“There’s something I want to show you.”
“You mean there’s more?” she asked.
“Always, when you’re with us,” I said, grinning.
I took her hand and led her from the room before I walked over to the sliding doors. They dumped onto the wrap-around porch that was on the first floor but it had a small staircase that descended into the backyard. There was comfortable patio furniture that could take on all sorts of weather conditions, as well as a hot tu
b embedded into the beautiful wood, but that wasn’t what I wanted to show her.
I walked her down the stairs and out into the snow-covered grass, walking with her all the way out to the edge of the mountain just before the steel fence stopped us.
The side of the mountain we were on looked over the expanse of the entire city. I heard Kyra gasp while tears streamed down her face and her arm slipped around my waist. I draped my arm over her shoulders and pulled her close, kissing the top of her head while she took in the view.
“The sun sets over the city this way,” she said.
“That it does.”
This meant that every night, she could slip out here and watch her favorite time of day. Kyra had always been fascinated with sunsets. All the time while we were growing up, she always talked about living somewhere where she would watch the sun set over the city she lived in. She talked about how she could live in California and watch it set over the ocean or live in some big city and watch it set over the blinking lights of the busy world.
But what she didn’t expect was to find that same beautiful moment draped over the town she grew up in.
“I could watch it every night,” she said.
“And we’ll all be here, watching it with you,” Rowan said.
We turned around at the sound of his voice and Kyra held out her other arm for him. I felt my brothers gather behind us while we stood and watched the sun set over our small town. Just outside of Colorado Springs, on top of a mountain that overlooked our home, we gathered around one another on Christmas night, waiting to see how the woman we loved would react to what we’d just shown her.
“We chose this house because it was perfect for all of us,” I said. “It has garage space for Ethan to work on his bikes. It’s got plenty of office space in the bedrooms for me and the rest of us to work. It’s got a furnished suite for your father and the living room is already set up for football season.”
Kyra giggled at my statement and I allowed the sound to drape over my body, along with the colors of the setting sun.
“How in the world could you guys afford all this?” she asked.
“We’ve all been successful in our own right,” I said. “Buying the house together made it wonderfully affordable.”
“Wonderfully, huh?” she asked, grinning.
“Yep,” I said. “The house is paid for in full and is ready to fill with people who love one another.”
She looked up at me with her big doe eyes and I just knew I was going to melt into the ground.
“There’s one more surprise, though,” I said.
“Seriously? What the hell could top something like this?”
Her eyes grazed over the last of the sunset but all I could do was smile.
“I promise you, it’s worth it.”
I took her hand and led her back inside with my brothers hot on my heels. Out of all the things we’d added to the house at the last minute, this was the one we were all excited about showing her. I led her through the kitchen and into the dining room, spilling into a little sitting area at the front of the house. There was a door in the corner and she looked up at me with a curious glance as I smiled.
“Go on,” I said. “Open it.”
She let go of my hand and threw the door open and I heard her gasp. She turned on the light and walked into the middle of the alcove, her hands on her cheeks while her eyes tried to take in everything she was seeing. This small room had been filled with dusty bullshit when I’d first walked through it, but the moment I saw the room, I knew it was perfect for her recording studio. I’d had Rowan hit up an electronics store in town and he’d gathered everything Kyra would need in order to start her YouTube channel.
There was a digital camera and lighting equipment. There was a drape in the back with interchanging backdrops she could use, green screen included. There was a shiny new desk with a big desktop monitor that would process high-definition videos in an instant. There was the necessary software already installed on the unit, as well as microphone equipment and a soundboard to manipulate how she sounded on video.
There was even a bright new laptop sitting off to the side that she could configure any way she wanted so she could take her YouTube channel on the road.