Finding Our New Home (Part 3)

[South East Vancouver. 1:24 pm]

Mal's POV

We followed Kelsey to the last home. And oh my god, was this house nice. Unlike the other ones which were close to each other in a neighborhood, this house was in a neighborhood as well, but there was a good amount of land in between homes. Plus it was right at the end of the street that was about a mile from the harbor.

"I think you two are really going to love this home. It's priced at three hundred and fifty five thousand, but it's been on the market for a little over a month, so I think we can easily negotiate the price down." Kelsey said as we walked up the driveway.

This already sounds promising. This house had a nice tone of colors. It was mostly tan, but with a grey roof and white window trim. It's a two story home that has three bedrooms, two and a half baths and a bonus room. Kelsey unlocked the doors and let us walk in first.

"Oh my god." Evie said.

"This is not bad." I said.

First thing we noticed is the large open foyer. And past it was the living room and kitchen. It had the right amount of open concept as the house in my dream. And the kitchen was less outdated than the last three homes. The appliances were nice as well, all stainless steel. But it didn't seem like they come with the house. But anyway, large open space in the living room and the dining area. The kitchen was a little smaller than I would like it to be, but I can see it getting bigger. There is enough room for it to be expanded without too much living room space being taken away. I looked at the large dining table that was staged in the dining area and I can see our family sitting and eating meals together.

"Oh, this is nice." Evie said.

"Let's take a look at the rest of it." I said.

"I'll stay here in the kitchen." Kelsey said.

"Okay."

I grabbed Evie's hand and we walked back to the foyer and up the stairs, eager to check it out first. When we got to the top, we saw a door at the end of one hallway to the left and a door at the end of another hallway to the right. We decided to check out the left door first.

"Is that the master?" Evie asked.

"Let's see." I said.

I opened the door for Evie and followed her in. Indeed it was the master. A large bedroom.

"How big is this house again?" I asked.

Evie looked at the paper regarding the info about the house.

"Seventeen hundred square feet." she replied.

"That's why everything here is big." I said.

"It seems like this house could have four or five bedrooms. But I guess the designers took that away so there will be more space." Evie said.

"That could be. It makes sense." I said.

Evie opened the door leading to the bathroom.

"M, check this out."

I looked past Evie's shoulder and gasped.

"Wow." I said.

The bathroom was set up similar to the bathroom in my dream. Large glass shower, rectangular soaker tub on the left and a large countertop with double sinks with a large rectangular mirror stretched across to meet the length of the countertop on the right. And it was less outdated than the bathrooms in the other homes.

"I can see us having a good time here." I said.

"Indeed." Evie said.

We left the bathroom and noticed another door on the same wall, just a bit farther down. I opened it and laughed.

"E, look at this." I said.

Evie walked up to me and laughed as well.

"Oh that's perfect." she said.

It was a large walk-in closet with lots of storage space.

"Omg, Mal, this is amazing." Evie said as she twirled around.

"Think there's enough space for my clothes?" I asked.

"Of course, baby. This is perfect."

We left and walked to the other end. Along the way, there were a few doors on the walls. Each of them were small closets set up like linen closets. Evie opened the door at the other end of the hallway and we were surprised to see it was the bonus room.

"Oh my god. This is a perfect space for a sewing room." she said.

I smiled as I saw the happiness in Evie's face.

"Sweetness." I said.

"Hmm?" Evie said as she turned to me.

I pulled her into a nice passionate kiss.

"What was that for?" Evie asked.

I shrugged.

"Just wanted to do it." I replied.

"Oh you." Evie said as she blushed a bit.

We walked further in the bonus room and Evie opened a set of double doors that were the closet of the bonus room, while I peeked through the blinds at the window.

"Evie, look at this." I said.

Evie walked over to me as I opened the blinds to reveal the view.

"Oh, wow." Evie said.

It was a view of the harbor not far in the distance.

"That is a great view." I said.

