Devil's House

STORAGE!

"Mike's going to paint birds on the wall," Chester explained as he fanned his hand over the light pencil outlines of swallows and blue jays and butterflies that were already on the wall of the nursery for the girls. "You can kinda see where he's been practicing." He pounded one finger over the gray sketch lines that could be seen on the faint blue-purple colored wall that looked like it had been done in watercolor, not painted with rollers and large brushes. It was a technique that Mike had come up with one night while they were testing the color samples they had gotten from the local hardware store. Now the nursery had blues, purples, greens, and yellows all over the walls in a washy design. There were even splashes of pink, that made it very clear two little girls would be living in this room.

The whole concept was beautiful in Chester's eyes, and he was proud of the work his husband had already done, and he was excited to show it all to Talinda. He watched her carefully as she stepped closer, inspecting the pencil lines of various birds and butterflies. "What do you think?" Chester finally had to ask when Talinda moved down the wall to look at more, but hadn't said anything. He glanced away from her for a second to look at what else was there. Both bassinets were set up, side by side with two rocking chairs between them. There was a small white dresser, a changing table, and a few stuffed animals - a teddy bear, a lion, and a white horse - sitting around as well. There were already a few small outfits hidden away in the dresser. The changing table was stocked with wipes and diapers and spit rags. It wasn't much yet, but Chester was hoping Talinda would approve. "T?" he asked again when she still hadn't said anything. "Is it okay?"

Talinda's hand was on the wall, her eyes focused on Mike's artwork as she rubbed her belly over top of her black sheer top. It was billowy, and covered her over-sized figure well. And it would look dashing with her white, straight-cut pants if she wasn't pregnant. But at the moment, she was pretty sure no outfit could really help her. "It's lovely, Chester," she finally said as she turned to face him with a smile. "Mike's so talented. This room is beautiful."

Chester nodded in agreement. "He is. He's going to make the whole house beautiful, one room at a time." He crossed the short distance between them and lowered his voice. "I'm glad you like it. I think it's perfect for the girls while they're little. And since they'll be in here, I've got one more thing to show you." He took her hand to pull her through the Jack and Jill bathroom to the other side.

Talinda had to laugh as she let herself be tugged along. "What now? This house is already to die for, Chester. I don't know what else you could possibly show me," she said, but stopped the moment they stepped into the adjoining room, just on the other side of the seashell bathroom. Talinda looked around at the very put together and very adult looking room. The walls were brushed in a light gray paint with white accents. There was another white dresser, but this one was taller, with a vase of pink and purple snapdragon flowers on top. There was a queen sized bed, perfectly made with a purple and gray blanket and white pillows at the top. There was a window letting in the sunshine and letters hand painted on the wall in rolling white script that said BLESSED and HOPEFUL.

She turned to see Chester beaming at her. "What's this?"

"Well, one day one of the girls will take this room. When they're older. But for now, it's a guest room. More like, your room," he said a little sheepishly as he looked away and pointed at the bed and the flowers. "I know you don't want to live with us or anything, but while you're pregnant, we figured it would be nice if you had your own room here for now. So if you're over late and you're too tired to go home, you won't have to. Or if you're at work and you're not feeling well, we're so close to Score." Chester pointed in that direction. "You can just come here and lay down. We'll take care of you when you're sick or if things get really rough towards the end of the pregnancy." Chester had taken a parenting class at USC. He knew things could get crazy towards the end. Especially when twins or triplets were involved. Things like bed rest came to mind. If Talinda ended up having to take time off of work and spend the last month of her pregnancy in bed, Chester didn't want her alone for that.