Chapter Thirteen
She felt like she was sleeping and would wake up to find it a dream. The house was something she could never have envisioned. Oh, she knew King had money, but seeing the extravagance of his house made it more real to her.
“This will be the room you’ll both be in until we can get a setup for Corey.”
“I don’t want you to go to so much trouble, King.”
He shut the door behind them and set Corey down to explore before he walked to her and grasped her shoulders. “I will tell you as many times as I have to. I am going to do everything in my power to make you so happy here that you’ll never want to leave.”
“I don’t need anything besides Corey to be happy, and I want to see the two of you grow together and bond.”
“Are you going to give me a chance to love you again?”
She drew in a shuddering breath. “I … I don’t know. Everything is going so fast. We just saw each other a few days ago, and I’m already living in your house.”
He pulled her against his chest. “I’m sorry. I keep saying I’ll back off a bit, but I keep pushing too hard. Let us get through the next few days and see how you feel. How’s that?”
She nodded and relaxed. “I like that idea.”
He pressed a kiss to her forehead. “Let me show you both around a bit before lunch.”
She looked around for Corey and saw him staring out the window. She squatted next to him. “What do you see, baby?”
“Trees and flowers.”
“Yes, I see that, too.”
Corey turned to her. “My tree?”
“No, baby, your tree isn’t here.”
“What’s he talking about?” King asked.
She looked up at him.
“I planted a tree in my backyard right after he was born. We call it Corey’s tree, and we planned to have them grow together and put down roots.”
“That’s a great idea.”
She blushed and shrugged. “Do you want to look around with us?” she asked Corey.
“Yes, Mommy.”
She bent to pick him up, but King gripped her shoulder.
“Baby, let me. He’s too heavy,” King said.
Cat should have taken exception to that, but it was true. Her son seemed to grow heavier by the day.
King picked the boy up and then took her hand. He showed her some of the rooms on the main floor, and she’d lost count of how many she’d seen so far. The only rooms she could see herself in were the main family and dining room, kitchen, the back sunroom, or his office.
The table in the family dining room could fit twelve very easily, while the formal dining room could fit thirty if the leaves were put in it.
King sat at the head of the table, and they put Corey in between them in the portable chair she had with her.
“After lunch, help me pick out the things he’ll need,” King said.
“I’ve got most of it already,” she said.