Chapter 28 - The New BlueprintBy early summer, the cottage had undergone a few loving repairs—a fresh coat of white paint on the trim, a bright yellow front door that drove the local horticultural purists slightly mad, and a sprawling vegetable garden in the backyard that Miles, Grace, and Sophie managed with aggressive enthusiasm.
Nathaniel had officially retired from corporate acquisitions, substituting hostile takeovers for building treehouses, teaching Miles how to fish in the local creek, and helping Elena stretch canvases in the back studio.
One afternoon, while the children were napping and the house was wrapped in the lazy hum of summer cicadas, Nathaniel sat on the wooden deck with a blank sketchbook and a pencil in his hand.
Elena walked out, carrying two glasses of iced lemonade, sliding one across the wooden table toward him. She glanced down at his paper.
"What are you sketching?" she asked, raising an eyebrow. "Are you drafting a hostile takeover of the local hardware store?"
Nathaniel laughed, turning the sketchbook around so she could see. It wasn't a corporate flowchart or financial projection. It was an architectural draft for an expansion of the cottage—a proper, sunlit art studio attached to the side of the house, with floor-to-ceiling windows facing the meadow, designed specifically so Elena could paint while watching the children play in the grass.
"I thought," Nathaniel said softly, looking up at her with a gentle, crooked smile, "that we could use a little more light in this house."
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Elena stared at the sketch, her hazel eyes swimming with sudden, bright tears. She didn't say a word. She simply walked around the table, climbed onto his lap, and wrapped her arms tightly around his neck, burying her face in his shoulder.
"It's perfect," she whispered against his skin. "Absolutely perfect."
