“Great. Then the only thing left to do is pick one,” he says.
I look at him incredulously. “Like it’s that easy?”
He smiles. “It’s only the place we’re going to raise our child. No pressure.”
“Gee, thanks for that.”
“Look through the binder. Anything that you want is what I want.”
I glance back down at all the binders in my hand. “Okay. Which one has the biggest kitchen?”
He smiles and flips to the third house. “This one. Biggest kitchen and second biggest pantry. I checked the square footage of both.”
“Sold.”
He nods. “Done.”
“Done?” I ask, not quite believing it. “Just like that?”
“Yes, kotyonok, just like that.”
“Dare I ask how much it costs?”
“Not important.”
He says it so casually, like money is no object. Which it probably isn’t for him. But I still feel guilty. He’s acting as though we’re shopping for shoes and I picked a pair on the top shelf.
“Anton.”
I grab the binder and look through the pages, confident I’ll find something about the price of the house. But as I comb through the pictures, I realize it’s much more than just a house.
There is a twelve-car garage, a pool, a fully equipped gym, and eleven bedrooms, all of which is spread out on more than an acre of land.
It’s not a house.
It’s a compound.
Then I turn one more page, and a very, very large number pops out at me.
“Dear God!” I clasp, putting my hand up to my heart. “Anton, you can’t spend that much.”
“Why not?” he asks. “I have the money. What good is it doing me sitting in some bank account, collecting dust?”
“I can’t even imagine that much money. What it would even look like. Plus, it’s a really expensive way to make me feel comfortable. We can just redecorate this house.”
“No,” he says firmly. “I’m buying the house.”
“Forty million dollars, Anton? You’re out of your damn mind!”
He enfolds my hand in his. “She’s all over this place, Jessa,” he says softly. “I’ve purged the place of all her things, but her presence is still here. I want to be rid of it. I’m doing this for me just as much as I’m doing it for you.”
I stare at him, wondering if that’s true. Somehow, I don’t think so. He’s doing this for my benefit, because he cares. Because he loves me.
I fall a little more in love with him because of it.
“Thank you.”
He nods. “Let me go make the call.”