She went through and I heard her footsteps descend creaky wooden stairs. I crossed the kitchen and followed her into the darkness. I kept my hand against the cool stone wall to my right for balance. Once we reached the bottom of the stairs, Nicole went to the middle of the room and pulled the chain of a small, bare lightbulb that was barely visible in the darkness, hanging from the ceiling. The lightbulb had to be decades old and weakly glowed, barely illuminating the space.

“And … the basement …” she said.

“Yeah,” I weakly offered.

There wasn’t much to say beyond that. Wooden shelves rested against the walls and planked floors.

“Upstairs?” I asked.

“Upstairs,” Nicole confirmed and snapped off the light.

We bounded back up the steps and hurried through the house like children having a race.

“Almost done!” I called out through the open front door to the realtor as we passed. He had to think that we were crazy as we charged up the stairs to the second floor.

At the top of the stairs, the hallway stretched out before us. To the right was the Turret Room. The windows offered an almost panoramic view of the lake. The ceiling vaulted to a point and a closet was near the door.

“Caitlyn’s room?” I asked.

“I don’t know. You think it might be too much of a change for her?”

I shrugged. “We’ll ask her.”

“We’re gonna spoil that kid.”

“Damn right, we are.”

We went into the blue guestroom across the hall from the Turret Room. I stood behind Nicole in the doorway.

“Guestroom?”

“Until we give Caitlyn a sibling,” Nicole replied.

I wrapped my arm around her waist, playfully growled, and nibbled her neck.

She laughed and spun away from me. “We’re not done yet!”

We went down the hall to the master suite.

I opened the door and we both gasped. The walls were paneled in rich, rose-stained wood. A fireplace was nestled into the far wall and a door in the corner led to the bathroom.

“Our bedroom would have a fireplace?” Nicole whispered.

“Our bedroom would have a fireplace.”

We walked back downstairs in a daze. It didn’t seem possible that this house could be ours. We stopped in the living room and faced one another.

“Do you want to live here?” I asked.

“I know it sounds weird but, I feel like I’m supposed to be here … Do you want to live here?”

I nodded.

We kissed and held one another with our foreheads pressed together.

“Nicole … we’re home.”

We kissed one more time and then I called towards the front door.

“Mr. Kowalski?”

“It’s ‘Stelowski’,” Nicole corrected me with a giggle.

“Sir!” I yelled, playing it safe.

The realtor stepped inside and stopped at the image of Nicole and I holding one another in the living room.

“So, um … do you have any—”

“We’ll take it,” Nicole said.

*