Page 59 of Coveting Catherine

“Chase talked to you concerning adoption, right? Have you thought about it?” Catherine rubbed Kassie's knee in a consoling gesture.

“Yeah, we've talked about surrogates, adoption, and fostering. I'm not ready. I imagine myself pregnant with Chase's child inside of me, and I want it so desperately it hurts.”

“Honey, I can't imagine how you feel, but you know I'll support you through it all.” Catherine pulled Kassie in for a hug.

“Best friends to the end.” Kassie agreed.

Catherine smiled, “Best friends to the end.”

CHAPTER FORTY NINE

Leo directed the big box truck to the side of the house. The team went to work unloading several boxes and pressure-treated wood. Saint organized the containers as Taco pulled the directions from the first packet. “Have you seen these instructions? It's a book.”

Leo's chest puffed out. “I think we can put together a swing set. Let's divide it into teams. Taco, Shadow, and I will work on the swing set, and Doc, Saint, and Michael work on the treehouse. Whiskey, you’re in charge of production. I need you to order mulch for the playground area and sand for the sandbox. Get them to deliver it this afternoon.”

Whiskey scratched his head and counted all the boxes coming off the truck. “Are you sure? I don't know if we can handle this by this afternoon.”

Leo checked his watch. “It's only oh eight hundred; have them come around fourteen hundred. It should only take a couple of hours.”

Shadow grabbed the box cutters and began sorting out all the pieces. Chase, Saint, and Michael assessed the tree and huddled. Chase delivered the news to his friend. “The tree doesn’t work. The women will kill us if we put a clubhouse for the kids up that high up.”

“I added guard rails, and they have to hit the safety latch before using the rope drop. There’s also a net.” Leo grabbed the instructions for the swing set and started sorting the labeled pieces.

Chase shook his head and glanced at Michael. “I'm telling you, now. The women won’t let the kids play on anything resembling a bungie jump.”

Leo frowned, “Come on, guys, we jumped out of crap higher than that without broken bones. Aren't kids resilient or some shit?”

Michael stared at Chase. “He thinks of the kids as miniature Navy SEALS?”

“I heard you. We may have three girls and one boy, but it doesn't mean we’ll discriminate against them. Our girls are the exception to the rules. We’re raising them strong like their mamas. Whiskey, you have a boy. LJ would consider this pretty cool, right?”

Whiskey hesitated. “I’d have to ask Samantha. What kind of mulch do you want?”

“What kind? Just order some mulch,” he ordered.

“There’re fifty different kinds. They got regular mulch, dyed mulch, engineered wood fiber, or stuff made from tires. There's also something resembling real grass.”

Leo rubbed his neck. His gesture promised to turn into one colossal mess. “Let's focus on the swing set and research the mulch idea.”

Whiskey continued to read, “It says rubber mulch serves as the preferred mulch. Unless it's a public playground and they use the engineered stuff. The other stuff has chemical dyes and such. Says here, it's not good for kids.”

“Okay, let's go with rubber.” He smiled as he made a selection.

“How much?” Whiskey asked.

“We need it really padded, order a bit extra,” Leo answered Whiskey as he tried to make sense of the directions.

“Says here we can order it by the pallet. Do you think three or four pallets might do it?”

“Probably closer to ten. Since the guys consider the treehouse such a big deal, we'll spread what we have left around the tree.” He frowned at his friends for throwing a wrench in his plans.

Michael attempted to act as the voice of reason. “Why don't we build the swing set? Since we have three girls, we can get one of those playhouses at the hardware store. They're constructed from durable plastic and slam together in less than an hour.”

“Nope, I ordered a miniature log cabin to go over there,” Leo pointed to his left. “Does anyone know anything about puppies? Melody loves Rollo. I want to get her a dog. I don't want one of those designer things. It's gotta be a maneater like Rollo.”

The team exchanged glances. Saint put his hand on his shoulder. “Boss, maybe dial it back a tad. You don't want to overwhelm Melody. It tends to get kids wired when you throw too much at them at once.”

He sighed and nodded. “Okay, we can drop the suspension bridge and the rope drop. What size tree do you think I need to order? I always wanted to have a tree house. You know, like a secret club thing going.”

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