"Hey, you know that idea you had to build a house?" Tara asked a few weeks later. I raised my eyebrow at her. Things had started settling down between us and we were getting back to normal. I'd gone back to work, as had Tara, and Ethan had gone back to day care. The hospital was really good about Ethan as well, Chief Larson made Tara's hours very flexible so that Tara could be there to take care of our son.
"Yes, my love?" I kissed the top of Tara's head as we lay in bed. It had been a long day at work, I'd been landed with a big case as soon as I got back to work and it was doing my head in. So I was glad to have time to relax with my wife, while our son was sound asleep in his own bed, for a change.
"Do you have any ideas for what kind of house you want to build? Or was that where your idea stops?" Tara asked, lifting her head to look at me.
"I've got a million and one ideas for our home, Hun," I informed her. "You know how most little girls dream of their wedding day?" Tara nodded. "Well when I was little I dreamed of the home I would have one day, you know because I didn't really have a place to call home," I explained.
"I can just imagine you as a little girl, making your dream home out of cardboard boxes," Tara tried to tease me.
"That's exactly what I did do," I replied.
"Oh my goodness, seriously?" Tara exclaimed.
"Yeah," I nodded. "It started off small, but it started getting bigger and bigger, until, just before I met you, I settled on something slightly more manageable," I elaborated. "But there's some things that I won't compromise on, like my office," I informed Tara.
"Well that's understandable, a writer needs her office," Tara commented.
"Complete with a hidden entrance and built to look like the captains quarters of a ship from the fourteen hundreds," I elaborated some more.
"Are you kidding?" Tara asked, propping herself up on the bed so she could get a good look at me. I just shook my head. "Wow, I mean, if that's what you want for your office," Tara gave in without a fight.
"Yes!" I rejoiced.
"Sometimes, you're like a big kid, you know that?" Tara asked, making me laugh. I just nodded through my laughter. "What other ideas do you have?" Tara asked once I'd calmed down from my fit of laughter.
"A massive entrance way with a pool table in it, a home cinema room, living area, kitchen, a formal dinning room, master bedroom, guest bedroom, a three car shed so we can fit my gym equipment in there as well, a granny flat over and along side the car shed, at least three bedrooms upstairs, a games room for the kids, and my office of course," I laid out my plans for Tara.
"Wow, sounds like you've got this whole thing figured out," Tara sounded impressed. "But what about your music?" Tara asked.
"Yeah, you're right, I need a room for that, especially if Ethan keeps getting excited about playing the piano," I exclaimed, wondering how I could have forgotten a music room.
"We're going to need quite a bit of land to make this happen, not too far from the city so it isn't too big a commute for work and we'll want to look out in the Eastern suburbs so that we're close to your Aunty and Uncle, and baby girl," Tara said thoughtfully.
"What about Toorak? I mean, it's about the only suburb where we're going to find a big enough lot of land for what we want," I suggested.
"Yeah that could work, but can we afford land in Toorak?" Tara asked.
"Relax, Hun, we've got enough stashed away that we can afford to buy land in Toorak, build this house there and still have enough left over that we could both retire early if we want," I reassured her.
