New Place
Ben opened the door and held on to his pregnant wife.
" Okay, you are not gonna tell me what's going on, are you?"
" No, I am not going to tell you. I'm gonna show you."
" Okay."
Ben removed the blindfold from Ciara, and she looked around the room.
She turned to face her husband and said, " Where are we?"
" Home."
Ben closed the door and watched as Caira placed her coat and purse on the counter.
" Home? Baby, I know what our home looks like, and this is not our home," Ciara said as she walked around the room.
" Well, I should have said our new home. Because I've been looking at apartments for a while now, and this is the best one yet."
" You've been looking for an apartment without me?"
" Well, I wanted to surprise you. Looking for apartments can be stressful, and I think you've had enough of that already, so I narrowed it down to my top 3 favorites and asked Julie to come take a look at them, and we decided together that this was the best one."
"Yeah, but Ben, I love our apartment."
" We got a baby coming,"
" Really? Hmm, well, I must have just forgotten about that part then, huh?" Ciara said as she looked down at her growing belly.
" You know what I mean; we're gonna need more room. I mean, think about it. I mean, maybe we could squeeze in a crib at most, but what about everything else? What about all of the other baby paraphernalia? The diapers and the toy boxes and the diapers."
" The diapers, okay, listen, our baby isn't gonna need all that fancy stuff, just the essentials."
" Ciara, you're a Brady and a Horton."
" You're right."
" I am right, and we are not buying all that stuff. Your family is buying all that stuff."
" Oh, my God, we're not gonna need a bigger apartment, Ben; we're gonna need a warehouse."
" So then maybe I can show you around a bit because, in the words of our real estate agent, the second bedroom over here is crying out to be a nursery."
Ben took Ciara's hand and showed her around the apartment.
They walked back out to the living room, and Ben said, " So we could make the room that's next to the nursery into a home office If you decided you wanted to work from home."
" Hmm, okay, aren't we jumping the gun a little bit here? I mean, why pay rent for a more expensive place before we even need it?"
" Because you are in your second trimester, and this baby is gonna be here before we know it, Ben said as he placed his hand on her growing belly, "So. At least if we move in now, it gives us a little time to fix some things up, and we won't be under so much pressure."
" I guess."
" But we do need to act fast because we're not the only ones interested in this place. I mean, look at this place."
" Oh, okay, what did you just tell me about no pressure?"
" Good point."
" Yeah."
" I love this place. I do, but we are not moving in here unless you love it too. So what do you say?"
Ciara exhaled and ran her hands over her belly as she looked out the window.
" What do you think of this place?"
Ciara turned to face Ben and said, " Well, I do like the layout, and it would be kind of fun fixing this place up. Yeah, umm, when would we sign the lease?"
Ben tapped Ciara's nose and said, " I already did."
" What? No. But you just said that you..."
" Baby, it's the first of the month. I had to act fast. Other people wanted this place; I didn't want to lose it."
" Oh, my, God."
" What?" Look, I made the landlady agree that she would tear up that damn lease if my wife didn't absolutely love it."
" But since you do. Legally, we can spend the night here," Ben said as he placed the blindfold on her eyes again.
" Oh, my God," Ciara said as she put her head on his chest.
" If we really wanted to. So what do you think, Mrs. Weston?"
" Oh, God, I say yes."
" She said yes," Ben said as he kissed her.
They continued kissing for a while before pulling away.
" In the hopes that that would be your answer, I planned ahead, so Mrs. Weston, there is some of your favorite marshmallow-infused hot cocoa right over there, but that's for later."
" Because for right now, I think we should just. Uh, christen this place a little bit. If you know what I mean?"
" I think I do know what you mean," Ciara said as she removed his jacket. " I saw that you made the bed up. You planned ahead."
" You did see that."
" My baby's a little planner."
" Oh, my God. I just wanted tonight to be perfect. And it's gonna be."
Ben lifted Ciara, which made her giggle as he carried her to the bedroom.
Once they got in the bedroom, Ben gently laid her on the bed and hovered over her. He leaned down and kissed her. They pulled apart and started removing their clothes.
Ben undid Ciara's dress, and she removed his shirt. Ciara grabbed him by the back of the neck and pulled him into another kiss.
She moved her hands to his belt and undid it. They removed the rest of their clothes and made love for the first time in their new place.
Later in the night, Ben made the cocoa, and they sat in bed and drank it.
"I'm sorry I didn't include you in the apartment hunt."
" It's okay."
" I really did want to surprise you."
" You did. I love this place. I think it's gonna be a great place to raise our baby."
"We're gonna have to get new furniture."
" We are. We have an apartment to fill."
" I can't wait to start decorating."
" I can't wait for this to be our home. The Salem Inn wasn't ours, and the Garage apartment isn't ours, but this place is."
" You're right," Ciara said as she cuddled up to him and rested her head on his chest.
Ben kissed her head and pulled her closer. It didn't take long for Ciara to drift off to sleep. Ben just held her and smiled as she slept on his chest.
Ben took her mug and placed it on the nightstand. He set his next to hers. Ben pulled the covers over them and watched her sleep.
Ben fell asleep 10 minutes later.
They had a great first night in their new place.
The next few days, they picked out furniture and started decorating.
" Babe, leave that box; I'll get it."
" Ben. I can carry it. It's not that heavy."
" I told you until that baby is born, I will be doing everything.
Ciara just laughed and shook her head at her husband.
Ciara walked to the counter and started setting up the kitchen stuff. While Ben moved in the heavy furniture.
Ciara told Ben where to put everything.
Ciara grabbed a beer from the fridge and handed it to Ben.
" Take a break, babe."
Ben took the beer, kissed her, and said, " Let me set up the TV, then I will take a break."
Ben set the TV up and sat on the couch with his beautiful pregnant wife.
They took a break from unpacking to have some lunch.
" I really like this place, baby; you did a great job."
Ben kissed Ciara before saying," This place is really starting to feel like home."
" Yes, it is," Ciara said as she rested her head on his shoulder.
Ben saw Ciara yawn.
" Are you tired?"
" A little."
" Why don't you go take a nap, and I'll keep unpacking."
" I think we should both take a nap," Ciara said as she stood up and grabbed his hand to follow her to the bedroom.
They spent the rest of the day napping and unpacking boxes making their new place feel like a home.