“Everything is fine.” I caught her as she barreled into my chest. I felt bad that I’d worried her. “I actually just wanted to steal you and the Twinkies for a couple minutes. Is that okay?”

“Sure…” She sounded perplexed.

This oughta really throw her for a loop, then.

“And”—I took three blindfolds out of my back pocket—“would you please wear these?”

Blinking a couple times in confusion, Kacie furrowed her brows and looked to her mom for answers. Sophia chuckled and shrugged her shoulders as she wiped down the kitchen table. “Don’t ask me. I quit trying to figure this boy and his tricks out months ago.”

The girls skipped over and happily took the blindfolds with their hesitant mom right behind them.

“We have to wear these now?” Kacie asked.

“Yep,” I answered.

She sighed and shook her head. “I have no idea what this means.”

I’d never forget how cute my three girls looked, standing in the kitchen completely confused, wearing dark purple blindfolds.

“Okay. Lucy and Piper, hold hands, then Lucy, hold your mom’s hand,” I ordered.

They did as I asked and I took a tight hold of Piper’s hand. “Okay, I’m leading the way with Piper. We’re going to walk nice and slow.”

“If I fall and have a black eye for the wedding, you’re dead meat,” Kacie warned playfully. The girls giggled hard at their mom’s warning.

I led them out the front door onto the porch. “We’re going down four steps in a second. Be careful.”

Lucy and Piper counted as we walked. “One, two, three, four.”

“Good job, guys. Keep going.” I held Piper’s little hand as we walked slowly, one foot in front of the other, about one hundred yards into the woods. I kept peeking back to make sure everyone was upright and no one was crashing into any trees. We came to a clearing and my heart started racing. I was beyond nervous for them to see what I’d done.

“All right, here we are. Kacie, take your blindfold off first.”

Her hand slid the blindfold up her forehead just a tad before she saw what I’d led them to and gasped. With her mouth hanging open and her eyes wider than I’d ever seen them, I whispered to her, “Watch their faces.”

“Okay, Twinkies, take off your blindfolds.”

They lifted their hands to their blindfolds and ripped them off, squinting against the sun until they saw it.

Their castle.

Technically it was a playhouse, but it was the mother of all playhouses. Piper screamed so loud I’m pretty sure she sent animals within a five-mile radius running for their lives, while Lucy stood frozen, just like her mother, not able to form a response.

“What do you guys think?” I laughed.

“Can we go in it?” Piper started running toward it before I could answer her, with Lucy tailing right behind.

“I… What did you… This is…” Kacie stuttered, shaking her head slowly.

“Told you I’d get them a castle.” I nuzzled her neck. “Come on. You have to see this thing.” Grabbing her hand, I pulled her toward it. Admittedly, I was as excited as the girls were, maybe more.

As we ducked our heads under the arched front door of Lucy and Piper’s new castle, Kacie’s eyes skimmed the whole room. The girls ran from the first floor up the wooden spiral staircase to the second.

“It has a staircase?” Kacie’s voice squeaked.

“Hell yeah, it has a whole second story on it. And look at this.” I reached past her and flicked a light switch next to the front door, making the overhead light flip on. “Working electrical.” I wiggled my eyebrows at her.

“This is insane. It’s even painted like a real castle. Who did that? Is this drywall or brick?” She slid her hand along the smooth wall. “And is that a sink?” Rambling off question after question, she spun in circles, trying to take it all in.

I laughed, attempting to keep up as she wandered around the first floor. “Yes, it’s drywall, but I had an artist come in and paint it to look like real stone. And yes, that’s a sink that will eventually have running water.”

Kacie turned to face me, still completely baffled. “Brody, this is amazing, but it’s too much.”

“It’s not even close.” I walked over and put my hands on her shoulders, bending my knees until I was eye to eye with her. “I promised my Twinkies a castle. No way was I letting them down.”

She sighed happily and slid her arms around my waist, resting her head against my chest.

“I’m not done.”

Her head snapped back. “What?”

“I have one more surprise.”

“Brody, I don’t think they can handle any more today.”

“This one isn’t for them.” I walked over to the little kitchen counter and picked up a small box about the size of a phone book. “This one’s for you. It’s your wedding present.”

“First of all, our wedding is tomorrow. Secondly, I don’t know if I can take any more today either.” She bit her lip and looked up at me.

“Open it.”

She slid the ribbon off and removed the lid, revealing a piece of paper. Her face twisted in confusion as she tried to control her eyes enough to read it. “What is this?”

“I know we agreed we weren’t gonna talk about where to live until after the wedding, and I hope you’re not mad, but I made a decision. That’s a property deed to the land we’re standing on. I bought it from your mom.” I grinned even though she wasn’t looking at me. “Lift the paper.”

Her hand moved the sheet off to the side, exposing the cover to a huge book of house plans.

“Pick one.”

Her hand flew to her throat as she took a stumbling step back, looking at me incredulously. “Are you serious?”

“I’m serious, Kacie. Let’s live here, next to your mom and Fred and the lake and our pier. I want to live here. I want the girls to grow up here, just like you did. I want all of our kids to grow up here.”

“But your condo, you love that condo.” Her hands were shaking as she rubbed the sides of her face, still not fully comprehending what she was hearing.

“I do love that condo, so I was thinking, why don’t we keep that condo in case you and the girls come to a late game and we don’t want to drive all the way back here after? The commute isn’t that bad for me, and it’s really only three quarters of the year I have to make the drive anyway.” The girls stomped through the second floor above our heads as I took Kacie’s hands in mine. “Come on, what do ya say? Let’s build here.”

A heavy sigh shuddered through Kacie’s body as she closed her eyes, opening them when she exhaled. “I’m still waiting to wake up from this dream where I find out you aren’t real, that none of this is real.”

“You’re awake, babe. We both are and we’re gonna live out these dreams together.”

She rolled her tongue in between her teeth and her lip. “All right, Murphy. Let’s do it. Let’s build a house.”

“Yes!” I fist pumped in the air. “I built a castle for my princesses, now it’s time to build one for my queen!”