Chapter 6
When they arrived home, Oliver stopped her at the door. "Wait." He said picking her up.
"Oliver, what are you doing?" Shane asked laughing.
"Welcoming you home and carrying you over the threshold, Mrs. O'Toole." Oliver said kissing her before he carried her through the door. They lingered in the entryway holding one another for a moment.
"It's good to be home." Shane said. He realized it was the first time she'd called his house home. "Oliver, I'd like to show you your wedding gift. Your dad said it was finished." Shane said a bit nervously.
"I thought the dogs were my wedding gift?" Oliver asked puzzled leaning back to look at her. "Do we need to go pick them up?"
"They are and your dad is bringing them over later tonight. When we got engaged, we talked about wanting to make this our home with a family and the dogs are part of it, but I have something for you in the kitchen."
"The kitchen?" He asked confused.
Shane took his hand, and they rounded the corner into the kitchen. Oliver stopped in awe. In place of the kitchen window was a beautiful stained-glass window with a Celtic cross entwined with the bible verse "As for me and my household, we will serve the Lord. Joshua 24:15." At the bottom was The O'Toole Family Est with their wedding date.
When Oliver turned to look at Shane, she could see he was moved. "Shane it's beautiful. The window and its meaning." He cupped her face with his hands and kissed her. Feeling tears drop on his fingers. "Shane?"
"I love you so much." Leaning her head against his chest, "There were times on our honeymoon I felt like I was going to wake up and it was all going to be a dream. It was incredibly wonderful."
Oliver put his arms around her holding her. "This is real Shane. We're not going to disappear. We have it etched in glass," he said smiling. "Maybe after signing Shane O'Toole next week at the lawyers it will feel even more real. She's got heaps of papers for you to go through. You'll have to sign and initial repeatedly," Oliver said laughing.
"Shane O'Toole. I do like the sound of that," Shane said leaning into him.
"Since we're giving gifts, do you want to see yours?" Oliver asked.
Shane looked confused, "I thought the trip and Stockholm…"
"Come with me." Oliver said with a smile leading her back to the bedroom. "Since we decided to rent your house out furnished, Dad and I thought you might want to start our marriage out with new furniture in the bedroom. We made a new bed and matching dressers."
Shane walked in to see brand new furniture in their bedroom. "You made all this?" Shane laughed. "All of those home improvement weekends. I thought your dad's house was literally falling apart. You guys were always over there fixing something the last couple months." She ran a hand over the dresser. "I can't believe you guys were able to finish all of this. Oliver they're gorgeous." She wrapped her arms around him lying her head on his chest while gazing at the furniture. "Thank you."
Oliver grinned mischievously, "We should probably make sure things work maybe test them out."
"By things you mean the bed," Shane said kissing him trying not to laugh at his thinly veiled enthusiasm.
Much later, Joe rang the doorbell arriving with Gryffin and Raven. Shane answered the door hugging Joe. "Thank you for the furniture. It's beautiful." She gave the dogs lots of attention to welcome them.
Oliver came in from the kitchen having gone to admire the window again. "Dad thanks for the install on the window. It looks great."
"Bill helped. The day we installed it we brought the dogs around so they could get used to the house. I have their food in the truck." The dogs had wandered off to explore the house again.
"I'll come help unload," Oliver said. As they went out, Oliver added sheepishly, "I need to get the rest of the luggage out of the car. I got, uh, sidetracked showing Shane the new furniture."
"Sidetracked." Joe chuckled shaking his head. "Shane ordered beds for the dogs. We left them in the utility room when we installed the window. Did Shane enjoy the Stockholm addition to the honeymoon?"
"Yes. The whole trip was amazing." They brought the dog food into the utility room and Joe helped Oliver bring in the rest of the luggage.
"I had groceries delivered earlier. We're having pasta and salad if you want to stay Joe," Shane offered.
"I can't stay when you've just returned," he said objecting.
"Really we want to show you pictures of the trip," Shane said.
Joe looked at Oliver & he nodded. "Well at least let me help get things ready." Shane finished prepping the pasta and sauce, while Oliver finished the salad and Joe set the table. The dogs wandered around generally getting in everyone's way. Oliver could tell Shane loved the chaos they created. After they sat down to eat, Shane & Oliver told Joe all about their trip. When they finished eating, she showed him pictures of Italy as well as the pictures and videos of the balloon trip over Stockholm. Joe left shortly after.
"Should we take the dogs for a walk?" Oliver asked.
They put their leashes on and headed out. Shane had never walked through Oliver's neighborhood other than to come and go after work. They wandered through letting the dogs get to know the area. Afterwards they headed to bed early still feeling like they were on European time. Wrapping his arms around Shane he treasured having her with him looking forward to starting their new life together, "Good night Shane."
"Good night Oliver," Shane said smiling sleepily.
Oliver woke the next morning to feel something breathing on his face. He could feel Shane curled behind him with her arm around him. Opening his eyes suspiciously his fears were confirmed. Gryffin and Raven both had their heads resting on the side of the bed watching him. "Shane. I thought you closed the door to the utility room last night?"
Shane peaked her head over him giggling when she saw the two dogs just inches from his face. "I did. Maybe it didn't latch all the way. They probably want to go outside." Shane let them out in the backyard while Oliver started the coffee. After breakfast they took the dogs for a walk before putting them back in the utility room. They'd taken an extra day off work to finish moving Shane. They met Joe with his truck at Shane's house.