"It sure is." Evie said.

Evie gave me a hug from behind.

"I'm really loving this house." she said.

"Me too." I said.

"Let's look at the downstairs and then the backyard." Evie said.

"After you." I said.

We walked downstairs and checked out the bedrooms and the other bathroom that was between the two bedrooms. Perfect as guest bedrooms. The half bath was located by the kitchen. The floors were hardwood all around, except the stairs, kitchen, bathrooms and bedrooms. Bedrooms and stairs are carpet and the kitchen and bathrooms are tiles. We arrived at the back door which was located in a nice size laundry room that had some cabinets and a countertop that would be perfect for folding clothes. Evie let me walk out first and our eyes locked on the amazing backyard. The back door is greeted by a covered porch that's wood and tan in color. We walked down a few steps from the porch and were standing on the ground. There are many soft pebble rocks surrounding the length of the porch that extends outward by about a few feet.

Then after that, is all grass. Evie and I walked along the grass and stopped at a black metal fence that surrounded the backyard up until the house. And Vancouver harbor is seen straight ahead. We leaned on the metal fence, staring out into the harbor where a few boats were seen sailing along the water.

"Oh, imagine the sunsets that'll take place with the view of the water. Oh, it'll be so beautiful." Evie said.

"I know, right? We could get a gazebo and a fire pit and some nice lawn chairs too. This backyard has so much potential." I said.

"What do you think, baby? Could this be the one?" Evie asked.

I turned around and looked at the house.

"I really like this house. It's almost perfect. There's a few things that'll have to be changed right away. We need to add more colored walls and maybe change the flooring in our bedroom. But really, for now, this house will be great. Until the time arrives where we can remodel it." I said.

"I feel the same way, Mal. Although, one thing does worry me." Evie said.

"What's that?" I asked.

"You said that in your dream, we lived on a large piece of land, similar to this one, except your dream home was surrounded by tall trees. Like we were living in a forest. But we're quite a ways from the nearest forest."

She's right. I remember. The house in my dream also wasn't in a neighborhood. There was a body of water, but it wasn't set up like a harbor. It was more like a lake or a large pond. And the land was an acre in size. This land is close to a quarter of an acre. We can remodel this house to my specifications. But the land and the view we can never change. I got on my phone and opened the maps app. I searched for any forest that was nearby. After a minute, I smiled.

"What is it, baby?" Evie asked.

"Sweetness, we're only about thirty minutes away from a forest." I said.

"Really?"

"Yeah. It's northwest. That way." I said as I pointed in that direction.

"But the house is not surrounded by a forest like the house in your dream." Evie said.

"True. But you know...I'm okay with that." I said.

Shocker.

"What? Are-are you sure, Mal?" Evie asked.

I held Evie's hands and looked her in her eyes.

"Evie. After everything bad that has happened. Being spelled, being evil, turning against you and my friends. The school. And then the school hating me and Audrey pushing me past my limits and having to exile from Auradon because of her. I think, since Auradon is surrounded by millions of tall trees, living in a forest would remind me too much of Auradon. Yes, there will be tall trees wherever we go, but, being here, it doesn't remind me of Auradon at all. And I'm perfectly happy living somewhere different than my dream as long as you are by my side. Because you are the focal point, Evie. You're the reason why I even had those dreams. In the end, it was always you." I said.

Some tears were seen running down Evie's cheeks.

"Oh, Mal!" Evie exclaimed as she pulled me into a tight hug.

I smiled as I tightly hugged her back.

"That, what you said, was very beautiful." Evie said.

"I mean it, Evie. With all my heart." I said.

I wiped the tears away from Evie's cheeks and shared a few kisses with her. Our discussion had been made. This is our home. This is where we will spend our lives together. The home where we'll have countless memories in. The home we'll return to after a day of adventure, fun and work. The home we'll live in when we're happily married. Perhaps even the home we'll live in if we decide to raise a child. Those two will be a long ways away. Marriage sooner than a child for sure, but one thing is certain: this house is for us. We walked back inside and met with Kelsey in the kitchen.

