*Thank-you for the reviews on the last chapter. They were greatly appreciated. Thank-you all so much.*
A couple days had passed since we arrived at the home in Connecticut. It's much quieter and a lot more peaceful than the city but I miss the city and I can tell that Dean misses it too. I honestly don't blame him New York is his home, it is where his empire is located. The house is more like a mansion in the middle of nowhere surrounded by a wooded area with a large pond off behind the house. The house stood alone behind gates and a long winding driveway, no one could find us if they wanted to. I feel safe here, I feel like no one can get to us here. The inside of the house was decorated similar to the penthouse and had the museum feel to it with a lot of antiques throughout the house. There were more rooms than I could count. Zoey's bedroom had been transferred into the Make Believe bedroom created for her at the penthouse and Dean ordered for a swing set to be set up in the backyard for her to play on in the unusually warm November weather. "Mommy," says Zoey as we walk through the wooded area near the pond. "Look," she says showing me a small pebble.
"What is that?" I ask with a smile, happy to have my baby girl back. She's been adjusting well and she's still warming up to Dean. It's taking a bit of time but she's getting there.
"A rock," she says with a smile. "A pretty rock, there are lots of pretty rocks," she says with excitement. She bends down to pick them up with her tiny hands, scooping them up with the mud.
"Let me help you, Sweetie," I say as I kneel down with her to pick up pebbles with her. I help her put them into the bucket she brought with her on our walk. We fill the bucket up a quarter of the way with different color rocks, pebbles and stones with mud mixed in with it. "I think it's time to go back to the house and clean up all your treasures and it's time for lunch."
"Okay, Mommy," she says as she stands up and picks up her bucket with her tiny hand. "Catch me, Mommy!" she says with a smile.
"Okay," I smile, "I'm going to get you!" I say with a smile before she squeals and she takes off running in her ladybug raincoat and her ladybug rain boots just as an Autumn rain begins to fall from the sky. I chase after her all the way to the back door of the mansion. "I caught you!" I say scooping her up in my arms. She looks at me with her big blue eyes and a big smile on her face. "And now I'm going to tickle you!" I say with a smile before I start to tickle her making her squirm and giggle in my arms. Her heart-melting giggles are music to my ears. I have longed so long to hear those little sounds from her.
"MOMMY!" she squeals through her giggles that turn into complete laughter. It's the sweetest sound I have ever heard. I kiss her forehead softly as I stop tickling her.
"I love you, Zoey."
"I love you, Mommy," she says softly. I put her down on her feet and open the door to the house. We take off our shoes by the door and put them on the mat before I take of her rain jacket and hang it up on the hooks by the door. "I want to show Dean my pebbles," she says.
"How about we clean them up first then we'll go show Dean your pebbles, okay?"
"Okay, Mommy," she says happily. She skips to the kitchen with her bucket in her hand and I walk behind her. We make our way into the kitchen and we walk over to the sink. I put the bucket in the sink and let water from the faucet fall into it to wash up the pebbles. I dump the bucket out in the sink and let the water hit the pebbles before I clean out the bucket to free it from mud. I put the clean pebbles into the bucket as Dean's butler comes into the kitchen with Zoey and me as I am cleaning up the pebbles.
"Excuse me, Ms. Journey," he says, "but is there anything I can get for you and Zoey?" he asks. It's weird to have a maid and a butler but Dean lives in luxury. I feel useless not really contributing to anything but Dean told me he prefers I take it easy and take care of Zoey.
"I think Zoey is ready for lunch," I say looking at Zoey trying to ignore the fact that she's the spitting image of her father. She is her father's twin with his blue eyes, the same blue eyes I once fell in love with but I love them a lot more on my little girl, she has his nose and her mouth is the same as his. Her hair is less blonde than his and it curls more like mine. "Are you ready for lunch?" I ask.
"Yes, Mommy," she says.
"What would you like?" I ask her.
