Chapter 13: Home Sweet Home

Standing on the curb of the street in front of the line of identical houses, Paige seriously contemplated on using the key of each of them. Though she'd been planning on waiting to hear back from Mama C, it'd been close to half an hour since their call ended. Determined to move forward with the rest of her life Paige left the park and returned to the row of terraced homes. Staring at the key in her hands and then the homes presented before her, she elected it wouldn't hurt to try her own way.

Her phone rang.

"Hello?"

"Hi, Paige," the woman said. It was Mama C.

Thank goodness.

Relief washed over her as she recognized the elderly woman's voice on the other end of the line, confident she'd have the answer she needed. Paige turned away from the houses, to keep the neighbors from staring at her suspiciously. "Please tell me you were able to get through to him."

"Of course my dear," she said matter of factly. "That brute grandson of mine would never dare dream of ignoring my phone calls. Not even when he's displeased with me. Noah wanted me to let you know that he's in a very important business meeting and that you're unit is number four."

"Thank you Mama C," a breath of relief shuddered out of her as she received the answer from her, that answered her current string of problems.

"You're very welcome."

"I mean it," she added. "I'll never be able to thank you."

Mama C giggled like an impish child, far too childish for someone her age but it was a definite breath of fresh air. "I could say the same thing about you Paige, but if you really want to show me your gratitude for my help, then you will jump my grandson's bones when he gets home and give me a great-granddaughter."

"Mama C!," she gasped, deeply embarrassed.

She giggled like a schoolgirl, "No need to be embarrassed sweetie, it's a natural thing. And while you're at it, start calling me Nana, I am your grandmother after all."

"Okay Ma-Nana," Paige quickly corrected herself, deciding to refer to the woman by the title she wanted now that she's married to her grandson.

"Talk to you later sweetling," she said. "Give me a grandbaby."

Disconnecting the phone conversation on a boat of laughter that couldn't be contained, Nana C was definitely a character. Even after four months of knowing the woman Paige still found it difficult to adjust to the differences in her. She definitely wasn't your typical elderly woman. It was refreshing, to say the least. Shaking those thoughts out of her mind Paige steered the bike towards unit four, that was directly on the far end. Parking her bike in the driveway of the terrace house, Paige dismounted from the seat and grabbed the bag from the back.

Walking up the front steps of the house and opening the door to the unit that belonged to her husband, she was quite impressed. The community consisted of rows of Terraced homes, four to each section, more than double the size of the brownstone. Stepping into the house that'd become her home Paige entered the main area, that consisted of a living room area of furniture and a television. There were a few shelves positioned on the walls around with a few knick-knacks and even some pictures hanging on the wall. More like paintings.

Even with the furnishings in the home Paige couldn't quell the sense of emptiness to be found there, that lacked the warmth and feel of being lived in. As if she was the first person who had truly come into the home with intentions of living there. It was safe to say that Noah hadn't bothered to take the time to turn this place into a home, using it for somewhere to sleep.

Hefting the duffel bag over her shoulder she made her way up to the second floor, to discover the floor was split into two rooms on either end, an enormous bathroom in the center. Moving towards the bedroom that was closest to her, Paige opened it up to find it had a bed, desk and dresser, but again lacked the feel of being lived in. Deciding that it would be perfect for her while she was there, she dropped her bag down onto the bed, soaking up the feel of her new bedroom.

Dropping the duffle bag down in the center of the bed, Paige unzipped the bag and started unloading all of her possessions. Moving around the room she started putting things away in their designated spots, wanting to put things up properly. To give her bedroom the lived-in feeling the rest of the house presently lacked, to give it the sense of home. It didn't take her long to accomplish this feat, having managed to put her belongings away in a matter of minutes. Paige knew she'd have to go back to her parents' brownstone before too long to get the rest of her stuff, but put that off for another time.

To give all of them time to come to terms with what had happened, the impromptu marriage of Paige and her new husband. Especially her mother. Paige knew it wasn't going to be easy for her mother to come to terms with these changes, the knowledge she'd married. Hoping in a few days her mom would have accepted these changes and embraced the man she'd recently married.

She hoped so anyway.

Listening to the growling of her stomach as hunger grew inside of her, reminding her she hadn't eaten anything all day. This morning her stomach was a bundle of nerves in the face of the day's plans, unable to get anything to settle in her stomach. And then the hour meant for her lunch break Paige had gone to the courthouse to marry, foregoing lunch altogether.

Bouncing off the bed at this realization Paige stepped out of her bedroom and headed down the stairs to the main floor. In the living room she turned to the back of the house, headed towards the kitchen in the hopes of getting something to eat. Only in a matter of a few short minutes she'd opened the refrigerator and cabinet to find the shelves completely bare. There weren't groceries anywhere. There weren't even cooking utensils to use. So even if there was by some miracle food in the house, Paige wouldn't have a way for her to cook her something.

Guessing having a nice home-cooked meal for the evening was out of the question, Paige immediately onto her phone. Finding a restaurant that was near enough to the house it wouldn't take too long, she ordered some takeout for dinner. In the space of ten minutes, she'd ordered the food and received confirmation, assuring it'd be delivered in thirty minutes.

Good. She was too hungry to wait.

