Rafe's POV:
After Hal and I got back from Greece, our lives seemed to pick up almost instantly. It was an amazing get away for two weeks, and now that we had our break, we were refreshed enough to get back to where we left off.
That being said, Hallie was busy finishing up with painting after painting, working herself to the max. She had finished up the big job for Mr. Brooks before our wedding, and not only had he commissioned her for more pieces, his other big business friends had too.
Hallie was ecstatic about it, since she obviously loved doing her job, and on top of that, the girl was making loads of money doing it. All these men were extremely wealthy and would pay whatever to get her work in their offices, which we both thought was pretty amusing. Although, we knew that we needed the money, so it was nothing to joke about, honestly.
The reason being was that, we were moving back to Kildare Island. After a lot of thinking it over and talking through it with Hallie, we both decided that it would be the easiest. Since my take over at Cameron Developments was supposed to happen in only about a month, and the main office was on Kildare Island, it just made even more sense.
With Hallie being an artist, she was more flexible with where we lived. Only because, she could easily do video calls with her clients and ship out her paintings to them, without having to actually see them in person, if she didn't need to. Therefore, the house hunt was on.
Like I had mentioned, Hallie was working her ass off trying to finish those pieces, and on top of packing everything up in our apartment, we were busy. Needless to say, Rose being a realtor couldn't have worked out better for us, and after plenty of searching for weeks, we finally had a break through.
I was in the process of putting the last of Sadie's thing into boxes when my phone started to ring. I quickly pulled it out of my sweatpants and when I realized it was my step-mother on the other line, I hit the accept button. My legs straightened out as I put the device on speaker, and I went over to Hallie, who was sitting in front of a canvas in the floor.
"Okay guys, I found one." Rose started, diving right into it, "Hal, I forwarded you the info, so tell me what you think."
My eyes met the blonde girl's excited ones and she stood up, going over to her laptop. I watched as she opened it up, pulling up the email from Rose, and gasped. The noise perked my interest enough to move next to her, and I also felt my breathe get hitched in my throat when my gaze hit the screen.
"So what do you think?" Rose interrupted our trance of scrolling through the photos.
Hallie swallowed before opening her mouth, "Honestly, it's perfect. I mean it has everything we want and it's close to you guys, to the office. Is there a catch though? I feel like it's good to be true."
"No catch." Rose chuckled, "It was just put on the market, but if you don't act fast guys, someone else will most likely jump on this place."
"Can you tell us a little more about it?" I questioned, agreeing with Hallie that there was no way it didn't have a catch.
"Well the previous owners are older, wanting to move somewhere in Florida where it's warmer, so the house is just being sold as is. It was renovated back in 2019, and the dock was also redone that year. Other than that, it's right in your budget, has three bedrooms, three and a half bathrooms, all the nine yards. Everything you guys wanted."
Rose was right. This house was exactly what we had been looking for, and it we would practically be stupid to not make an offer.
"I love it Rose, we'll be at the island next week so is there anyway we would come look at it then? And in the meantime, Rafe and I can talk about it some more."
"Yes, I'll talk to their realtor and get an appointment set up. I'll send you the details when I get it taken care of."
"Perfect." I returned, "Thanks Rose. We'll see you next week. Love you."
"Love you both, see ya."
I put the phone on the counter and sat down next to Hallie, putting my arm around her small frame. She then rested her forehead into my chest and sighed, "So do you like it as much as I do or?"
"I love it Hal, seriously."
"Really?" She pulled away from me, smiling.
"Yes really, it's perfect."
"Thank god, I was worried that I was the only one." She returned in relief.
I just laughed and shook my head, wrapping my limbs around her. I pulled her into my lap, and stared at the screen as my head laid again her shoulder, "We're gonna have enough room to possible start a family, you know?"
Even though we had already talked about this, we both enjoyed bringing it up during conversations just to keep the idea afloat. It wasn't that we didn't want to, we just didn't have the time for kids right now, with both of our jobs consuming our lives, unfortunately.
