Baby Kisses

Chapter 7

Chapter 7: It Is What It Is

Tooty couldn't remember ever being so happy, excluding the birth of Harris, of course. Three or four times a week, Miles drove her to her inherited home. While she cleaned, he discussed repairs with the contractors, and even did minor repairs from his wheelchair. Seeing him wield a hammer in an old T-shirt that clearly defined how fit he kept himself, made Tooty's heart pound. He was gorgeous and she warned herself not to develop a crush on him.

Just as he'd promised they moved into the house within the month. Of course, her parents raised holy hell about her being single and allowing a man to live in the same house, but she just watched their mouths move and didn't absorb their concerns. Nothing they could have said would have changed her mind.

Tooty insisted Miles have the bedroom in the hallway with the bathroom and she and Harris each had their own rooms in the opposite hallway. Miles had made the home wheelchair friendly and she knew he'd spent a lot of money. Whenever she broached the subject of paying him back, however, he brushed her concerns aside and insisted it was a non-issue because the improvements were for his convenience.

As for Harris, he was over the moon about his new race car bed with matching bedspread and wallpaper that she'd bought with bonus money from Miles. He'd insisted it was deserved for inspiring him to rewrite the escape scene.

The first night in their new home, Tooty grabbed Harris' favorite storybook and lay beside him. Long into the night she stayed in his room. After years of not crying, she swiped away tears of joy. Her baby had a home. She had a home.

Finally, she returned to her own room and opened her nightstand drawer to remove the envelope the attorney had given her the day of their appointment. For at least the hundredth time she reread the letter from Beatrice Shipley.

My Dear Tooty,

If you are reading this letter, then I have obviously transitioned to the other side. I believe you will love your new home as much as I have loved it for over fifty years. The home also came to me by way of an inheritance. It's not much in the way of outward beauty, but it is a beautiful home. I know you will understand after a time of living there. My most precious gift to you, however, is not the home. There is a treasure within that I discovered too late in life to make reconciliation with the love of my life. Sadly, he died before I could make things right. If only I had found this treasure even two years sooner, it would have made a difference in my decisions. But it is what it is.

I will give you a clue as to its whereabouts because to tell you outright would not befit the treasure. I know you will find it. You're a special woman with depth of character that will keep you from making the same mistakes I have. Here is the clue: The circle surrounds Annabelle's timeless treasure.

—Beatrice Shipley

Tooty folded the paper and put it back in the envelope. Over and over she repeated the clue, like counting sheep, until she fell asleep.

* * *

A few days after moving into Tooty's home, Miles woke feeling like crap. He'd spent the past month working on her house when he should have been writing the final chapters of his novel. He had a headache, and Harris, running through the hallway yelling, didn't help matters. He covered his head with his pillow. I must have been out of my mind. What the hell was I thinking to sink time and money into Tooty's house? Now I'm living with a four year old. I'll never get any work done. Even as the thought passed through his mind, he knew he was being an asshole.

"Mister Brightperson, are you awake!" There was banging on his door and then Harris repeated his question even louder. "Mister Brightperson, are you awake!"