As I drove to Rogue's house -- my dream home -- I had mixed feelings about going over there. On the one hand, I'd always wanted to see inside the house, to see if it was as beautiful inside as the outside. The Craftsman style had always appealed to me, with the big porches and windows, the low roofs and all the woodwork on the inside.
On the other hand, I was mad at myself for being lured by the prospect of seeing this house I'd loved for so long. When I got there, dinner from our favorite Greek restaurant had just been delivered.
"Eat first or tour?" Rogue asked me.
I wanted the tour, but I chose the food because then I wouldn't need to hurry the tour of the one-story house. From the little I'd seen, it was beautiful. Polished wooden floors, gorgeous woodwork, utter perfection.
We ate our food at the dining room table -- another feature of Craftsman homes I loved was that they weren't open floor plans. Each room had its own space separated from the other spaces.
We talked about the house while we ate, and I admired the beautiful built-in cabinetry in the dining room, the beams and the millwork around the windows.
When I pushed my plate away, Rogue grinned. "You've been patient. Ready to see everything?"
I popped up so fast, he laughed. I followed him around the house, through the living room and kitchen, the surprisingly spacious laundry room, the two bathrooms, and into three of the four bedrooms.
"What's this room?" I asked, pointing at the only closed door in the house.
Rogue's hand went to the back of his neck and he looked a little embarrassed. "It's the nursery."
"Can I see?" I asked.
He walked in front of me and opened the door. "I'm no decorator, so it's obvious I had no clue what I was doing, but...here it is."
I walked in, expecting babies on Harleys, maybe, from his expression, but the room was nothing like that. The walls were a soft cream color and there were colorfully painted murals on the walls of adorable farm animals in a style similar to Sandra Boynton's animals.
He'd set up a low bookshelf with board books and another bookshelf with toys. A matte black crib was positioned at an angle in the corner of the room. A sage green sheet covered the mattress, a sage green blanket was folded over one end of the crib and a whimsical mobile with brightly-colored shapes was attached to the other end of the crib. A big, overstuffed chair-and-a-half sat in the corner opposite the crib.
"For not being sure what you were doing, you did a great job," I said to him, nodding toward the chair. "Bold move. I think most people would have gone with a glider or a rocker, but I love that chair. It looks so cozy."
"I thought so, too," he said, but there was more to it.
"And...?"
"And...I pictured the two of us in the chair with the baby, Euphemia. One of us giving the baby a bottle, both of us reading to the baby, both of us singing our child to sleep, both of us looking at tiny fingers and toes. I liked thinking about it when you were gone."
I could see everything he described, and then I hated that I could see that so clearly.
"Rogue, I hope you realize that if I'd known that you thought I was pregnant, I would have gotten word to you."
"I know, lady. I know you would have."
Wandering over to the crib, I put my hands on the top rail and looked at the two Jellycat® stuffed animals sitting together in the corner of the crib. Rogue and I had once been in a store that sold the incredibly soft stuffed animals, and I'd fallen in love with Fuddlewuddle Dragon and Bartholomew Bear. I'd refused to allow Rogue to buy them for me because it seemed pre-emptive somehow and I didn't want to jinx how well things were going with us, so I'd put him off with a vague maybe later.
YOU ARE READING
The Body #3: Rogue and Euphemia
RomanceI watched as my boyfriend saved another woman when a rival club shot up the clubhouse. He never even checked on me as he took her to the hospital -- and I almost died. So I disappeared for a year, and when I came back, he was waiting for me. He want...