"I'd like to make an offer on this house." Evie told her.

"Okay, great! But let me call the seller's agent and see if the price can be negotiated down first. No need to pay more than what you have to." Kelsey said.

With her phone, Kelsey called the seller's agent, but the call didn't go anywhere.

"Hmm. No response. It seems he's not available right now. I'll try again later, but I might have to give it a try in the morning." Kelsey said.

"That's okay." Evie said.

"May I have your phone number? After I am able to get a hold of him, I'll let you know what he says." Kelsey said.

"Sure." Evie replied.

Evie wrote down her phone number on a piece of scratch paper Kelsey had.

"Okay, great." Kelsey said.

"Thank you so much for your time today." Evie said.

"Of course, no problem. I'm glad I was able to help you guys. Like I said, I'll call and let you know." Kelsey said.

"Sounds good." Evie said.

We later returned back to the hotel and took a nice nap. Around six at night, we decided to have a nice dinner to celebrate our first step in buying our home. At a nice restaurant, Evie and I sat across from each other at a table that was in a corner of the restaurant. Not many people were there. Such a quiet night for being dinner time. But I wasn't complaining. After receiving our drinks, Evie and I were just waiting on our meal.

"So, Mal." Evie said.

"Yes, Evie?" I asked.

"Hi." Evie said.

"Hi."

"I bet you're excited."

"I am. How about you?" I asked.

"I am too." Evie replied.

"So are you the one that's going to purchase the house?" I asked.

"I think so. I mean, my name is on the loan. So might as well." Evie said.

"Yeah, in my dream, I'm the one who bought the house. But I'm okay with you being the one who does it."

"Are you sure?" Evie asked.

"Couldn't think of anyone better. I love you, Evie."

I love you too, Mal."

A waiter then walked up to us with our plates of food. After we ate, we returned back to the hotel and had a good night's rest. The next morning, sometime after seven thirty, Evie woke up first with a phone call she got from Kelsey. After the call, Evie woke me up.

"M, wake up."

"What?" I groaned.

"I got good news. It's about the house."

Suddenly I felt wide awake as I immediately sat up.

"What is it?"

"I just finished talking to Kelsey. She talked to the seller's agent and told her that they'll sell the house to us for two hundred eighty four thousand dollars." Evie said.

"What?!" I exclaimed.

"I know, right?! Seventy one thousand off the original price."

"So what did you say?" I asked.

"I told Kelsey that we'll happily accept that price. Mal, we just got ourselves a house."

I couldn't believe this.

"We got a home? We got a home? Here? In Canada?" I asked.

"Baby, your dream is nearly accomplished. All there's left to do is fill out a bunch of paperwork and do a couple other things, and soon the keys to our new home will be handed to us."

Feeling so much delight, I jumped on top of Evie and started kissing her like there was no tomorrow. Evie laughed as she hugged me.

"I love you, Evie. I love you so much. You know that? You are an incredible woman." I said.

"Aw, thanks, Mal. I love you too." Evie said.

I got off of Evie and sat closely to her.

"That's not all." Evie said.

"Huh?"

"The seller wants to sell quickly. Nothing bad going on. Something about the seller having to move across the country for work. But anyway, since we'll be buying his home, the seller is having the appliances sold with the home as well." Evie said.

"Oh nice. And those are good appliances too." I said.

"Yep. So that's a nice thing."

"We're getting a really good deal on this house." I said.

"We sure are. Kelsey will have a home inspector look over the house tomorrow to see if there are any problems. We'll know in a couple of days the results of that." Evie said.

We sat quietly until I realized something.

"Um, E? What time do you have to be in at work?" I asked.

"Nine thirty." Evie replied.

I looked at my phone and saw it was nearly eight.

"It's almost eight." I said.

It then hit Evie.

"Shit! I gotta get going!" she exclaimed.