Padding barefoot to the front of the house, Paige settled down to one end of the couch, her mind thinking of everything. While she waited for the delivery driver to show up at the house with her food, she retrieved her phone from her back pocket. Logging onto her electronic device, Paige searched the web until she found an online store for houseware. Scanning through the various items that were available for purchase, she put an order for some of the stuff she'd need. Although it was obvious that Mr. Cromwell wasn't one much for eating at home, she had never been a big fan of eating out all of the time. By the time she'd finished submitting the order, she'd purchased a set of pots and pans, utensils to cook with and some dishes.

Granted, the house needed a lot more than what she'd purchased, she elected to hold off until she could go to the store. What she'd purchased for the house would be a good start, ensuring that they'd at least be able to prepare nice meals at home.

A little while later Paige was alerted by the knocking that came at the front door, immediately pushing her thoughts aside. Unfolding herself from the thick couch she padded barefoot across the floor and opened the front door. She smiled. "Thank you so much." Then handing him a descent tip to show her gratitude for his service this evening, Paige took the food he handed out to her.

Closing the door once he'd stepped away Paige placed the bag of food down on the coffee table and curled up on the couch. Folding her legs up underneath her comfortably, she leaned over to reach for the bag and placed it down in her lap. While she greedily ate the food that'd been delivered to her Paige watched a movie that she set to play on her phone. For the next thirty minutes, she ate the Chinese food that she'd ordered, while a romance movie played out on the screen.

Unable to finish the whole plate of food the container was closed and placed back down on the coffee table for later. Having eaten probably more than she should've allowed herself to, her stomach protested the fullness. Upon checking the clock, Paige was surprised to see that it was already eight in the evening, later than she thought.

At this realization Paige climbed off the couch and stuffing the phone in her pocket, she went to put the food in the fridge. Then shutting off the lights to keep from raising the bills unnecessarily, she headed upstairs to her bedroom. Grabbing some of the things she needed Paige stepped into the bathroom and climbed into the shower. A little while later emerging from the bathroom dressed in the night clothes she'd chosen, she glanced at the bed. Momentarily thought of climbing beneath the covers to get herself a good night's sleep, but she wasn't tired.

Instead, Paige headed back downstairs to the living room, then curled up on the couch she watched some television, while she played on her phone. Yet, the day's events were more taxing her than she'd originally realized and the phone slipping out of her grasp, she nodded off to sleep where she lay.

It was well past midnight by the time Noah parked the economical national MPV in the driveway of the terrace house. Thoroughly exhausted from yet another hectic day at the office, though today seemed far worse than he normally endured. All afternoon Noah had gone from one meeting after the next, which was soon followed by business meetings with clients hoping to do work with him.

It seemed that today there was a surplus of these meetings, as he'd been kept constantly on the move from the moment he returned. Almost as if the fates were determined to keep him far too busy to do anything more than catch a quick breather. Definitely not enough time for Noah to think on all that'd happened throughout the day, especially when it came to his new wife.

Alighting from the driver door of the vehicle Noah came around the front of the car, only to pause at the sight of the motorbike sitting in front of the house. A little shocked to find it parked in front of his new home. Didn't that woman know how unreliable and dangerous those damned things were? How deadly they could be? Didn't she have a care for herself or the innocent bystanders on the road? The thought that Paige could be so careless with herself and the people on the street, irritated that she could be endangering so many people.

Not on his watch. Fully intending to talk to the woman about driving such unreliable transportation, Noah stalked inside of the house. Though he'd made it no further than just inside the front entrance, the door swinging closed behind him, when he froze in the living room.

Noah could only stand there, gapping, not entirely certain how to react. Because right there on the couch was the tiniest woman he'd ever witnessed, the woman he'd married hours ago. Only now she was curled up into a tight little ball on the end of the couch, occasionally shivering from either the cold or dream he wasn't certain. Now this was entirely unexpected, Noah had never taken it into account the woman could be passed out on the couch when he got to the house.

Too tired to be figuring out why she was camped out on the couch rather than the bedroom upstairs, Noah immediately stalked upstairs to his own. Honestly, it was her own problem if she fell asleep o on the couch, rather than the perfectly good bed in her bedroom. An expensive one at that. More than thirty minutes later, having showered to wash the filth from his body and dressed in pajamas, Noah went downstairs for a drink. She was still there. Aware that the woman wouldn't get the restful sleep that a person needed for the next day, he attempted to wake her, only to no avail.

After several moments having come to a decision of what to do, Noah gingerly hefted the woman up into his arms, planning to take her to her room. Subconsciously aware that she was no longer on the couch, Paige sighed in pleasure and snuggled against the warmth of the man's chest as he held her. Noah was horrified at feeling her press her face more fully into his chest, never before allowing a woman to touch him in such an intimate way.

Or at all.

Discarding her as fast as humanly possible onto her bed, though being certain to be careful with her, Noah raced back to his room before she could wake up. But yet in the solitude and privacy of his bedroom down the hall, his hand came up to touch the chest area she'd snuggled against, unable to deny he'd liked it. He'd liked the press of her cheek and the warmth of her face. In the next moment he vehemently shook those ridiculous thoughts out of his head, she was nothing more than a gold digger after his money and he was determined to prove it.