright, I won't," Alison agreed, giving him a kiss.
"Thank you. Now, I think I'll head to the car and get some things out of the trunk."
"Okay."
Just then, the doorbell rang.
"I wonder who that could be," Rafe said.
"We have our first visitors! Let's go find out."
Rafe followed Alison out to the living room and she answered the door.
"Livvie! Eve! Oh my gosh, what is this?" Alison laughed.
"Housewarming presents, what did you think?" Livvie smiled, holding up a delicious smelling apple pie.
"And every new house needs a new houseplant," Eve added, holding up a hanging basket with leafy green stems trailing from the sides.
"Oh I love it, come on in!"
"Danny! You two come on!" Eve called out.
Livvie and Eve stepped inside, and Danny and Charlotte followed moments later.
"Wow, cool house!" Danny said.
"Cool house!" Charlotte repeated.
"Katrina's upstairs if you two want to go play," Alison told them. "Katrina!"
Katrina came running halfway down the stairs. "What?"
"Your friends are here."
"Hey! C'mere you guys! I wanna show you my room!"
Danny ran up the stairs, following Katrina.
Charlotte trailed behind. "Hey! Wait for me! Katrina!"
"Thank you so much for the gifts, girls!" Alison said, taking the plant from Eve. "How about we set that pie in the kitchen and I'll show you around?"
"Sounds good!" Livvie said.
"I think I'll start unloading the car," Rafe announced, nodding to Eve and Livvie as he headed outside.
"Well I'm afraid the house is kind of a disaster right now with all of the boxes and stuff," Alison apologized. "But once we get things unpacked it'll look a lot better."
"Oh we can help!" Eve suggested.
"Really?"
"Sure! That's what friends are for, right?" Livvie added.
"Oh, that would be great! We could use the help. Thanks so much! But, we can't do it right now."
"Why not?" Livvie asked.
"Because…we have to have some of that delicious pie first!"
The girls laughed, and Alison dug out some plates and forks for the pie.