*April 5th, 2003*
From his spot in the passenger’s seat of their rental car, AJ watched as the security gate opened and he got his first clear view of the house. In the seat behind him, Mikayla shifted until her head poked out between the two front seats. “Wow. It’s beautiful.” She breathed out.
It was exactly what AJ had been thinking. The house itself was done in white stucco on the outside while the roofing was Spanish tile. The whole look to the house was a style called Spanish Colonial Revival.
It wasn’t huge looking, which was a plus. They hadn’t wanted a mansion. Sure, the place had six bedrooms and six bathrooms, but it was also two stories. Plus, it had an attached two car garage, overtop of which was one of the bedrooms and bathrooms. That room also sported its own kitchen. It was basically an apartment over the garage, which was what Mikayla insisted she wanted. She’d loved the pictures when they’d viewed the property online.
While Brian pulled up the drive and parked the car, Mikayla sat back and pulled out the flyer the real estate agent had given her. “Ok boys, so let’s see. This little flyer has more than the online ad did.” She read out. “We already knew about the central air and the size and all that. The master bed and master bath are on the main floor like you guys were looking for.” No one mentioned the reasons for that, though they all knew it. As AJ got sicker, stairs would be harder and harder for him. “It’s got a family room, dining room, apparently a spacious kitchen, a den, and a crap load of bedrooms.”
“Blah, blah, Kay.” AJ cut in. He unhooked his seatbelt carefully, trying not to jostle himself. The plane ride out to Denver had made him more nauseous than he’d thought it would and his body felt like it had been put through a ringer from being squashed into the small seats. But he was determined to see the house and excited about it, too.
He climbed from the car and simply stood for a minute in the afternoon air, looking at the front of the house. The garage sat to his right, two windows that Brian had told him were called ‘dormer windows’ which just meant that they stuck out of the roof.
The front entryway caught AJ’s attention and had him loving the look of the house. Directly over the front door was a patio for an upstairs room. The four pillars that supported it up were wide and smooth, effectively enclosing the entryway. On the front of it, right under the railing and above the eaves, a wrought iron light sat, black patterns painted onto the white wall on either side of it.
All the windows had shutters on them, an old fashioned thing that AJ hadn’t seen in a long time. They also each held a planter box in front of them with pots and plants already growing cheerfully inside. A red clay walkway led from the driveway, through a nicely manicured lawn, right up to the front door. When Brian’s hand settled in his, AJ grinned at him and let his husband lead him up to the beautiful wooden front door with its large oval, frosted glass pane. “I like it already, Bri.” He whispered.
Winking, Brian stuck the key in the lock. “I never would have guessed. You two ready for the tour?” He opened the door and the three of them stepped inside.
The entry way was gorgeous. The whole floor was hardwood, but right as you stepped in there was a pattern of tiles made to look like an area rug. The outer ring was a dark blue/gray set of tiles. They were shaped like bricks, layered twice in a rectangular shape. Inside of that rectangle was reddish brown tiles in a Spanish style. AJ looked down at it, loving it. “That looks fucking cool.” He commented as he stepped in, ignoring the two chuckles behind him.
On the right was a doorway that was just an archway that led to the living room, which was an open, warm room. The front wall, which looked out to the front yard, had a wide, picture window. On the wall farthest from the archway was a fireplace made of the dark reddish brown clay tile. It was spacious and had plenty of room for them. They’d made sure that any place they looked at had larger room because of the size of their extended family.
“Hey, hon, come in here!” Brian called out. AJ spun around in the archway to look at the other side of the entryway. Where AJ had gone right on coming in, Brian and Mikayla had gone left, into the dining room. This room also sported a fireplace, but it had a hutch built into the wall on the side opposite the front windows. On either side of the built in hutch were two doorways that led further back in the house, to the kitchen.
Quiet, AJ followed through the door, looking into the kitchen. Counters ringed two of the walls, as well as the stove, fridge, and dishwasher. In the middle of the room was a large island. The counters and the island were all made from beautiful cherry wood with granite countertops. AJ stepped up to the island and ran his hand over it. He felt Brian moving along behind him, but they said not a word to one another, simply looking.
On this side of the wall, between the two doors to the dining room, there was a pantry for all their canned goods and such. The wall to the backyard was a whole row of windows over the counters and the sink. Anytime they did dishes they’d be able to look out to the backyard.
AJ walked to the right side of the kitchen, looking down the hallway back to the front door, then to the left where the patio doors led out to the backyard. He bypassed both of those to walk over to the open wood staircase with its wrought iron railings. He walked past that as well, down the hallway to the downstairs bathroom. Poking his head in, he gave it a quick look.
“So, it looks like a bathroom?” Brian teased him, making him jump. AJ put a hand to his heart and spun around, glaring. “You trying to give me a heart attack, babe?” he asked his love.
“You looked so serious, husband. I figured you could use some lightening up.” The smile on Brian’s face lightened AJ’s heart. Hearing Brian call him ‘husband’ never failed to give him a thrill either. Mikayla teased that it was the southern in Brian coming out, calling their spouse ‘husband’ instead of their name. AJ didn’t mind at all. He loved hearing it.
Rolling her eyes at them, Mikayla walked up and opened the door across from them that led to the master bedroom and bathroom. “Let’s check out the good stuff in here.” She called out to them, motioning for them to follow her. Smirking, AJ followed her in, pinching Brian’s butt as he walked past. Once in the room, though, he froze.
The floor in here was hardwood too, though a slightly darker shade than the rest of the house. The door let them in on the far right of the room, right by the entry to the master bath. AJ ignored that for a moment as he stepped inside and turned, looking down the length of the room. At the other end was another door, which Mikayla had opened and was sticking her head inside. “Walk in closet!” she called out.
