“Very cool.” Anna peeked at the cookbooks. “Lidia Bastianich. My Housemaster watches her TV show.”
Caleb shifted his feet. “Can we show the surprise now?”
Maggie and Noah started to answer, but Anna stepped forward with a grin.
“Caleb, I want to see my surprise! Lead the way!” Anna held out her hand, and Caleb tugged her out of the kitchen toward the staircase.
“Right behind you.” Maggie looked over at Noah, who put an arm around her.
“We’re off to a good start,” he whispered in her ear.
“I know,” Maggie whispered back, and they headed toward the stairs after Anna and Caleb. Maggie and Noah reached the second floor to find Anna and Caleb in the hallway and went to them, looking inside the room. It used to be Noah’s home office, but it was completely empty, and on the wall was a poster handmade by Caleb with crayoned letters that read: ANNA’S ROOM!
Maggie felt so touched. “Honey, when did you do all this?”
Noah shrugged with a smile. “Last night. Caleb and I did it together.”
“Where’s all the furniture?”
“In the basement. It made sense to give her my office since it has a bathroom and the train room doesn’t.”
Caleb ran to his poster. “Look, Anna!”
Anna burst into delighted laughter. “This is so sweet! I love my poster and room. This is twice the size of my old room at school!”
“And look!” Caleb pointed at the border of the poster, where he had drawn small beds, chairs, lamps, and Wreck-It Ralph. “This is our cat. He sleeps on my bed. That’s how he is.”
“Thank you.” Anna grinned. “I didn’t know you had a cat. I love cats!”
“Look. Your bathroom.” Caleb ran to the bathroom to turn on the light switch. “I have a bathroom. We both have bathrooms.”
“I have my own bathroom?” Anna caught Maggie’s eye with a surprised smile. “At school, I shared with three other girls.”
“Eeew!” Caleb screwed up his nose, and looking on, Maggie couldn’t remember the last time she had been this happy, feeling everything come together. She owed a big hug to Noah, who had put Caleb and Anna first, which was so like him.
Anna frowned slightly. “Noah, I hope I didn’t cause too much trouble.”
Noah waved her off. “Not at all. We had a good time, and the basement is finished.”
Maggie interjected, “This is only one of the reasons why my husband is the greatest guy in the world.”
Anna’s forehead eased. “Well, thank you. I really appreciate it.”
Maggie asked, “Do you want to paint the walls? The white is boring, don’t you think?”
“I’d love to! What color?”
“Whatever you want! We’ll get the bedspread and see what you think. It’s your room, so it’s your decision. I can stop by the paint store and get some samples.”
Caleb grabbed Anna’s hand, beaming up at her. “Come see my train room!”
“Did you say training room?” Anna looked down at him with a puzzled smile.
“No! Come and see!” Caleb tugged Anna out of the room and down the hall.
“I’m glad you’re happy, babe.” Noah smiled down at her, moving a curl from her eye. “I love you.”
“I love you too,” Maggie said, meaning it more than ever.
