I picked up the first of the stack. “Liam, if I'm reading this right, it has six bedrooms.”What in the world would we need six bedrooms for?I wondered.
“Yeah, I was worried it may be a little small.”
“Small! You're insane, that's way too big,” I told him.
He frowned. “I figured your family would want to visit now and then. Plus, we don't want Oscar to be an only child forever, do we?”
Oscar giggled. “I'd like a little brother, like Zander,” he said hopefully.
I wanted to throw up, but faked a smile for Oscar's benefit. After what had happened to me, I wasn't even sure I could physically have kids again. They had told me Oscar was a miracle child. I made a mental note to set an appointment with the local pack doctor to discuss. I didn't want Liam getting his hopes up when I might never be able to give him kids of his own.
The next house I picked up had eight bedrooms. I groaned. “You realize I'm the one that's going to be stuck cleaning this monstrosity, right?”
“We'll hire a maid,” he said without a second thought.
Oscar waved one in the air. “I like this one. It has a huge porch and a big game room.”
Liam grinned. “That's my favorite too, kid.”
I took it and looked it over. It had a big open floor plan, a full basement with the game room Oscar got excited about, and five good-sized bedrooms upstairs. I looked at the sketch of the full wrap around porch and I loved it.
Liam grinned and high-fived Oscar. “Looks like Mommy loves it, too. I think we found our house.”
Oscar attacked Liam and they began wrestling on the floor, when there was a knock at the door and Chris popped her head in.
“Mr. Westin,” she said, smiling and shaking her head. “Troy is here.”
“Great, send him on back.”
A tall man with graying temples entered. He had a sophistication about him, yet his attire screamed blue collar worker.
Liam stood up with Oscar tucked under one arm as he carried him by the waist, his legs flailed out behind him.
“Troy,” he said, shaking his hand. “This is Oscar, and that's Maddie. And I think we've found our house. Right. kid?”
Oscar replied, “Right,” and he handed the man the floor plans to the house we had unanimously agreed on.
Troy looked them over and grinned. “I knew you'd love this one. A little smaller than you'd wanted, I know, but we can always convert part of the basement into more bedrooms if needed down the road.”
“For now, it's perfect. My girl loves it. My kid loves it. Perfect.”
“Well, alright then. We'll break ground tomorrow. I've got my best crew on it,” Troy told us.
Tomorrow?I thought. One thing I was quickly coming to understand was that when Liam Westin set his mind to something, he was a force to be reckoned with.
We said goodbye to Troy and he left. As soon as the door closed, Oscar demanded to be put down and he looked Liam right in the eye. “You called me your son,” he said in an accusatory voice.
“Do you have a problem with that?” Liam asked him.
“No, but do you mean it?”
“Well, first, there's something I've been wanting to ask you. And I haven't run this by Mommy yet, so I really hope she doesn't kill me for asking.”
Okay, he had my full attention.What was he up to?I wondered as he shot me an apologetic look.
“Oscar, you know I love your mom, right?”
He nodded. “I sorta figured that out already.”