“We need one that size.” Brian teased, looking over at AJ. “Man’s got more clothes than anyone I know.”
“You’re just jealous.”
“Of your clothes? Right, I’m sure.”
They bumped arms, chuckling at one another, and looked around the room. The wall by the backyard had two sets of windows, one of which had the window seat so that a person could read a book and look outside if they wished, or just curl up with a blanket and watch the snow fall in the winter. Between the two windows was yet another fireplace, this one made of brick. AJ could just picture lying in bed in the winter, snow coming down outside, a fire in the fireplace. “It’s perfect.” He whispered reverently.
On this trip to Denver they had looked at two other houses, but neither of them had gripped him or Brian quite this way. Standing in that master bedroom, they both knew this was the house they wanted. Already they could both see in their minds eye where they would set things up at.
There was only one last thing they had to make sure of before they committed themselves to the home. They had to check out Mikayla’s part of the house. Their minds all seemed to be on the same wavelength because Mikayla suddenly grinned at them and said “Ok, my turn.”
The three of them hurried out of the room and up the staircase. They bypassed the other four bedrooms, as well as the office, and hit the doorway at the far end that took them into the laundry room. The door on the other side of the room took them to the apartment over the garage.
Right through the door took them to her living room, which was pretty good sized. “Bigger than my apartment at home.” She commented as she looked to the windows on either side. Straight ahead of them, on the wall farthest from the house, was the door to the bedroom and the archway that led to the kitchen and dining room.
“Anything would be bigger than that.” AJ said dryly as he walked to inspect the kitchen. Even though his back was to her, he called out “Don’t make that face at me!”
Brian laughed as he looked at Mikayla, who had frozen in the act of sticking her tongue out at the back of AJ’s head. Those two knew each other almost as well as they knew themselves.
“Kitchen’s homey.” AJ called out, drawing them in. Homey was a good word for it. It was nothing in comparison to the kitchen downstairs, but that worked for her. She didn’t want large. There was a stove, a dishwasher, and a fridge with the small freezer on the top. There would be room for her small table to sit right against the wall and let her look out the window when she ate. The walls were painted a sunny yellow, giving the room a warm look.
The three drifted out of the kitchen and to her bedroom. There she was pleasantly surprised to find a small fireplace of her own tucked into a corner. The window opened up the view to the backyard and all the trees that were back there. “What do you think, Kay?” Brian asked her quietly.
She didn’t say anything at first, moving to look in the bathroom. There she found a shower stall as well as an old fashioned claw foot tub. The feet were wrought iron, and the faucets were chrome. Pulling her head back out, she turned to them and let her grin spread over her face. “I love it. When do we move in?”
AJ felt a grin stretch his face. He darted forward, grabbing her hands and pulling her into a fast two step. Laughing, she easily fell into the moves with him. On the sidelines, Brian stomped his foot and clapped out a beat for them, laughing as they spun round and round the room. When Mikayla was red in the face from laughter, AJ let her go to spin around and practically leap into Brian’s arms. “It’s perfect, Bri.”
Though Brian hadn’t once said anything about it, AJ knew the reasons that Brian had for searching for a new home for them. He knew that Brian was trying to give him things that he wanted and to make good memories with him before his time came. Yes, they both loved the area. But AJ knew that Brian had not only chose Denver because they loved it, but because he knew how much AJ wanted to be around snow in the winter. How badly he wanted a white Christmas.
The wonderful, beautiful man had done everything in his power to try to make that happen. AJ felt like the most loved person in the world. “Thank you.” He whispered in Brian’s ear.
His husband held him tighter. “We’ll be happy here, Alex. I know it.”
“I’m happy wherever you are.” But AJ pulled back enough to grin at him. “We will be happy here. We’ll make a home for us and our family.”
At that comment, Mikayla stepped up. They easily opened their arms, adding her into the hug. “You guys will be the best parents.” She told them with a soft smile. “This house, this place, will be perfect for you to start your family in.” She brought one hand down to rest on the small bulge in her stomach. Within the past month she had started to show; not much yet, but more than the average woman. Being as she was a smaller framed woman, the baby seemed to show a little more on her body type.
They hadn’t told anyone about the baby yet. First, because Mikayla had warned them that until they hit the three month mark there was still a possibility of early miscarriage. None of them had wanted to tell anyone until they were sure that everything had caught right, so to speak.
She’d coasted pretty well through the first few months, at least so far. No vomiting, though certain smells did make her nauseous. The most problems she had was that she tired easier than normal and she was almost constantly hungry.
Now that they’d reached that three month mark and now that they had a home for their family they knew that it was time to tell their family and friends. Thinking of that, AJ chewed on his lip and looked from Brian to Mikayla and back again.
Seeming to read his thoughts, Brian leaned in and kissed AJ’s lips lightly. “We’ll tell them, Age. Don’t worry. I was thinking we could throw a house warming party and tell them then. If we go over to the real estate office, this house could be ours before the day is out. Shouldn’t take us real long to get our furniture over here. We could probably have the party in, oh, a week or two.”
AJ relaxed a little again. He wanted to let everyone know the joy that was coming into their lives. He didn’t like hiding all this from them. Flashing a smile, he let his happy mood settle back in. “Why don’t we drop you at the real estate place and I’ll take Kay to go meet the OB here. We’ve got that appointment in…how long, Kay?”
“An hour.” She said with amusement. “Plenty of time to drop Bri here off.”
After her appointment they had another one set up with the doctor here who would be taking over for Dr. Shannon. But for that one, AJ definitely wanted Brian with him.
The three tightened their hug, simply leaning in to one another for a short while. “Welcome home.” Mikayla whispered to them. They were some of the most perfect words AJ had ever heard.