They were renting to a couple that was moving to Denver from Venezuela for the husband to start graduate school at a local university. The wife had found a job at one of the local hospitals. With Alex and her mom's help, Shane had managed to get almost everything packed before the wedding. While Oliver and Joe loaded the porch swing and boxes onto the truck, she managed to finish packing the little that was left. By lunchtime they were back at Oliver's with the dogs meeting them at the front door. Shane looked at Oliver with one eyebrow raised. "I checked the door latched maybe it's broken." Shane let the dogs out in the back while Oliver and Joe went to look at the door.
"It looks fine to me," Joe said. "Why does this door have a levered handle and the rest in the house have rounded doorknobs?"
"I'd have my hands full coming through the utility room taking things in and out. It was easier to open it with my elbow."
"Also, easier for a dog to hit it with a paw and open it," Joe pointed out laughing. "Bill said they're really smart and pick up on things fast."
They sat down to eat discussing they'd need to find another place to leave the dogs or change out the door handle. Shane leaned over petting them. "You guys are too smart." Both dogs edged closer hoping something would fall from the table. Leaving the dogs in the backyard they unloaded the boxes from the truck before letting them back inside.
"Would you mind if I picked them up sometimes during the day when I go for a hike?" Joe asked watching Shane letting them inside. "I don't usually go far if I'm on my own."
"That would be great. I was worried about leaving them while we were at work," Shane answered. "They're still puppies. That's why I took both, so they'd keep each other company. I was afraid one on their own would get lonely."
Joe and Oliver finished unloading the porch swing and set it up. Shane came out to see how far they'd gotten and saw it was done. Oliver was wiping it down. "Joe, thank you for all your help today. It looks great."
Joe put his arm around her shoulder. "You can call me Dad if you'd like."
Shane leaned in to hug him. "I'd like that very much." She looked over through tears to find Oliver smiling at the two of them.
Joe helped Oliver put the round doorknob back on the utility room door and then went home. Oliver found Shane unpacking sheets and towels from a box with the dog's help. She was laughing as they were taking the towels off the shelf as she was putting them on. Oliver shook his head. "Those are all going to need to be washed," he commented.
"They needed to be anyway. They kind of smell musty after sitting in a box for a month. I was about to go get a laundry basket, but they were having so much fun."
"So were you." She laughed.
"I guess I can throw them back in the box to take them into the wash. I still haven't started everything from our trip either."
"I can help bring the suitcases in there."
She took the box in and Oliver started bringing the rest of the suitcases in the utility room. She was loading the washing machine and she turned to find him watching her with a grin. "What are you doing?"
"Enjoying the view." She threw a shirt at him laughing. He caught it and moved closer dropping it on a pile of laundry. He leaned over to kiss her placing his arms on either side of her waist pinning her between him and the washing machine. Her hands moved up his arms, around his neck and into his hair. His hand slid under her shirt running across her skin.
"Oliver, if we don't get laundry done, we're not going to have anything to wear under our clothes tomorrow at work." Shane managed to say while Oliver was kissing his way down her neck to the opening of her shirt.
"A provocative thought Mrs. O'Toole," Oliver said easing back slightly. "I also need to deal with someone playing tug of war with my pants before they get a hole in them."
Shane laughed looking down to find Gryffin pulling on Oliver's pants while Raven was rolling around in the pile of clothes.
"I love it when you get all Mrs. O'Toole on me." Shane said as he separated Gryffin from his pants and redirected him to play with a chew toy. She managed to start the washer while Oliver was occupied. He helped her unload the rest of the suitcases and sort the laundry out, so it was ready to go when the washer was free.
"We need to get them out of here before they start chewing on clothes," Shane said. "Now that we've got the laundry started, why don't you come help me unpack some more boxes?"
"In the bedroom?"
"Maybe later." Shane said over her shoulder with a smile walking out of the room.
"Maybe I can change her mind on the timing," Oliver said with a smile to the dogs as they followed him out.
Later they took the dogs for a walk after putting on more laundry. When they got back, they tried out the porch swing in the new location. The dogs enjoyed sitting on the steps watching the neighborhood and chasing after the squirrels in the yard.
"You don't think they'd catch one?" Shane asked after a near miss.
"I doubt it. I know Bill started training them and they're really well behaved for puppies, but we need to think about how to finish training them."
"Do you want to try to do it at home or take them to a class?"
"I know little about training a dog so we probably should look into a class."
"If you can start dinner, I can check on the laundry and look for one online."
"Sounds good." They rounded up Gryffin and Raven to head inside.
Oliver prepped food to make on the grill. The dogs hovered hoping he might drop something at any moment. After adding another load of laundry, Shane started researching animal trainers. "There's a place near here that has a doggie day care and training facility."
"Excuse me, doggie day care?" Oliver was flummoxed.
"Yes, your dad offered to take them sometimes during the day but when we get into the busy season during the holiday's we can't leave them all day with the hours we keep during that time of year."
Gryffin had given up on Oliver dropping food and brought a toy over to Shane. She started playing with Gryffin. "Tell Oliver you'd get bored and start chewing things up."
She turned to Oliver, "The day care plays with them and takes them out for walks so they get enough activity if we can't provide enough."
"I'm going to go put the food on the grill. It's a new world." He was still shaking his head in disbelief. Raven followed him out still hoping to score some food.
Shane looked at a couple other facilities in the area before going to check on the laundry again. Gryffin followed her still carrying his toy.
After eating they settled on the sofa. The dogs curled together on the floor and Shane curled up next to Oliver reading more about dog training on her tablet while Oliver looked over her shoulder. He played with the ends of her hair reveling in being home again with Shane as his wife thinking 'God is in his universe and all is right with the world'.