Following Love (26 page)

D
ena walked on cloud nine for the next six months. Every day was like a dream come true. She'd never been so happy, and the recent news about her pregnancy added to her joy.

Her wedding was a delight and after a quick resolution in family court and her favorite judge, her new family was now complete. Julian had just signed off on adoption papers and although they hadn't quite finalized where they would live, for the time being shuttling between Julian's house and her house in the city was just fine with her, with, of course, frequent visits to her aunt Ellen's.

The busyness of their new life was exciting but exhausting. So after dropping Dillon off, the two of them took time for a nice long romantic weekend. Julian and Dena returned, expecting a quiet evening's visit with Ellen, then back home. Not exactly, since as soon as they drove up they knew something was going on.

“Mo-omm, Da-add, come see what we did today,” Dillon yelled from the gated front yard as soon as he saw their car drive up. Dressed in his perfectly fitted hard hat, work gloves and goggles Julian had given him, he grabbed each hand and nearly dragged them around the side of the house to the patio. Dena and Julian looked at each other with concern, hearing the start of a loud engine roar. They weren't sure if they should be excited or scared to death.

“What in the world,” Dena said, starting to panic.

As soon as they reached the backyard Dena looked around, seeing her aunt perched comfortably high on top of a backhoe with the large shovel-like scoop in midair. The engine was running hard and she had just scooped up a huge patch of earth. “Oh, no,” Dena said as her heart sank and her mouth dropped open. She began waving to her aunt to stop.

Both she and Julian started toward Ellen but, Dillon, still holding on to their hands, held them back. “No, we can't go over this line,” he said, pointing to a powdered chalk line several yards away from the machine. “I'm in charge. Nobody can cross, not even me.”

The engine shut down as soon as Ellen saw them. “Hello,” she said, happily waving. “Perfect time for a short break.”

“Aunt Ellen, what are you doing?” Julian asked.

“What do you mean?”

“You can't have this machine here and you can't just start digging massive holes in the yard like this,” Dena said, concerned about buried cables and power lines.

“Of course I can,” Ellen said as she climbed down off the perch. “I think this is a great place for a swimming pool.”

“A swimming pool?”

“Dillon needs to learn to swim, every child does.”

“Aunt Ellen—” Dena began to say, way past panicked.

Julian interrupted calmly. “Aunt Ellen, you need certifications, zoning authorization, utility approval, about a dozen permits, not to mention a qualified professional,” Julian said just as Reggie Marshall walked around from the other side of the machine with gloves, ear plugs, goggles and a hard hat on.

“All taken care of,” Ellen said, walking over to them and pointing to the back window covered with permits. “How about some lemonade? I just made a fresh pitcher with some oatmeal-raisin cookies.”

“Oatmeal-raisin cookies, yea,” Dillon squealed, clapping his hands then hurrying over to the new patio area with the insulated juice container and covered plate of cookies.

“Hey,” Reggie said, following Ellen over. “Welcome back, and congratulations again.” He removed his gloves, shook hands with Julian and hugged Dena.

“Thanks,” both Dena and Julian said, utterly relieved to see him. The two men began conferring on the new swimming pool site and design. Ellen added her opinion as everyone sat down at the picnic table for lemonade and cookies. Dena smiled, knowing that this was how her life would be from now on, Julian and Dillon at her side and completely surrounded by love.