We finish the tour, falling more and more in love with the house with every room we visit. The downstairs features a master with an adjoining room that can serve as a nursery to start and be converted to an office years from now when we’re done filling our nest. There are two other bedrooms and three bathrooms downstairs, as well as a living room, den, kitchen, and foyer.

Upstairs there are three more bedrooms and bathrooms, one of which is a second master, perfect for when our parents come to visit.

But it’s the back yard that seals the deal for me.

“This back yard is an entertainer’s paradise,” Wanda says, leading us out through French doors off the kitchen to a veranda the length of the house. It’s fully furnished with lush couches and conversation sets. All the way to the left is an outdoor kitchen fit for a king—that’s me.

“Look at this view.” My wife stares out at the designer pool with stone accents blending it in with the surrounding landscape. There’s a colossal grotto I can’t wait to ravish her in, and a waterslide that would be any kid’s dream. Behind all of that is a pristine lake, the same one Rhett and Nick’s homes are built on.

“It’s incredible,” I say, imagining lazy days spent fishing off that dock. “What’d’ya say, Li’l Momma?”

“I say…” She throws her arms around my neck spreading a whisper of kisses along my collarbone. “Where do we sign, lover boy?”

Chapter Seventeen

“Are you sure you don’t want me to fly out there with you to help get you settled into your new home?” Momma lugs the last of my suitcases to the waiting car while I push the one on wheels. I told her Frank and Dane would take care of it, but my mother has never been one to wait on a man.

A well-kept woman, she may be, but a delicate flower, she is not.

“I’m positive.” Bittersweet tears well in my eyes. “I feel bad enough about leaving Daddy. I need you to stay by his side until you can both come together.”

My father really is doing so much better. He’s regaining his color and his strength, but he’s still having chemo multiple times a week and can’t travel. And while I have talked to the doctors myself and all signs point to him eventually making a full recovery, provided his treatments continue to work as well as they have been, it’s still hard as heck to leave him.

But as my father has pointed out many times over the past few weeks, I’m a married woman now, and my place is with my husband.