We also had only been married for a month, so it was a tad sooner than either of us liked.
"I know." She said, running her fingers through my hair, "But you know we can't yet."
I smiled, "I'm just playing Hal, we will someday."
"We definitely will because I can't wait to see little Rafe's running around our new backyard."
"Oh god." I laughed, "There gonna be nothing but trouble."
"Trust me. I know." She added, jokingly.
~
The rest of the week consisted of finishing up paintings and packing up everything we owned. By the following Tuesday, we were back in the Outer Banks at Tannyhill. Since we obviously didn't have any other place to stay, we were with my family, which neither of us minded, especially since Sarah was busy traveling with John B for the summer.
When Friday rolled around, Hallie and I were up early, getting ready to go look at the new house with Rose, and I don't think either of us could have been more excited. As I brushed my teeth over the vanity, my gaze trailed over to the girl, who was bending over her suitcase in nothing but my t-shirt, completely on display, and I choked.
"You okay?" I heard her voice from the bedroom.
I coughed a couple of times, before barely getting out a 'yeah', and she came into the bathroom after that, folding her arms around my bare waist.
"You don't sound okay."
"Well," I let out another cough, "If you would put some underwear on."
She just smiled, "You're ridiculous."
I watched as she pulled her shirt off, leaving her naked, and turned on the shower, before stepping through the glass door.
"And then you do that, expecting me to keep my hands to myself?"
She shrugged, tilting her head over her shoulder, "Who said you had to keep your hands to yourself? I'm your wife, do your worst."
I just scoffed, immediately pulling my underwear off and wasting no time to do exactly what she said.
~
After finishing up getting ready, and finding my dad and Rose waiting for us in the kitchen, we all make our way over to the house. The second Ward pulled into the driveway, I instantly knew this was it, and Hallie seemed to think the same, tightening her grasp on my hand to get my attention. When our eyes met she just nodded, giving me a light smile.
We seemed to fall even more in love with the place when we stepped inside, and by the time we were finished up with the tour, Hal and I decided to jump the gun. We put in an offer the same day, figuring that if we wasted anymore time, like Rose had said, someone else would steal the opportunity from us.
After chatting with the other realtor that met us there, we all piled back in the car, heading back to Tannyhill to pick up Wheezie, and then hopped on the ferry over to Chapel Hill. We spent the rest of the day with my family, which was much needed.
𓇽
2 Weeks Later...
Hallie's POV:
"You got everything?"
"Yeah." I smiled as he loaded the last of our stuff into my trunk, and turned to me.
He grinned, "So we're ready?"
"Rafe, I know what you're doing." I laughed, "Stop dragging this out, I'm literally on the brink of excitement."
He laughed, folding his arms around me, "You sure?"
"Oh my god." I rolled my eyes, giggling, "Yes! I'm sure, let's goooo."
"Okay, but if we left-"
"Get in the car, come on." I pushed him slightly off of me, still holding back laughter.
He just smiled one last time before retreating to his truck and I did the same, giving Sadie a pet as I buckled me seatbelt. I pulled out behind the boy after that, and not even ten minutes later, we came to a stop in the familiar driveway. The moving trucks were already parked outside waiting for us, so I quickly grabbed the keys and hopped out, with our dog right on my tail.
After unlocking the door and stepping inside, I let my eyes scale over to the empty house. Rafe came to my side once again, and I felt his arm drape over my shoulder. He pulled me into his side as he kissed the top of my head, and I just smiled, not believing this was real.
"So this is what it feels like?" His voice interrupted my thoughts.
"Huh?"
"To have everything you've ever wanted."
I smiled, looking up at the dirty blonde, "I've felt that way since day one."
"God, I love you."
"I love you too Cameron."
𓇽
that's it guys!!
i will do an epilogue after this but i hope you guys have enjoyed everything about this book!
i've loved writing this story so much and i'm sad that it's at the end, but thank you all for the attention and input on everything!
stay tuned for what's next!
love you all