Worth Waiting For

Can You Hear the Bells?

Yesterday, some of our pap friends were on the beach at the right time. They caught middle Jonai, Joe, proposing to his girlfriend, Melissa Douglas. He went for the romantic approach and surrounded himself with roses, Melissa’s favorite flower, and he had two horses so the two could ride off in the sunset together. Melissa said yes and the two shared a kiss. Then, spotting the rest of the Jonai family on the pier, watching the heart touching moment, our pap friends snapped a few photos of the eldest Jonai, Kevin and his girlfriend, Lauren Patterson. Lauren was spotting a nice big ring on her left hand… could those two be engaged too? Just look at their faces, they look freshly engaged. As far as young Nick goes… is he single or isn’t he?

****

“Hi, you must be Kevin, Lauren, Joe and Melissa.”

“Yes, I presume you’re Rose Gleeson?” I asked, taking the walkway to the front door of the house.

“Yes I am. It’s very nice to meet you all.” She said, shaking all of our hands. “Are you ready for the tour?”

“Yes,” we chorused.

“Right this way.” She said, opening the front door. “Now, here we have the foyer, obviously. The ceiling is vaulted with a nice big arch window letting in a lot of light. To our right here is just an extra sitting room or you could turn it into whatever you’d like. To the left we have the dining room. You can fit a table to seat 10 in here and have extra seating in the kitchen since you have this nice opening connecting the two. In the kitchen you can fit a table to seat 6 and still be able to keep all of the counter space as well as this island here in the middle. The counter tops are made of pure granite and there’s plenty of storage space in these cabinets. On this wall, we also have a pantry, good for storing canned goods especially bought in bulk.” She said, showing us around the kitchen.

“That will be good for storing baby food.” Joe said to me, looking into the pantry.

“Over here,” Rose continued, “is the living room. You can fit in two couches and three chairs as well as a coffee table and an entertainment system. And that’s it for the downstairs. Now we can either go upstairs or we can go to the basement.”

“Let’s go to the basement.” Kevin said.

“Right this way.” She said, opening a door to reveal the stairs. “As you can see, the previous owners had this basement furnished. It has great storage space and is perfect for entertainment purposes.”

“It’s big.” Lauren observed.

“It’s nice.” I said.

“The washer and dryer are also located down here for laundry purposes and in the back there is a freezer where you can store bulk frozen items. Ready for the second floor?” she asked, smiling at us.

“Yes!” I exclaimed. I was excited to see the bedrooms.

“The upstairs contains four bedrooms and one bathroom and an additional master bathroom located, obviously in the master bedroom. There is a half-bath downstairs, right off the kitchen. This bedroom is one of the two smaller and would be perfect for a guest bedroom. The other, right across the hall is a tad bigger. This bedroom is the second largest. It can fit a queen sized bed and two medium sized dressers and it has a nice large closet. Now, the master bedroom… it can fit a king sized bed, two large dressers and one medium and has a walk-in closet. The master bathroom is equipped with a Jacuzzi tub and a large shower and his and hers sinks.”

“Wow,” I breathed, walking around the large room. “This is…”

“Perfect…” Joe finished.

“So, what do you all think?” she asked, standing in the middle of the bedroom. Joe and I turned to Kevin and Lauren and they were all smiling.

“I think this will work guys.” Kevin said.

“Me too. I really like it. It’s close to your parents, Melissa’s parents and my aunt and uncle.” Lauren added.

“Rose, we’ll take it.” I said, smiling at her.

“Wonderful. Let’s go downstairs and we’ll look at the paperwork and finalize some things.”

“How soon can we move in?” Joe asked.

“I’d say in two weeks.”

“Awesome.”

****

After house hunting, we went to my parents’ house for a nice big celebratory dinner. I haven’t talked to Dad since I told him I was pregnant… I hope things will be fine. At the dinner it will be my parents of course, the Jonas’, Lauren, Mr. and Mrs. Herrmann, and me. Joe, Lauren, Kevin and I were the last to arrive and we walked into the living room and Joe was smiling wide.

“Ladies and gentlemen, I am in escrow.” He said proudly.

“You’re what?” Frankie asked.

“I am in escrow. I got the paperwork to prove it.”

“What is he talking about?” Nick asked.

“We bought a house.” Kevin said.

“What?” our mothers and Mrs. Herrmann asked.

“It’s beautiful.” Lauren said.

“But you just started looking.” Mom said.

“I know. We bought the first home we saw.” I said, smiling at Joe who had his arm wrapped around my waist.

“Oh, Melissa.” She said, shaking her head.

“No, I’m telling you, I walked into this place and just felt it.” I explained, shrugging my shoulders.

“Felt what?” Denise asked.

“The vibe.”

“That’s right. She felt the vibe, and now I’m in escrow.” Joe said.

“Did you at least have an inspector look at this place?” Kevin Sr. asked.

