The Surrogate

“How many?” Esther asked. “How many did you have to buy?”

“The whole lake.”

Opening her eyes again, she saw how the light from the large full moon reflected off the waters. Archie was beside her, his hand over hers. Its entirety was theirs now. It was not just the little parcel she stood on now. All the cottages dimly lit like candlelight across the water technically belonged to him.

“I’ve been updating all the houses in the neighborhood. I rent them out as holiday homes, and the business is good so far. This will always be yours though.”

“Wow,” Esther breathed as she still took it all in and remained unable to say much else.

Her body was almost trembling from the cold and the excitement. Her fingers were electrified from the feel of being there again. They screamed out in their desire to touch every inch of the place, and her heart exclaimed how desperately it wanted to give this amazing man next to her itself completely. Esther knew that her body and soul were glowing with the thought of being Archie’s completely after such a grand gesture.

“Do you want to see inside?” he whispered.

Esther nodded eagerly.

He pulled a small set of keys from his pocket, and fumbled with a couple before letting them inside. Archie held the door for her as she examined the house in the darkness. The rooms had been open to one another where the kitchen used to be blocked off. It was all painted a soft shade of cream, the thick beams of wood still going around the perimeter of the room. The massive stone fireplace was ready with a pile of chopped wood, and a set of timeless brown leather furniture centered around it. A long dining table made of reclaimed woods lead toward the kitchen where a wide island with stool replaced the wall.

No matter where you were you had a wide view of the property. It looked like a catalog photograph. It looked like her dreams that had been nearly extinguished.

“You can see the engineer had to add some reinforcement beams, but I was able to find some distressed wood beams to mimic the natural exterior.” Archie pointed to the beam over the island as he spoke. “I also widened the stairs and improved the bedrooms and bathrooms on the third floor. I turned the library into a television room upstairs too, as well as a library. It took some rearranging, but I followed all your wishes as best I could. It’s all my Christmas gift to you.”

“Gas range oven?” Esther asked.

“Yes.”

“Jewel-toned color scheme?”

“Done.”

“No dead animals?”

“Of course. We are not hunting people.”

Esther felt undone, her mouth agape as she slowly took it all in. Letting her fingers run across the stones of the hearth, she tossed her coat over the corner of the long sofa. She saw the open bookshelves waiting to be used with a few pictures and trinkets from their shared past decorating them. Pictures of their parents sat near pictures of them as teenagers.

There was even one from that fateful New Year’s Eve.

“Archibald, this is so amazing. I- I don’t know what to say.”

“Say you’ll take it.”

“Of course.”

“Essie, I know it’s not the most convenient thing, but I was thinking we could live up here. I have an office in the Upper West Side that you and Hillary could use. It would make your commute about an hour one-way, but that is not much different than taking a train into Manhattan from where you live in Brooklyn. We could have a family here. I know you don’t like the idea of staying at my place. I get it that it’s too extravagant for you. You were never one for wealth. You care about more important things.”

“I think I could get Hillary to like the idea.”

“There’s a new private school not far from here. It’s small and well-liked. A lot of professors from Yale send their children there.”

“You had this all thought out, didn’t you?” She smiled.

Archie gave a lopsided grin, “I haven’t picked out the Christmas tree yet. I thought we might do that together in the next week or so. Maybe we can get one after Michigan.”

“Sounds good,” Esther replied feeling warm and happy despite the icy temperatures of the night still lingering on her skin.

Esther looked around the main room again, admiring the ceiling and the floors. Both had been restored. However, it was becoming harder to ignore the feeling that had not left her the whole ride up here. Esther longed to kiss Archie again. Their first had been so brief. Her body craved more, but the excitement about being back in the home that she had believed never to own again kept her torn. Instead, she stood frozen, her body aching and hoping Archie would make some move or give her some sign.

She finally realized that neither of them had gotten too heated because the house was ice cold.

It took a moment before Esther could move. She felt frozen in place, but cold air was sobering.