Returning to the house, he found all three women at the table looking at the paint samples. He took out his phone and showed them photos of the furniture he had picked out so they could decide what matched it best.
“You don’t mind us choosing? I mean, it’s your house.”
“Yeah, but hopefully this will be your room for a while. We want you to be happy with it. Do you want to go look at it? I’m about to head out there to start cleaning things out to take to the shed.”
“Yes!” they both said in unison.
Autumn walked out with them, the baby monitor clipped to her belt. She stopped at the entrance and took in the random collection of things out there with a look of doubt, but it didn’t seem to faze the girls, who seemed to see only how big it was and its potential.
“It’s a shame you can’t just make this the nursery. It’s so much bigger than the one you have,” Rowanne stated.
“Yeah. It crossed my mind before, but it’s just too far away, and there is a back door that exits to the back yard. I don’t like having a direct path for the kids to go out once they are bigger.”
“Sounds reasonable,” Clara remarked. “You want us to help you get this stuff out?”
“Thanks, but I can handle it. Just help Autumn with whatever she needs right now.”
“I’m good unless more than a handful of babies wake up,” Autumn said.
“I’ll grab the other monitor and we’ll come in if we hear them,” Clara said.
“Thanks,” Malcolm told her. “Grab the paint samples while you’re in there and we can see what you think about colors after everything is out.
They spent the next three hours working, with a couple of breaks to help with baby feedings, though this time, they didn’t all wake up at the same time, so it wasn’t as hectic as he suspected the first one must have been.
“Not too bad,” he commented as they looked around the room once they were done. “Any idea what color walls you want?”
“This one, I think. Right, Rowanne?” Clara said as she handed him a multi-sample with an eggshell color selected.
“Are you sure? It’s pretty neutral.”
“Yes, but we like to change things up sometimes, so we rather keep the walls kind of bland and let the décor do the work. We’re pretty good at home decorating.”
“Alright, if that’s what you want. I’ll pick up the paint first thing in the morning and we’ll get it painted so it will be dry before they deliver furniture on Thursday. I’ll pick up some vertical blinds for the French doors so they aren’t just open to the back yard. I half forgot it wasn’t just a regular door with it being covered up on both sides. I’ll get the rest of that wood out of the way after we get you all fixed up in here.”
“We can do it in our spare time. You’re already doing so much for us. We didn’t expect all of this,” Clara told him.
“We’ll get it done together. Do either of you have a driver’s license?”
“We both do,” Clara said.
“Okay, well, you can take the car tomorrow after the lunch feeding is over and pick out some things like bedding and curtains for the side window. I’ll give you the money for it,” he told them.
After another feeding, the three of them worked some more on cleaning up and preparing the room for painting. He’d dip out and pick that up first thing in the morning. The floor was tile and not in terrible shape, but he told them to add some rugs to their list or just one big one.
“I think that will be enough to get you started. Anything beyond that, you can pick up on your own. I know we only discussed room and board, but if you help Autumn out, not only with the kids but with stuff like cleaning, cooking, and running errands, I’ll pay you both well for it. We can talk about that after we get all this sorted out. I have no idea what the going rate for human servitude is these days.”
Both of them stopped and looked at him, a look of shock on their faces. He chuckled and waved his hands in their direction.
“I’m just joking. If you’re going to be a part of this family, you’ll have to get used to a mixture of corny, weird, and off-color jokes.”
“Oh, you’ll get along well with Rowanne then,” Clara said, a smile spreading across her face. “She never met a horrible joke she wouldn’t repeat.”
Rowanne smiled broadly as if this was a badge of honor and Malcolm found that he felt even better about the two of them being here, but he was also beginning to feel tired.