“We don’t need some guy with a clipboard to tell us what we already knew which was this house was for us.” Joe said.

“Please don’t be worried about this. The place is great.” Kevin said.

“It’s big, easy to baby proof, lot’s of storage… it’s got room for a pool, it’s air-conditioner ready. It’s landscaper-ready. It’s alarm-ready. And it’s got four bedrooms if you ’build on’.” Lauren said.

“It’s got a roof right?” Dad asked.

“Of course it’s got a roof.” Joe said warily.

“Just be happy okay?” I asked him, pleading with my eyes. The corner of his mouth twitched up into a smile and he nodded his head slightly. “Thank you Daddy.”

“Well, we have so much to celebrate and so much to plan.” Mom said, standing up. “Let’s go have some dinner and afterwards we’ll have to start talking about this wedding and the baby. You two have a lot to learn.” She said, looking at Joe and me.

“We can handle it.” Joe said, kissing my temple.

“Joe already bought some parenting books.” I informed them.

“You can read?” Frankie asked him. Everyone laughed.

****

“Alright, so, we’re in the beginning of May now. Melissa, how far along did the doctor say you are?”

“Six weeks, so I’m just about seven weeks now.” I said.

“Okay… and you want to still be pregnant for the wedding?”

“Yes,” I said.

“Alright…. Well we have a lot to do. We’ll have to pick a date for the wedding and estimate how big you’ll be by then. We’ll have to start looking for classes and groups for you two…”

“Classes?” Joe asked.

“Pregnancy classes of course.” Denise said.

“Oh, okay, how do we do that?” he asked.

“Well, do you want to keep it private for now?”

“For as long as we can.” I said, nodding my head.

“Okay, I’ll start looking tomorrow and see what I can find.”

“Now for the house, you’ll need to furnish it.” Mom said.

“Yes,” Lauren said.

“Would you like me to call my interior decorator? She can suggest some stores to you, wall colors, furniture patterns, anything that could be helpful.”

“That would be great Mom.” I said, smiling at her.

“Yeah Mrs. Douglas, thank you,” Joe said.

“Joseph, you’re going to have start calling me Mom sooner or later. I prefer sooner rather than later.” she said, smiling at him.

“Alright… Mom.” He said, smiling back.

“Same goes for you Melissa, and you Lauren.” Denise said.

“Yes De… Mom.” Lauren said. “Wow… it’s been a long time since I called someone that.” She whispered. Kevin squeezed her to him and she smiled at Denise.

“Do you have any ideas on where you want to get married?” Mom asked.

“The beach?” Kevin suggested.

“Oh, I would love that.” I said. “We could go indoors for the reception.”

“Aunt April, what about that club that you and Uncle Chris go to?” Lauren asked. “I think that would be perfect.”

“I’ll talk to Francine tomorrow and she what dates she has free.” Mrs. Herrmann said.

“What about the bridal party?” Denise asked.

“Nick is the best man.” Joe said.

“Definitely.” said Kevin.

“We could have Lana as the maid-of-honor,” I suggested to Lauren.

“She’d love that.” She agreed. “Do you think Frankie will think he’s too old to be a ring bearer?”

“Nah, besides he’ll want to be included.” Joe said.

****

“So, what’s this designers name again?” Lauren asked as we got in the car to drive to the furniture store. The boys were at the set, recording more for season two of J.O.N.A.S.

“Natalie Carter,” I said. “Mom said she’s Australian and she can tell just by looking at people how to design their homes.”

“Alright, let’s go.” She said, backing out of our parking spot. We had started packing up our things; our apartment was filled with boxes and it was only two days after the dinner with the parents. We had to get together with this designer and get things moving if we want to move in within the next 12 days.

“Is this it?” Lauren asked as I parked the car.

“No Laur, I’m just parking the car here so we can walk the rest of the way.”

“Oh geez. You ask a simple question…” she said, shaking her head.

“Come on!” I said impatiently.

She quickened her pace and we walked inside the furniture store. Standing at the front of the store was a blonde woman, pretty, her hair up in a bun, wearing a fancy blouse and a pencil skirt, checking her watch. I walked up to her.

“Excuse us, are you Natalie Carter?” I asked.

“Yes, you must be Melissa and Lauren.” She said, shaking our hands.

“Yes, thank you so much for doing this. We appreciate it.” I said.

“It’s my pleasure. Shall we get started?” she asked.

“I’m ready.” I said. She laughed and started walking towards some living room furniture.

“Now, I called your real estate agent, Miss Gleeson yesterday and she sent me pictures of the house. Once I saw it I had this great vision come to mind. For the living room, I picture leather furniture.” She said, stopping at a beautiful leather set of two couches and a chair.

“Oh, I didn’t even think of leather.” Lauren said.

“It will probably be better. Especially once the baby comes, easier to clean.” I said.

“Right.” Natalie said. “And the walls will be a darker color than they are now but not much. A very light chocolate color…”

“So far, I’m loving where this is going.” I said.

