Christmas With The Houstons (Acceptance #4) (12 page)

“Mrs. Sanderson,” he calls out the back door, “we’re ready to make you an offer.”

When she comes back inside, she’s smiling like the cat who ate the canary. I don’t doubt she had other offers, but she knows she’s going to make a killing on this commission.

“My wife has chosen not to know what we’re offering. I’ve written my offer on this card but I have a few contingencies. If the sellers accept my offer, I want the keys within fourteen days. Our baby is coming in December and I want to be fully settled by the time he comes. This is a
cash
offer and since the house is empty, I don’t see a problem getting what I want for the amount I’m offering.”

“Cash?” she stutters.

“Cash,” Jake reiterates.

Her eyes are as big as saucers and I swear she’s salivating a little as she holds out her hand to accept Jake’s offer. When she chokes a little and smiles bigger than any I’ve ever seen, my suspicions of how much extra he’s offering are confirmed.

“Mr. Houston, I’m not supposed to speak out of turn, but I’m quite sure you’ve just bought yourself a new home. I’ll be in touch shortly to confirm.”

“Thank you very much for your time,” I tell her as we exit the house.
Our
new house… I hope.

“Trust me,” she purrs, “the pleasure has been all mine. You’ll hear from me soon.”

Jake and I walk back to Kate and Daniel’s house hand in hand.

“Thank you,” he says sweetly and completely out of nowhere.

“For what, babe?”

“For finally letting me make you happy.” I stop in my tracks.

“Jake, why would you say that? You make me happy all the time. You need to stop associating money with happiness. They do not go hand in hand. I’m going to love you if we’re homeless and living on the streets. Even then, you’ll still make me happy.”

“Good point. All I really meant was I’m happy you’re happy. I’m also happy to finally be spending some money. We’re rich, April. We’re not billionaires by any means, but we’ve got enough money to live out our lives any way we want to and still secure a future for our kids. Let’s live and do all the things we want to because we only get one life and we should live it to the fullest. What’s the point of having money if it’s just going to sit in a bank?”

He’s right. I’ve been sticking my head in the sand over something he can’t control and it’s a blessing not a curse.

“You’re absolutely right. There are so many people who would be grateful for all we’ve been blessed with. We should make an effort to not only live but to help others, as well.”

“Whatever makes you happy, babe.” He pulls me close and kisses me senseless in the middle of the sidewalk. I can’t imagine a day where he won’t take my breath away with his kisses. The ringing of his phone cuts our PDA short.

“Hello, this is Jake.”

He answers the phone that way whenever he doesn’t recognize the number. It’s his professional voice and it’s sexy as hell. I wish he’d use it on me sometimes. Maybe after the baby comes we can role play a bit.

“Thank you very much for letting me know. We’ll be by tomorrow to take care of the paperwork. You have a good rest of your day, as well.”

When he puts his phone back in his pocket, he pulls me back into his embrace and kisses me again. “We’ve got a new house, April,” he says with a beaming smile as he pulls back to see my reaction.

I knew we would get it, but that was fast. I don’t think I ever want to know the obscene amount of money we just paid for that house. You can’t put a price on dreams so no matter what, it was it was worth it.

“Oh my god, Jake, it’s really happening. Our kids are going to grow up with their family and we’ll be here to see them all the time. We won’t miss out on everything anymore.”

“Nope, not a thing, and it
will
be nice to be so close to everyone. As long as all the inspections come back clear, we can move in when they’re done. She said since it’s cash, the owners are willing to turn over the keys as soon as we give them the cashier’s check.”

“We have so much packing to do. How will we ever get it done that fast?”

“Forget the packing, I’m more concerned about the yard. The new one is much bigger… we need more Halloween decorations.” He’s joking, but I’m not.

“Seriously, Jake, it’s a lot of work and with your job and mine…”

“Shh, April, we’ll hire movers. Don’t worry about it. I don’t want you trying to move or pack anything, anyway.”

“Jake, I don’t want strange people packing my underwear and stuff. No.”

He’s laughing at me, but I’m serious; I don’t want strange people all up in my sex toys.

