Page 206 of Sins of Innocence

Joy and Neeve giggle.

"Not sure that's a demotion," I say wryly.

"Pretty sure it's not," Sadie adds, her preteen snark in full evidence now.

Kieran's hand settles against the small of my back and I let that familiar touch ground me as we go inside the house.

The front door opens onto a formal entry. But there's a shoe bench and hooks for coats on the wall instead of expensive artwork. Sunlight pours in through the windows on either side of the door, the Queen Anne grilles casting lines of shadows over polished hardwood floors.

The entryway opens to a formal living room off to the right and a staircase to the second floor ahead and to the left, with a hallway to the back of the house to the right of it.

Unable to contain my curiosity, I move into the living room. It fills the round turret, windows wrapping almost completely around it. Built-in bookshelves line the wall that connects the turret to the rest of the house in the empty room.

Neeve lets go of my hand and walks over to touch the bookshelves reverently. "Dad says we each get our own section and can fill it with the books we want."

So, no decorated leather-bound volumes to complete the aesthetic that no one reads.

"I've got a place to put all the books I bought at GRIP," Mom says complacently.

"Don't pretend you didn't have plenty of books on ancestry and genealogy before your weeklong researchfest," I tease automatically.

Mom's books were vying for space with Joy's art supplies under her bed. Which was so not fair to her.

I turn to mom. "Why didn't you put your foot down about moving to a bigger apartment?"

I don't ask why she didn't get fed up and move out on her own. Mom would never have left me and the girls to fend for ourselves like that. It's not in her nature.

She loved being a stay-at-home mom and thrived as the grandma at home too.

"You weren't ready." Mom pats my shoulder. "You are now."

I hope she's right, because it looks like we're moving.

"Come on, girls, you can make sure your rooms are just the way you want before your mom sees them while your dad shows her the rest of the downstairs."

"Wait until you see gran's room, mom," Sadie says with awe. "It's like her own apartment with a mini kitchen and everything."

My oldest has felt the pinch of the size of our apartment more than her sisters. The idea of having that much space to herself is clearly the stuff of dreams for her.

I smile up at Kieran. Trust him to find a house with a mother-in-law suite. "I love you so much, big guy."

His eyes heat and he pulls me to him. We don't continue the tour for several long minutes.

Holding my hand, he guides me through the rooms on the first floor. Besides the living room, there's a formal dining room, a family room with a super comfy looking oversized sectional big enough for all of us and a brand new recliner for mom.

The kitchen is the other fully furnished room on this floor. And it looks like it stepped right out of the glossy spread of a lifestyle magazine. Bright and open, with a long farmhouse table beneath windows overlooking the backyard, it's a cook's dream.

There's an electric kettle with a box of mom's favorite Barry's Irish Breakfast Tea beside it, and single cup coffee maker in the butler's pantry with a basket of flavored coffee pods.

"You thought of everything," I tell him.

"The girls helped."

"How long have you all been working on this?" And why didn't I notice the signs of a conspiracy?

"A few days."

"You did all this in a few days?"