Bill and Matty walked hand in hand through the archway that led to the new extension of their house.
"Its beautiful," Matty gasped, as she stood in the corner of the bedroom, looking out over the Atlantic Ocean.
She turned to Bill.
"I just can't believe you managed to get this all done so quickly and everything moved in."
Bill had made an extra effort to keep Matty out of the new extension to the house, to a point where he had the entrance to the new part shut off, so Matty would have to walk around, if she wanted to get to the new deck. Even the windows were covered.
He had even sent Matty to Corner Brook for a night, with Tanya under the pretence of a fact finding mission at the city archives. The two did an hour of searching and a day of shopping and then a night at the Glynmill Inn and some dancing at a local bar, Cathy's Place, that featured live music.
Bill was certain both women would have men hitting on them, all night, but knew that Matty could more than look after herself and just to be sure, he sent Freddy and Gertrude to corner Brook to shadow them, just in case of trouble.
Of course Matty spotted them immediately and the four spent the night together, which made Bill feel far more secure.
Bill had checked in with Matty once before supposedly going to bed. In reality, he and about twenty men and women from the Bay worked through the night to finish the extension and fill it with the furniture Matty had picked out. Bill had all the furniture sent up secretly the morning Matty and Tanya left. She probably passed the moving truck, somewhere on the highway.
It had cost Bill almost triple what it would have normally cost to do the extension, but he wanted it finished to surprise Matty. She knew there were extra people at the site, but she only saw those who were working on the outside of the house, putting on the matching siding and roofing, to keep the Tuckamore Bay theme on the outside.
She had no idea the flurry of activity inside the extension.
Bill and the others had worked the entire night adding the finishing touches and it was nearly 7 a.m., when they all had a drink on the deck, to celebrate their achievement. Then everyone went home. Bill got to sleep in until almost noon, before Matty woke him, to show him the stuff she had bought.
As she did, Bill made them coffee and then took his fiancé by the hand and led her through the now open archway, that led to their new extension.
He showed her the bedroom first.
Matty had picked out an old style four poster bed, with matching bureau and armoire. A simple old style arm chair sat near the bureau and a rocking chair was tucked into the opposite corner near an old fashioned table, complete with hand knitted doilies. The walls were adorned with but a couple family pictures and a simple star like brass hanger over the bed.
At the far end of the room, was a simple ensuite, with a fluted foot tub, stand up shower and double vanity, all with old style brass fixtures. And old style, pull chain toilet finished off the effect.
Sliding patio doors stood alongside two huge windows, which assured a beautiful view of the ocean surrounding Tuckamore Bay. Heavy earth tone curtains offered a darkening effect.
Just outside the patio doors was the wraparound, double tiered deck, that followed the contoured of the shoreline and then down five steps to a second deck that was a mere twenty feet from the waters of the Atlantic.
"Its exactly as I pictured it would be," Matty cried, as she walked to Bill, hugging him tightly.
She gave him a quick kiss.
Bill could taste the salty tears on her lips.
"Come on," he said, "there is more."
He took her hand and walked out of the bedroom, down five feet of hallway to the open style living room / kitchen.
Matty simply gasped and stood in silence. The huge open space, that covered the entire front of the extension was a contrast in styles that simply took Matty's breath away.
The cozy living room area, although over cluttered, by some people's opinion, was designed to duplicate the living room in the main part of the house. Some of the furniture from the old living room had been moved to the new part. The burgundy arm chair, the end tables, white cabinet and antique bookshelf.
Nanny Dove's rocking chair had been moved, but Bill had managed to find an almost exact duplicate on Amazon and that chair now stood in the old living room.
The oval hand woven rugs adorned the distressed hardwood floor and all kinds of Nanny Dove's knickknacks adorned shelving on the walls. Some of the pieces had been in storage in the lighthouse. Bill had stumbled across them one day and decided to add them to the decor.
The couch was one that Matty had found in a second hand store. Bill had it reupholstered with material as close to the original as he could find.
Family pictures and some new paintings that Matty had found, adorned the walls.