"Um," she says in her tiny voice. "Chicken nuggets, macaroni and cheese and applesauce," she says, "with strawberry milk."
"I'll take care of it," says the butler.
"Thank-you," I say with a smile. "Do you know where Mr. Ambrose is?"
"He is in his home office," he answers me.
"Thank-you," I say with a smile as I pick Zoey up and she picks up the bucket. I walk through the mansion to Dean's home office. I walk into the office and see him sitting at his desk looking at some paperwork on his computer. He's so focused and it is one of his sexiest qualities. His hair his undone and he is wearing a light blue sweater. He rests his hand on his chin and squints as he looks at the computer. I smile as I take in the sight of him. I pinch myself every day when I realize he's mine. I don't know how I got so lucky but I consider myself the luckiest women in the world. "You know if you wore your glasses you wouldn't have to squint," I tease with a smile.
He looks over to the door and smiles his gorgeous smile. He stands up from the computer and makes his way over to Zoey and me but I meet him half way. "I'm sorry," he says before he kisses my lips softly. "I have a deadline to reach and I have to get all this work done, the last couple days have put me behind so I'm trying to catch up."
"It's okay," I say with a smile, "I understand." He looks even better as he stands in front of me in his blue jeans, the blue sweater bringing out his beautiful blue eyes. "Do you need anything?"
"No, Sam just brought me some coffee."
"Okay because Zoey is getting ready to eat lunch and then she's going to go down for a nap."
"No nap!" protests Zoey.
"Yes, you're taking a nap," I say.
"No, nap," she shakes her head, "no nap."
"Yes!" I argue with my almost 3 year old daughter.
"Zoey," says Dean, "I'll tell you what, if you take a nap you and I can finger paint when you wake up, how does that sound?"
"Okay," she says with a smile.
"You're such a briber," I say with a smile.
"It worked didn't it?" he asks with a smile as he takes Zoey from my arms as she reaches for him.
"Shut up."
He lets out a small chuckle. "It's okay, you still love me," he says before he kisses my forehead.
"I do," I say with a smile.
"I love you too," he says. "So what's in this bucket?" he asks Zoey.
"Rocks and pebbles," she answers. "You want one?" she asks offering him one.
"Please," he says with a smile as she reaches into the bucket and pulls out a little blue pebble and hands it to him. "Thank-you."
"You're welcome," she says with a smile. I smile as I watch them together. Despite how shy Zoey was around him at first she has really gotten comfortable with him and as nervous as he seems to be around a two year old he does pretty well with her.
"I'm going to put it right here on my desk," he says as he walks over to his desk and lays it down on the wooden desk. "So what's for lunch?" he asks her.
"Chicken nuggets," she answers with a smile as he sits on his desk holding her on his lap.
"Hmm, sounds pretty good, dinosaur chicken nuggets?"
"Um yeah, those are the best ones!" she says making me smile.
"I agree," he whispers. "They're my favorite too. What else is for lunch?"
"Macaroni and cheese!"
"I like that too is it Spongebob or Trolls?" he asks.
"Spongebob!" she says with a smile as he high fives her.
"My favorite."
"Me too," she says with a smile as Sam the Butler comes into the office interrupting their conversation.
"Miss Zoey," he says, "your lunch is ready."
"Okay," she says as Dean lets her down on her feet. She hands him her bucket and then walks over to Sam. Sam takes her hand and walks her to the kitchen like he usually does for lunchtime.
"Come here," says Dean calling me to him. I make my way over to him as he sits on his desk. He spreads his legs allowing me to settle between them. He wraps his arms around my waist. I lean down and kiss his soft lips passionately.
"You're so good with her," I say as we break the kiss.
"I'm trying," he says. "I have never really had a kid to take care of. I'm learning."
"You're doing great. And she's warming up to you pretty good."
"She is so I must be doing something right," he says with a smile. "At least she talks to me now."
