Furnishing Our Life

The next five days were the most tiring Liana had ever known in her life. She wasn't sure how many furniture stores there were in Sydney, but she would have bet that she and Ben went to every one of them. They bought furnishings for the den, dining room, their bedroom, one of the downstairs bedrooms, Ben's office, and even the basement gameroom. Several times Ben reassured her about the amount of money they were spending.

Ben was determined that their home would be what he wanted. In all the years he'd been robbing, most of that money had been safely put away. At least, what hadn't been invested in legitimate business opportunities. At the time, he hadn't really known why he'd been putting away that money. Now, he knew it was for this.

When all the furniture had been chosen and he had arranged to have it all delivered, they started in on things like linen and dishes. Ben considered it more the woman's place to choose all that and he left it to Liana.

"You know we're supposed to pick out china patterns together," she teased him. Ben liked her teasing attitude, the way she seemed so at ease around him.

He found it harder to be at ease around her. Not because of her, but because the habits of a lifetime were difficult to break. The night he'd met her had been pretty much the first time in his adult life he'd used his own name, let alone tell anyone about himself. His conversations had been lies.

Fabrications designed to reel in a mark for a robbery or, where women were concerned, to assure that someone occupied his bed. Or inventions to keep himself from getting anywhere close to other people. Wade wasn't sure if he knew how to tell anyone the truth about his life. But, for the first time, he found himself wanting to do just that.

Back in their new home was when things got really interesting. The day after they arrived, their new furniture arrived. Liana spent the next three days moving furniture with Ben, and then putting away all the other things they'd bought. Once the heavy work was done, Ben left it to her. She thought she'd never worked so hard in her life!

While arranging and putting things away, she thought about Ben and this new life. She thought about Toni and Richie and how much she wanted to have them over once things were in order. And she began to think about just what she would do with herself when things had settled down here.

Like most other things, what Liana would do had been something they hadn't really discussed. Now that she had her computer science degree, she supposed she could take a job programming or something of that nature, but where? Would there be any jobs like that available in Coff's Harbour, she wondered to herself.

Standing on a stepladder in the kitchen and putting away the last of the dishes, Liana pondered all this. She had no idea Ben was watching her from the doorway. Too busy to see him standing there, she was muttering to herself.

Ben watched her with a grin. She'd been busy as a beaver for the last few days. Always preoccupied with something. Always talking to herself as she tried to figure out what should go where. Right now, she looked hot and sweaty in spite of the air conditioning. She was dressed in jeans and one of his shirts that came down past her knees, her hair in a ponytail with damp tendrils escaping all around her face.

Stepping silently into the room, he swept her off the ladder from behind. She squealed. "Ben! I need to finish this! And you scared me!" In truth, though, she was delighted. This was the first time her husband had been casually affectionate with her. His normal manner was somewhat reserved. It was almost as though he couldn't make a move without planning it in advance. Without making sure he was doing the right thing.

"I think you need a rest, darlin'," he told her, holding her tightly against him. "You been workin' hard, an' everythin' seems to be pretty much in its place."

"Let's go look at it all. Then, I'll rest," she sighed, with a smile.

After looking at everything they'd managed to accomplish inside of a mere week, Liana let Ben lead her up to their brand new bedroom with a feeling of satisfied contentment.