“Babe, I’ll pack all our clothes and our toys. Come on, do you really think I want some guy or girl getting pervy with our stuff? We’ll just have them do all the other things.”

“Okay. So can we go tell everyone now?” I ask excitedly.

“Of course,” he answers as I pull him toward Daniel’s house.

In typical Jake fashion, he just walks inside without knocking.

“Nice to see some things never change. You still act like you belong everywhere,” Connor says when we walk inside.

“That’s because I
do
belong everywhere, little brother. Get used to it because you’re going to be seeing a lot more of me.”

“Dude, I see your ugly mug every day at work. How much more of you could I possibly need to see?”

While those two have their usual banter, I work my way over to Jess and hold my hands out for Hope. Unlike her brother, she’s wide awake and such a wiggle worm. Jess happily passes her to me.

“Hello, Hope. Give Auntie April kisses.” Hope loves giving kisses and Zayden is more of a cuddler; they’re too adorable for words. Zayden looks like Connor and Hope looks like Jess.

“I thought you were spending the weekend with Maryanne? What made you guys come back early?”

Before she has the chance to answer, Connor yells out, “Holy shit, dude. You guys bought a house here?” Instantly, Hailey is at his feet, holding out her hand for more swear money. She’s going to be good with money; she’s collecting and it’s not even her house.

Without a second thought, Connor reaches into his pocket and hands Hailey a dollar, and she smiles gleefully and runs off to play. Connor pulls Jake in for a hug and congratulates him.

“Okay, first of all, what the hell did we miss? We were only gone for two days! We had to come home early because Maryanne had morning sickness which we learned yesterday is really
all
day sickness. As much as she loves us, it was too much for her.”

“Maryanne is having a baby? That’s fantastic news!”

Jess nods.

“It really is. She was so worried she wouldn’t be able to get pregnant since she’s almost forty. We’re both really excited. I finally get a little cousin and she’ll be able to play with my kids.”

“She?” Kate questions with a laugh. “She just found out, so I highly doubt the sex is known yet.”

Jess flips her hair and rolls her eyes. “But
I
know, Kate, and that’s all that matters.”

“So where did you guys buy a house?” Jess asks, turning her attention back to me.

“About halfway between here and Mike’s house. It’s across the street from the park and it’s perfect.”

“You bought the park house? You lucky bi— I mean, girl. Sorry, but I’m not paying Hailey. I’d rather watch my words. It’s better to get in the habit, anyway. When are you moving in?”

“Fourteen days or less,” Jake says, coming up behind me and wrapping his arms around me to rest on my belly.

“How the heck did you pull that off? No, wait… never mind. I sense a Houston checkbook at work here. I’m familiar with that process. Connor has it down to a science.”

“And you love me all the more for it,” he calls out loudly from the couch, waking Zayden. Jake releases me and picks up his nephew. Looking at the two of them together is like looking into the future. I hope Jaxson gets the Houston good looks like Zayden. He looks just like his daddy and his uncle.

“You’ve got the look,” Misty says as she comes up next to me.

“What look is that?”

“The one that shows you falling deeper in love with your husband because you know he’s going to be an amazing father.”

“I’m not sure how much deeper I can fall but it seems like every day lately I’m falling more and more in love with him. Can I ask you a question?”

“Shoot,” she says and I nod my head toward the door to the back patio. After I sit on the swing and get Hope adjusted on my lap, I pin Misty with my eyes.

“Why won’t you give Mike an answer? I know it’s probably none of my business, but you’re killing him.”

“I’m scared,” she confesses.

“Of what? Misty, he
adores
you and your children.” Hope reaches for Misty’s face and pulls her close for a kiss, a slobbery one. Misty laughs and kisses her back and then wipes her face.

“At first, I just wanted to get to know him again and after he found out about Hailey, things started moving so quickly. Then, in the blink of an eye, I was pregnant with Grant. He’s an amazing father and he loves me, I know he does, but sometimes I wonder…”

“If he’ll leave you?”

She nods and begins whispering, “This is going to sound so stupid because in my heart I know it’s not true, but what if him and Kate decide they made a mistake? Where will that leave me? At least if we’re not married it won’t be as hard.”

