Into the Ether - Complete

Spring, When New Things Grow: Part 31

Dimitri had brought my rocking chair outside, and I was sitting in the shade watching him, and the guys put the new roof on our cottage. The upper interior walls were in, the dormers built, new windows installed, they'd insulated every possible spot, and now the roof was being shingled. It was Sunday – the day Dimitri usually left unscheduled for R and R time, but when he'd mentioned he was hoping for a fine day so he could finally get the cottage water-tight, the guys had volunteered to help out. In fact, everyone helped in their own way.

Abe had insisted on upgrading materials from the flat to the longer lasting architectural shingles. He'd also insisted on sending Alyce over for the morning to help me prepare a lunch and a dinner to satisfy the hardworking, hungry men. She'd helped me make large platters of subway sandwiches and homemade lemonade for the midday meal and for dinner, I'd prepared a roast pork and a roast beef with baked veg. Alyce promised with a roast it was all in the groundwork – the cooking being pretty much set and forget. So now in the late afternoon, I was watching while my strong man and the crew finished off the job. The last one down the ladder, Dimitri came to stand next to me, wrapping his hot, sweaty arms around me from behind as we admired his handiwork.

"It's not ready, but it's warm and water-tight," he lovingly whispered in my ear as together we gazed at the cottage my man had rebuilt. I was twenty-six weeks pregnant and honestly had never been happier. We'd visited the Academy twice since the fires – each time relieved when our visit occurred without major incident. Tasha had not been seen or heard from, and while things were strained with Lissa and Christian, we were all trying.

And now my home was close to finished. Sure we were missing a couple of bathrooms and a kitchen, the floors had to be sanded and polished, and the entire place plastered and painted. But the skeleton was in, and I could see the start of the beautiful home it would be.

"We're done! Get cleaned up. Dinner in the dorm in forty minutes," Dimitri announced to the Guardians before turning back to me. "If you can manage the ladder, I could take you up and show you our room? And the nursery?" Dimitri tempted.

I hadn't been allowed to see the upper floor, and I was beyond keen to get a sense of the space. I nearly pulled his arm off dragging him across the new porch boards and through the makeshift front door. The downstairs I was pretty familiar with, having recently spent hours there with the interior designer getting suggestions for finishes for the floor, my new kitchen, and half bathroom. But upstairs? Well other than the sketches Dimitri had shown me, that was a mystery.

I climbed the ladder, emerging into a surprisingly large and bright landing illuminated by a large dormer window above the stairs. To the left was our room, straight ahead the bathroom, and to the right two smaller bedrooms.

"What do you want to see first, milaya? Our room or Junior's?"

"Ours," I whispered breathlessly, awed at what my man had achieved – and the love he must feel to have built all this for our little family. Stepping into our bedroom, I was surprised by its size. Even once you factored in the roof pitch and the unusable space near the eaves, the room was huge.

"I'm thinking a combination of open shelving, built in drawers and half height cupboards to make the most of the space on each side," he explained. The room took up the entire depth of the house, so standing at the double entry doors the wall straight ahead was the roof's gable so very tall in the center, while the ceiling inclined down to the right and the left becoming unusable towards the very edges.

"That would give us masses of storage," I acknowledged, honestly a little overwhelmed by everything.

"If we centered our bed here," Dimitri said gesturing to the obvious spot on the wall opposite the entry, "there'd be room on one side for a relaxing reading area and on the other side perhaps your bureau and a workspace for me too? I'm still in two minds about adding a window in the gable for even more light – but we can live in it for a while, and if you feel the four dormers don't let enough in, I can add a fifth window or some skylights." To anyone else, it would sound like my confident man discussing lighting. But I knew my Russian God was really looking for my approval.