Unforeseen

Chapter XIX

Consistently large shrubbery ran parallel with the brick. The bushes were all alike, and they had been meticulously cut to be rounded in a decorative way.The driveway was long, continuing in a straight path leading us on and on until we reached the end where it formed a circle right in front of a large manor. In the middle of the circle was a three-tierstatue fountain standing at least six feet tall,possibly a little larger than that even. The face of the manor held six white framed windows on eachside equaling twelve windows in total. It had three along the top and three along the bottom. Positioneddirectly above the front door, in the very center, was a long white balcony that was bowed out. Accompanied by a beautiful matching white ironfence and twin pocket doors that were all made ofglass. Two large brick chimneys occupied the roof,one on each side of the house. 

"Shall we go in?" Gabriele asked me, gently grabbing my hand to hold. "We can have a look around." 

Nervously glancing over both shoulders, I said, "Umm...okay...are you sure the owner won't mind?"

Despite my inquiry, Gabriele continued to guideme through the front door. "Considering that this house belongs to us at the present time, I think we are safe to do so." 

"Us..." I repeated in a state of shock. 

"This was the good news I was telling you about...I got us a place of our own. I thought somewhere off in the countryside would be good for the two of us. After all, we are starting a new chapter in our life, passing up our one-year marktogether. To me, that's an accomplishment for our relationship. I had in mind that we could begin this new year with something fresh and take the next step. I mean–I practically live at your place as it is now anyway so it would be no different really, in my opinion at least. What do you think?" 

"About you buying us a house or about us living together in a place that is our own?" I asked, a little confused since my mind tends to go different ways with its thought process. 

"Well now that you put it like that, I'd like to hear what you think about both," he said sincerely.

"I'd be lying if I didn't tell you that I am concerned. By the looks of this place, it wasn't cheap by any means, so I am a little worried that you spent a lot of money on getting us this house. And you are right, we basically live together now so 139it would be no different other than it would be our own. But before we go any further, I must tell you it's absolutely beautiful. I've never seen anything quite like this in my life."

"I have," he whispered, affectionately stroking the side of my face. "You're blushing again, I very much enjoy it when you do, and pay no mind to what it cost; the money is no matter." 

Smiling widely at him, I could see that twinkle in his eye. The same twinkle he had when I agreed to make his mama's spaghetti sauce on our first dinner date together. 

"Let us proceed with the tour," he said, pulling me along. "You haven't even seen the half of it yet." 

Before we headed on through the manor, I took one last look at the foyer we were currently standing in. Marble mixed of white and blue flooded the floor along with attractive wood paneling covering the walls from floor to ceiling. Each panel had been carefully crafted to handsomely display the look of elegance and wealth. Gabriele informed me that this style was known as raised panel wainscoting it was anarchitectural detail that was sure to be included inthe construction of most manors nowadays. 

Next, we visited the sitting room which was incredibly large in size and light in color which made its appearance bright. The high peak was made up of four ceiling faces slanting upward to form a pyramid-like shape built of glass block windows. Each wall held three large arch-shapedpocket doors made of glass leading out to a very spacious patio area that wrapped the whole way around the sitting room. The floor was made up of a cheerful color ceramic tile.