So she’s not handling the Mike/Kate relationship as well as I thought. Interesting. We need to fix this.

“First of all, if you think a piece of paper is going to make it less hard to break up, you’re fooling yourself. Love doesn’t live on paper; it lives in your heart.”

Her shoulders slump and she whispers, “I know.”

“And secondly, that won’t happen. As someone who has heard confessions from both Mike
and
Kate, I can assure you they are never going to be more than friends.”

“Do you really think so?”

“I do. He loves you. Mike told Jake even if he and Kate had gotten back together, once you came back into his life, it would have been over. You’re
it
for him.”

She’s surprised and I continue, “And Kate told me essentially the same thing this morning about Daniel. Mike and Kate have something special and most definitely unique to them, and it works for them. But neither of them want something other than what they already have.”

“Oh.”

“Are you jealous?”

She shakes her head. “I’m not. I know Mike loves me, but I’m just worried about the what ifs.”

“I can understand that, but I can also tell you from experience you can ‘what if’ yourself to death. The real question is what if you continue to worry and let your happiness slip by because you’re afraid of the what ifs? Give him an answer and be honest. I know you’ve mentioned before you never want a big wedding, so tell him that. Mike will go with whatever you want, you just have to tell him what that is.”

“Do you think if I asked Mike for it to just be us and the kids he would be receptive to that? I’m a private person and I’ve never wanted an audience at my wedding.”

“You know, the beauty of a wedding is it’s
your
day and you can have it however you want and
nobody
gets to be offended.”

“Thanks, April,” she says with a smile as Jake walks out with Zayden.

“Anytime,” I answer as she vacates her spot on the swing and Jake sits down.

“We really need to get one of these for the new house.”

“We’ll have one in about two months and I can’t wait,” he answers lightly.

“Jerk. You know I mean the swing.”

“I know we’ll get one of these, too, but I can’t wait to see you with Jaxson in your arms.”

Kate busts through the door and does a happy dance while holding a now non-drinkable beer.

“That’s his name? It’s adorable! I swear I wasn’t eavesdropping. I was bringing you the beer you asked for. Eeek! I finally know his name.”

“I should have known better than to say it in this house. You all have too many people underfoot.”

Jake doesn’t seem the least bit irritated and neither am I. It’s sort of nice having it out there and not having to watch my step anymore. We’ve been calling him Jaxson for months, so changing how we talk in front of everyone else has been a pain in the ass.

“I’ll keep it quiet if you really want me to.”

“Nah, it’s okay. We’ll tell them, I’m tired of keeping secrets,” Jake answers.

Wow, that’s surprising considering he was the one who wanted to keep it secret in the first place.

“Thanks for the beer, but I’ll pass. We have to leave in a few minutes, anyway. You should go offer that one to Connor,” he tells her with a devious look in his eye.

“I should but I don’t want it spewing all over my carpet, so I’ll just put it back in the fridge,” she says as she walks back inside.

Hope has curled up on my shoulder and she’s barely keeping her eyes open. Zayden has been cuddled up in Jake’s arms, quietly taking in the view. They’re such sweet babies.

“Can you promise me something before we go see Mia?” he asks softly.

“What would that be?”

“I know you only want two, possibly three kids, but if we adopt Mia, will you promise me we’ll try again?”

This is something I haven’t even really thought much about.

“April, I need this. I need to see you, just as you are right now, with
our
daughter. I want to be able to have a little girl who looks like us, for Jaxson to have a sister who looks like him. I’ll keep an open mind about Mia regardless, but I need this for me. I can’t miss out on this, April, I just can’t.”

“You don’t have to miss out, Jake. I’ll do anything for you, I want to make your dreams come true, too, you know.”

Suddenly, the back door opens and everyone is now surrounding us. Except for Lucas; he jumped up next to me and laid his head right on my stomach.

“You know you can’t tell Kate and not tell the rest of us,” Jess begins.

“Actually, I
didn’t
tell Kate… she overheard a private conversation,” Jake retorts just to mess with her.

“Dude, you need to spill or Jess is going to keep me up all night whining and guessing.”