There was once upon a time when Casper wanted to be out and about in the world whenever he could. And then he grew up. Now, he had the cottage. They had purchased it as a real fixer-upper, in need of a loving and steady hand to make it something. Every time he turned around, there was something else to do for it. There were days where he wanted to start a fire in the living room and watch it all go up in flames; then it would be easier, and they could start over from scratch.

At the same time, however, he loved their money pit. It was probably the easiest comparison to marriage that one could find. There were times (even though he loved Molly with every ounce of his being) that he wondered if she’d forget their address. They were very rare, but they did happen. It was being able to get past those moments to enjoy the sweeter ones that made marriage a work-in-progress. It wasn’t something you could prepare for, loving someone that much.

Her family could grate on his nerves too, just like his did. It seemed as if every month they had to go through Frank’s ordeal with him.

Thankfully Casper had the house he could focus on. In the fall, he’d planted a lot of the seeds he would need for a bountiful spring, working on the rocking bench he had in the back garden with vines; they grew over the winter, slowly, and would take over the rest of the posts and overhang hopefully by summer. His shed was painted and the tools meticulously organized. The path he had worked on painstakingly during the late summer and early fall had finally been unearthed after the last of the snow melted.

He had little to repair, but he spent more time outside than inside, when he was home. The bench was comfortable and perfect to lounge out across with a cup of tea and the paper in the morning. Casper could soak up all the sun when it came out from behind the clouds, and he could stand under the shed’s protective roof when the rain pitter pattered down. It was soothing in his garden, and the closer it got to spring, the more excited he got about the potential.

Once he was able to get out of sweaters and thick socks, it would be even better. And when the weather was too nasty or cold or windy, he had enough inside to keep him busy. With all the walls painted as Molly had wanted, it was then time to start putting their own little touch to the rooms. The living room and their bedroom had been first and foremost, aside from putting the kitchen together so that Molly could bake and cook and rule over the kingdom.

Her birthday was coming up; she had been talking about having a family get-together for Easter, and while that wasn’t high on his list of things to look forward to, he’d been slowly but surely turning the sunroom (or whatever it had been) into a friendly dining room. Aside from her choices on furniture and wall color, he had sent her out of the area and kept it off limits while he worked.

It was nearly done; he balanced precariously on a chair with the chandelier up in the air, his trusty wand helping to keep it wherever he wanted it while he anchored it to the wood beam that ran along the ceiling. Once he had it as he wanted, Casper stepped back down on to the wood flooring, grinning to himself as hands rested on his hips. “Perfect.” His hand dusted off the table before pulling the little table cloth to him, overlaying it just so before adding the finishing touches of the candlesticks. The sun was starting to set, and it let in the perfect amount of lighting.

Plus, the room had given him space to grow flowers and garden during the winter. Dusting his hands off on his trousers, he stepped to the door and opened it, calling out into the house. “Your early birthday present is done.”