“So this set?” she asked, pointing to the couches and chair again.

“We’ll take it.” Lauren said. Natalie went over to one of the employees and next thing we know a ’sold’ sign is on the set.

“Alright ladies, let’s keep moving we have lots to do.” She said.

“I feel, we’re going to get our dream house.” I whispered to Lauren as we walked to catch up with Natalie.

“I do too.” She said.

****

The next two weeks were busy as hell. Natalie and the movers and decorators were in the new house 24/7. I couldn’t help out even though I wanted to. The paint fumes were too dangerous. The boys and Lauren wanted to help too but Natalie would have none of it, she wanted it to be a surprise for us. Mom, Denise, and Mrs. H. helped out though. Even Dad did some painting and moving and of course Kevin Sr. and Mr. H.

Finally, the day of the reveal came. The four of us were in Kevin’s car on our way to the house. When we got there we saw my parents, Mr. and Mrs. H. and the rest of the Jonas’ standing out front on the newly landscaped lawn with Natalie.

“Hi, Natalie.” I said, smiling at her.

“Are you all ready to see your new house?” she asked.

“Yes!” Lauren and I exclaimed while Kevin and Joe had to practically hold us back.

“Right this way,” she said, walking towards the front door. She opened it and my jaw dropped. The entry way, was gorgeous. I turned to my left and saw the dining room; it was so bright and beautiful. To the right was the extra sitting room but Natalie left it empty.

“Natalie… why…”

“I decided to keep the sitting room empty so when the baby comes you can put whatever you need in here. A stroller, some toys, the high chair, and stuff of the sorts.”

“I didn’t even think of that.” Joe said. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome. Shall we go to the kitchen?”

“Yes!” I said. I’m so excited to see the kitchen; it’s going to be one of my favorite rooms.

“Wow,” Kevin said.

“Do you like?” she asked.

“I love it.” I said, running my hand over the smooth countertops. I turned around and looked at the living room.

“Oh, Natalie.” Lauren said softly, walking into the living room. “This is beautiful.”

“I’m glad you like it.” she said.

“Guys!” Frankie called, the rest of our family’s having come in behind us. “Come on, you have to see the basement. It’s going to be so cool.” He said, grabbing Kevin and Joe’s hands and leading them to the basement door.

“Geez Tank, be careful or you’re going to make us fall down the stairs.” Joe said. I laughed and Lauren and I followed behind them. The basement was painted but completely empty. There was so much storage space.

“We figured, this would be a great spot for the men to store their instruments and you would also be able to store other things such as decorations or bins of clothes down here in these built in storage units and still have room for any furniture you could want down here.” Natalie explained. “Now, who wants to see the upstairs?”

“I do!” Lauren and I both exclaimed. We practically ran up the two flights of stairs, completely bypassing the guest bedroom. She went straight to hers and Kevin’s room while I went to the master bedroom. I flung the door open and looked around in awe. I heard Joe come up behind me and he wrapped his arms around my waist.

“Joe,” I said softly.

“It’s…”

“Beautiful.” We said together.

“It’s just how I imagined it would be.” I said.

“It’s more than I imagined it would be,” Joe said, laughing. I walked past him and over to the master bathroom.

“Wow.” I said.

“Cool,” Joe said, looking around.

“Hey guys, you have to… whoa.” Lauren said once she set foot in the room. “This is amazing.”

“I know! How’s your room?” I asked.

“Come see,” she said, grabbing my hand and leading me down the hallway. Joe followed after us and we entered Kev and Laur’s room.

“Whoa, this is nice.” I said.

“I can’t believe Natalie was able to pull all this off in such a short amount of time.” Lauren said.

“I know right? Did you see the bathroom you’ll use yet?”

“Oh no. I forgot.” She said. We all congregated to the bathroom and looked around at the warm colors.

“Even the bathroom is amazing.” Kevin said.

“What else is there?” Joe asked.

“The guest room and the baby’s room.” I said. So we went to the guest room and ogled over the fancy colors. I walked to the baby’s room curiously and opened the door to see everything completely white. Well… white walls and a hardwood floor.

“I guess we can decorate it any way we want.” Joe said, resting his chin on my shoulder.

“You mean I can decorate it any way I want seeing as how you aren’t going to want to know the sex.” I said.

“Yeah, good point.” He said. “Come on, let’s go thank Natalie.” He said, intertwining our fingers. We walked downstairs to find Natalie talking with our parents.

“Natalie, how can we ever thank you? This is amazing; I can’t believe you pulled it off.” I said, giving her a hug.

“It was my pleasure.” She said, hugging the others. “Just promise me if you ever want to do some remodeling…”

“You’ll be the first we’ll call.” Lauren said.

“Well, my work here is done. Enjoy the house.”

“Thank you!” we called, waving to her as she left.

“So… now what?” Kevin asked.

“Wedding plans.” Mom and Denise said.