Beyond the burgundy armchair, a large bay window, with sitting window box, completed the room.
The living room took up roughly 2/3 of the extension.
At the end of the living room, rough lumber formed the separation between the two rooms. A large archway, built from reclaimed lumber from around the Bay led into the country style kitchen.
The open style ceiling was designed to show off the rough lumber that adorned the ceiling. The walls were covered with bricks that had been salvaged from locations all over the west coast of Newfoundland. The slight smell of grout was still in the air, but Matty hardly noticed as she rubbed her hands over the hardwood tabletop on the kitchen's island. Old style stools were on each side.
Although the stove was somewhat modern, it fit the decor and was a wonderful contrast to the 1950s refrigerator, that Matty had found on line.
Open style kitchen cupboards, much like those in the main house kitchen, were on three walls and they were filled with antique dishwater and glasses.
The small kitchen counter was tucked between the stove and refrigerator.
Old style windows brought in the morning sun from two sides of the kitchen and offered a view of the ocean as well.
Bill stood back and watched, as Matty walked around the kitchen, rubbing her hands over the wall and picking up pieces of the old dinnerware and fluted glasses.
Bill could see she was biting her lip, as she did so. A sure sign that Matty was fighting back the tears. He was doing much the same, because seeing the woman he loved so happy, was tugging at his heart strings.
They had both been through so much in the last few months and even though their victories had been satisfying, it had come at the cost of causing the both of them a huge amount of stress. Running a small company was one thing, but when that company was actually a village and your employees were also your friends and neighbours, it was a cause for even more stress.
Matty walked to Bill and hugged him tight.
"It is the most beautiful thing I have ever seen."
She looked up at him through tear filled eyes.
"I love you so much."
She kissed him long and gentle on the lips.
"So fucking much."
She turned from him and danced around the room.
"This is incredible. I am in heaven."
"Go outside and look up on the roof. I will be there in a minute."
Matty gave Bill a quick kiss and opened the patio doors off the living room.
As soon as she got outside, she heard a squawk behind her, from up on the roof.
She turned around and immediately started laughing. There on top of the roof was an exact replica of the house and lighthouse, seagull size.
Jarge and Mable both had their heads stuck out through the doorway of the replica.
"It has heating for the winter and very comfortable beds and the front opens up completely, so we can go up there and clean the thing out once in a while. Of course, in the winter, we can let the two dummies inside, if they decide not to migrate. Which we both know they won't."
Matty turned when she heard the sound of a cork popping.
Bill passed her a glass of champagne.
"To the love of my life and our new home."
The two clinked glasses and drank their champagne.
"I still don't know how you managed this," Matty sighed.
Bill filled her glass.
"It took some planning. Some sneaking around and a lot of help from a large group of our friends, who worked here until seven this morning."
Matty sipped her champagnes and leaned on the rail of the wraparound deck.
"You never cease to amaze me, Bill."
She turned and looked at him.
"You have come such a long way from that unsure man who was attacked by the mutant rat, first came into my life."
"Well it was a big mouse."
Matty smiled at him.
"Thank you."
"For what?"
"Everything, but mostly for coming into my life and even more so, for staying in my life. I can't imagine my life without you."
Bill leaned down and kissed her.
"I love you Matty. Its like they say, behind every successful man is an amazing woman. And I found the most amazing woman in the world."
He kissed her again and picked up the bottle of champagne.
"And I believe this is the point where we go inside, lock the doors and christen our new home."
"Me nerves," Nanny Dove snipped, as she appeared.
"Is youse two gonna be playin' ruttin' moose again."
Matty smiled, as she closed the patio door.
"Bye, Nanny Dove," she smiled, as she locked the door.
"Youse knows dat won't keep me out."
Matty let out a moose grunt.
"But dat will."
She looked up, as she heard the gulls laughing at her.
"Youse wants Ise comes up dere and keeps youse company?"
Jarge and Mable disappeared inside their house.
Nanny Dove smiled and looked out over the Atlantic Ocean.
"Youse did okay, mainlander."
She looked at the house.
"Youse did oaky."
With that she disappeared.