I laughed at Evie's sudden curse word and helped her get ready for her day at work. At eight forty five, Evie was all ready. After she ate, she put her jacket on and grabbed the car keys.

"Remind me when I get back to extend the nights we'll be spending here. We're going to be needing at least another couple weeks here." Evie said.

"Will we have enough money after that?" I asked.

"Yeah. Besides, I'll get paid next Tuesday, so we'll be okay. Don't worry about it, baby. Okay? I love you." Evie said.

"I love you too, E. Bye." I said.

We gave each other a french kiss before Evie left.

Fast forwarding a little bit to Saturday, we went to Kelsey's office to begin the process of buying our house.

"First thing, I got the report back on the home inspection. And everything is fine. The house has been very well taken care of so after you buy it, there should be no unforeseen problems. This process should be very smooth." Kesley said.

"Well that's good." Evie said.

We spent a few hours there discussing about the house and signing some paperwork. Evie told Kelsey about her loan she was approved for. I didn't know much else that happened because I was in the entrance of the realtor building, sort of bored out of my mind. This part is Evie's speciality. And I'll leave that to her. Evie later came and woke me up from a light nap I was taking on a sofa.

"Let's go, baby." she said.

For the next week, Evie had to read and sign a bunch more documents. Our loan was approved to be used on the house. Evie went to a bank and opened an account since it was a requirement. And about two weeks after the last document was signed, finalization of the legal ownership being transferred from the seller to Evie was made. And Evie became the legal owner of the house. But surprisingly not just her. While she was at Kelsey's office one day, she was able to get me to be the co-owner of the house, so therefore, legally, it's our house.

We told Carlos and the rest of our family about what has been going on, and they were very happy for us. I never mentioned this before, but Jay does keep his promise on talking to me occasionally. He's a good brother. And I'm excited for the time we can have them over.

Two days after we been in Vancouver for a month, the sale closed and we were given the keys to the house. Kelsey got us a gift basket that had snacks, a couple gift cards, one was to a restaurant and another to a home building store, and a bottle of champagne. We thanked her for everything and she wished us well on our new home.

The same day we were handed the keys, we rented a pick up truck and went to a furniture store and bought a queen bed along with a mattress and box spring as well a comforter set that we got to pick out for free for buying an expensive bed, a kitchen table and two chairs, a cozy couch and a coffee table along with some other small things. It was a pain in the ass for us to unload all that stuff from the truck, but we did it. Luckily the bed's parts were in boxes. Therefore, it allowed us to easily take it up the stairs.

It took a lot out of us. And it was a bigger pain since we had to assemble the bed ourselves, but it was only the thought that was the pain. The bed came with tools, so putting it together between the two of us was really a breeze. Attach the side rails onto the headboard, attach all that to the foot board, and attach the slats and that was it. After putting the box spring and mattress on, we decorated our bed with the comforter set and our bed was complete. We couldn't decide what colors to have for the bed, but we set eyes on this set that was dark blue and black. Perfect.

We returned the truck, used the car, a different car, since the rental on the first one expired a week ago, to get our stuff from the motel and return the hotel room keys and moved in to our new home. After we had dinner, I was in our bedroom unpacking my clothes from my suitcase, when Evie walked in. My back was turned to her, so I didn't see what she was planning. She let out a relaxing sigh and then I heard her jacket zipper. I turned around and saw her take off her jacket.

"What are you doing? Get those clothes off, Mal." Evie said.

I smiled and softly laughed. I think I was also blushing as well.

"Oh, you sure move fast, Evie. I like where this is going."

Evie smiled and winked at me as she kicked her shoes off. We quickly took our clothes off on the spot and jumped onto the bed, with Evie on top of me and we started kissing each other like crazy. That is the first time we made love in our new home.

It's taken a lot to get here, but my dream of living with Evie in a house in Canada has finally come true. Now, the story could end here. But a few more things happen before one last big event.