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“Thank you.” She kissed him, then put him down. “Why don’t you go clear off the bed, so Milo can move the mattress?” He headed for the door. “Be careful on the stairs.” She turned to Milo, who was on his feet. “My son is back.”

“He sure is.” He put his arms around her. “So, if this is Caleb’s new room. Does that mean you’ll be moving in next door?”

“You don’t expect me to sleep downstairs all alone, do you? In this big old spooky house with possible ghosts and an occasional bear?”

“Of course not.”

She kissed him. “Aside from Caleb talking non-stop for the last hour, a couple of other things have happened.”

“Yeah. I became a father and…”

“Husband?”

“How do you feel about that?”

She kissed him again. “I’m okay with it.”

“So, we should—”

“Dad!”

“I guess we’ll talk about it later.”

“Go before he hauls the mattress up the stairs by himself.”

Caleb sat on the edge of the bare mattress, with a pile of blankets, sheets, and stuffed animals at his feet.

Milo looked at the mess. “Okay. Um…you probably should put the bedding on your mom’s bed. I doubt she wants it on the floor.”

Caleb began tossing the blankets onto Wilda’s bed. “Can we move it now?”

Milo lifted up the mattress. “Just stay out of the way.” Caleb climbed onto Wilda’s bed, and Milo headed for the door with the twin-sized mattress. He carried it into the living room, then stopped at the bottom of the stairs.

Wilda appeared at the top. “Do you need help?”

“I wouldn’t mind some help on the stairs.”

She came down, and together they carried the mattress up to the second floor, then down the hallway to Caleb’s room. They leaned it against the wall, then headed back down to get the frame.

Thirty minutes later, the bed was set up, and Wilda was putting fresh bedding on it. She straightened the comforter and set Caleb’s favorite stuffed animal in front of the pillow.

“There we go.”

Caleb ran across the room and jumped on the bed, instantly undoing all the work she’d just done.

Wilda started to reprimand him, but stopped when Milo put his arm around her.

Caleb hugged his stuffed animal, then grinned. “I love it!”

Wilda sat on the bed next to him. “Tomorrow after school you can decide what color you want to paint the walls.”

“I get to decide?”

“Yes. And this week, we can get your dresser and desk out of storage and get the room totally set up.”

“The rest of my toys, too?”

“Everything.”