Chapter 100

Somehow, Jill and I ended up following everyone else as we went upstairs.

"Mom, I need to unlock the door."

"It's not locked, Jackie."

She opened the door, pushed Sara through, followed her in and pulled the door closed.

Jill and I looked at each other.

"I guess maybe I'm supposed to carry you over the threshold or something."

Her face broke into a big grin. She wrapped her arms around me and kissed me on the cheek. I put my right arm around her back and lifted her legs with my left.

The door wasn't completely closed. I used my foot to open it and walked inside my new home with my girl in my arms.

"SURPRISE!!!"

Jill's arms got tighter around my neck and she buried her face in my chest. I let go of her legs and eased her to the floor, keeping my arm around her waist.

Mom and Sara were there, of course. Mary was not asleep on the couch but was in my living room, grinning and exposing her new dental posts. John, Wanda, Alex and a woman I didn't know were all standing behind them, grinning like fools. I noticed that Wanda was standing a little behind John, to his right.

The floor looked good. Whatever Alex had put on it had finished it off well. But there was no way it had just finished drying.

Everyone was standing in front of our new couch. It was tan, made out of leather or vinyl. Not the black I probably would have picked out, but this color looked really good. It had dark green throw pillows at each end. There were easy chairs on both sides, covered in fabric, the same color as the pillows on the couch. End tables separated the couch from the chairs and there was a coffee table in front of it. The tables were all made of brass and glass.

The front wall had an "entertainment center" that held the stereo from my room as well as a DVD payer and a TV, about a twenty three incher. The right corner held my computer desk with the computer and printer. My regular desk was to the left of the entertainment center.

There were drapes over the windows, the same green as the chairs and pillows. I hadn't even noticed that the window over the stairs was covered. I looked over at Alex.

"You lied to me."

"Nah. I told you I worked on the floors and you couldn't come in until 9:00. I worked on the floors; they were just dry by 10:00 this morning. And we didn't want you here until 9:00 because we all wanted to be here. By the way, this is my wife, Alicia."

I went to shake her hand but she pulled me into a hug.

"I've heard a lot about you, young man. Thank you for taking care of our Jill."

I hugged her back and then it was Jill's turn to hug her. And everybody else.

Mom said, "Well, come on. This isn't the only room to this place."

She took my hand as Jill took the other. We walked across the hall into the bedroom, followed by the rest.

"I wondered how you protected the floor with the mattress on it." Alex just smiled.

The mattress was now contained in a bed frame. Jill squeezed my hand.

"Now we won't have to sleep on the floor."

"Didn't you like it with just the mattress?"

"No-oo."

There must have been four king size pillows on the bed. I couldn't tell for sure because it was covered in a new bedspread. Again the color, a kind of rust, was not what I would have chosen but it looked good.

The headboard had room for books, knickknacks or whatever. There were lamps at either end on goosenecks so they could be adjusted for reading in bed. Not that we'd reached that stage in our relationship yet. But we could always turn on one or both lamps and then turn off the ceiling fixture. No more running to the bed in the dark while Jill giggled. There was a clock radio in the middle of the headboard.

There were a couple of nightstands on either side of the bed. And there were two dressers, right where Jill had said they should go. Hers had a big mirror above it. All the furniture was oak. There was a desk I didn't recognize, obviously a girl's, a computer table next to it.

"Is that yours, Jill?"

"Yes. Thank you, Daddy."

"You're welcome, Honey."

Mom took my hand and we made our way up to the kitchen.

I knew there was room for a table but hadn't realized how much there actually was. The table was oak and there were six chairs around it. Two on each side, one at either end. The chairs were oak, as well. The four on the sides were similar to your standard oak rocking chair only they had stationary legs. The end chairs were shorter with arms and padded in red vinyl. There was a napkin holder filled with napkins, and a lazy Susan with salt, pepper, a sugar bowl, honey, ketchup, mustard and steak sauce on it.

I noticed that there was a mat in front of the sink, currently occupied by Bozo. It remained to be seen how much he'd be in the way if we needed to use the sink. It was obvious that he'd decided this was his new home and that mat was his.

Mom opened a cabinet and pointed out the dishes to Jill. That's all it took; she went running around the kitchen opening up every cabinet in the place, oohing and aahing as she went.

I pointed over the stove.

"Look, Jill."

"Oh, MY GOD!"

There was a new rack with a bunch of copper cookware hanging from it. There were four frying pans of various sizes, four saucepans and three big pots, including one that would probably hold enough of Jill's chili to get the whole neighborhood farting. There was also a small rack next to it that had copper plated cooking utensils hanging from it. There were a couple of spatulas, two big spoons, one solid, one with holes in it and a ladle. There was a holder with six big knives and eight steak knives on the counter. The kind they cut beer cans with on TV.

Jill went to the refrigerator. The thing was completely stocked. One of the cupboards had a three tiered rotating rack filled with every spice I'd ever heard of and a bunch I hadn't. I opened the closet at the end and saw the washer, dryer combo. There were a couple of shelves inside with detergent, bleach and softener on them. There were other cleaning supplies and a bucket as well. A mop, broom and dustpan were hanging on the inside of the door.

Mom had started some coffee after she sent Jill off, opening cabinets. The coffee maker went through its final gurgles.

"Girls, do me a favor and go get the chairs from the desks in the living room and the bedroom."

Mary and Sara took off.

Mom opened up one of the cupboards and started handing out coffee mugs to Wanda and Alicia who took them over to the table.

After they put the chairs next to the table, the girls got a jug of milk from the refrigerator. Mom passed out glasses and plates, then brought a covered plate from the counter next to the sink over to the table. She took the cover off to reveal a few dozen of her chocolate chip cookies.

Mary and Sarah took the chairs they'd just gotten. Mom was at one end of the table. Alex and Alicia sat down on the outside chairs; John was on the near side at Mom's end. That left two chairs for me, Jill and Wanda.

I sat down in the chair at the end of the table and patted my knee. Jill grinned and sat down on my lap, her arms around my neck, hugging me. Wanda was standing just behind John.

"Go ahead, Wanda, sit down."

John glanced over at me. "She's fine where she is."

"John, she is a guest in my house and while she is she will sit with the rest of us. Jesus Christ. What kind of a man are you?"

It was as if every muscle in the place tightened up. I think everyone was expecting John to come after me. He stared at me for a good five seconds, then relaxed and pulled out the empty chair next to him.