"And she's giving you pebbles," I say with a smile as I play with his wild hair. "You need a haircut."
"I know," he says, "I'll get around to it."
"I do kind of like it like this," I smile.
"Well, then I can put it off a little longer," he says. "So you two went to the pond?"
"She loves the pond. We go every day, rain or shine, hot or cold she needs her daily time at the pond since we can't really go anywhere else. I feel like I am keeping her a prisoner here."
"Right now it's the best for all of us if we don't go anywhere."
"We can't stay in this house forever, I want to go out and have fun. I want to put Zoey in ballet class and gymnastics."
"I'll tell you what until I know where Cody is and I can ensure that you are both safe I can hire a dance instructor and a gymnastics coach to come here to work with her. I can turn one of the spare rooms into a dance studio and a gymnastics room."
"The whole point is for her to socialize, Dean. She needs interaction with other children."
"I see your point, let me see what I can find around here that I can trust that Cody won't find her."
"All right," I say, "and her birthday is coming up. She's going to be three."
"I know," he says, "what did you have in mind for her birthday?"
"I don't know," I shrug as my arms settle over his shoulders. "She doesn't know any kids so we can't really invite kids to a birthday party for her. I was thinking of taking her to some tumbling place for the day, then coming back here to have cake and ice-cream, have her open some presents."
"Sounds like a plan to me," he says. "I'll have my assistant get this all planned out."
"Honey," I say with a smile, "I am your assistant."
"Journey," he says, "I think we are beyond that now. You're my girlfriend NOT my assistant. It doesn't feel right using you as an assistant. Besides I don't want you working for me, I want you working with me," he says with a smile.
"I know NOTHING about your business," I say, "so that's impossible."
"You know that one day this empire I created will be yours too, right?"
"How so?" I ask.
"When you become my wife," he says with a smile. "Because one day you're going to be my wife and we're going to rule our little empire together and we're going to have two or three little kids running around with Zoey."
"You think of stuff like that?" I ask.
"Yeah," he says, "I do."
"And your empire is hardly small, it's global."
"Same difference," he smiles. "So I am trying to figure out how Cody managed to find you in New York. I put a halt on all those media frenzies of our pictures together so it's not like we were publicized. I don't know how he discovered you were in New York."
"I don't know either," I say, "He found out somehow."
"I'll figure it out," he says, "And I will make sure he is found."
"I know you will, Baby," I say. "Is that what you were working on?"
"No, I have my guys working on that I was actually working on a new child's toy."
"A child's toy? That isn't usually your style," I say.
"I'm trying something new. I want to use Zoey for my ideas. I want to start a children's toy line how does that sound?"
"It sounds good," I say. I smile at him.
"What?" he asks with a smile. "Why are you looking at me like that?"
"Because you're changing for one little girl," I say. "Everything about you has changed."
"Is that a bad thing or a good thing?" he asks rubbing my back.
"I think it's a good thing. You're reaching out to a completely different audience. You know I have always wanted to design children's clothes," I say. "I always thought it would be cool to be a kid's fashion designer, you know little tutus and boutique clothes for girls."
"That's not a bad idea," he says, "if you want to do that I can endorse you. I can help you get started. You and I can create a children's toy line and a complete clothing line together," he says, "how does that sound?"
"I think we can make that work," I say with a smile. "I look forward to working with you."
"I look forward to marrying you someday," he says with a smile before he kisses my lips softly.
*A/N: What do you think of Journey's interaction with Zoey? Do you think they get along well? Do you think Connecticut is a better place for them? What did you think of Zoey talking to Dean? What do you think of Dean's relationship with her? How do you think Cody found out where they were if nothing was publicized? Will Dean find out? What do you think of Dean telling Journey that he wants to work with her not have her work for him? Do you think her idea of starting a clothing line will flourish? What about Dean starting a children's toy line? Have Zoey and Journey changed him? What about him telling her she will be his wife someday? Please review and thank-you for reading.