Until the Very End

Chapter 5

"This..." Meryl hugged her children as she was still speechless. "This is..."

"Is THE cabin, with a few updates." Don laughed as he too greeted their children. He was so glad that his surprise had gone so well. Once they had their coats off and had greeted all their children, he pulled his wife close. "What do you kids think? Have you had an opportunity to look around?"

Mamie got Brady out of the stroller. "It's beautiful, Daddy."

"Our room is amazing." Grace said as she got Mags out.

Suzie nodded. "The nursery for the 3 Gummer babies is state of the art."

"Not to mention mine and Suzie's room." Henry smiled. "Though the master bedroom is perfection."

Don laughed, that was exactly what he was going for. "That is all ours. And the babies will sleep in the cribs in there with us for a while longer."

"And the view..." Louisa said as she pointed out towards the back. "We got here when it was still light out and it was breathtaking."

Grace could tell her mother was still speechless. "We have the babies' things so why don't we go put them in your room with your luggage?"

"We'll also be on baby duty." Mamie offered. "Give you and Mom a chance to look around."

Suzie nodded as she picked her daughter up from the playpen. "Dinner should be ready soon."

"Thank you all, we are so glad you're here." Don smiled as the kids left the room, giving him an opportunity to turn to his wife. "Like your surprise? I know I kind of just ran with my ideas, but I tried to do what I knew you..."

Meryl pulled his head down to hers, hungrily attacking his lips. Finally pulling away when she felt she could easily lose control, push her husband against the wall and make him take her right then and there. "It's perfect, baby. I'm speechless."

"I could tell." Don smirked. "This is why I have been distracted these past few days. I have been trying to make sure this place was perfect and just how I wanted it; along with conspiring with the kids. Thankfully, it's a school holiday so Lou was off and the other schedules came into place."

Meryl held Don's hand in hers as she looked around the large living room. "Baby, this was a small cabin only two months ago. It's winter, in Maine. How did you go from a small 2 bedroom cabin to a huge..."

"7 bedrooms, 5 baths, 5400 square feet." Don laughed as her jaw dropped. "Well, we have a big family. We have the master suite, of course, a nursery for the 3 babies, a room for Henry and Suzie, the girls all have a bedroom and then we have a spare bedroom for guests."

Meryl shook her head. "Why the rush? I thought the goal was to get it done by June."

"It was, then we were dealt blow after blow after blow." Don sighed as he cupped her head in his hands. "I don't want to put a second of our life together on hold. This is where we essentially started our lives together. I couldn't wait. Yeah, it cost, but you and our family are more than worth it. So, am I forgiven for acting off this past couple of days?"

"More than forgiven." Meryl smiled with a tender kiss to his lips as she wrapped her arms around his neck. "Am I forgiven for how I acted earlier? Baby, I really had no idea what you were planning."

"That was sort of the idea, Mrs. Gummer." Don smirked as he wrapped his arms around her waist. "We are going to stay all weekend. Not all of the kids can stay the whole weekend; but I was just thrilled I got them here for the surprise. I just wish I would have had my camera ready to capture that look on your face."