Onwards and Upwards

Direct sequel to Baby Steps

By Beej

Slight movement in the bed beside her woke her from a wonderful dream. She was recalling the night of tender lovemaking she had spent with her beloved husband, who had managed to wake her up despite the fact that he tried not to. She kept her eyes shut and feigned sleep as she heard him make his way to the bathroom. She smiled as she heard the taps turned off and the door opening.

Cracking open an eye, she watched as he made his way back to the bed and got slowly out of the wheelchair.

"Morning, lover," she whispered. "You feeling lazy this morning?"

"Morning, beautiful. Hey, if I’m rationed in my time out of the chair every day, I’m not going to waste a second of it by walking to the loo."

Jake smiled and kissed Angie, and then moved down to her ever-expanding middle and kissed the bulge that was his child. "Morning, little one. How ya going this morning?"

Angie giggled, but loved the way Jake always talked to their unborn child as if he/she were already hearing him.

Kissing her again, Jake whispered in her ear, "You are so special, Angel. What would I be without you?"

"I’m nothing special, just one person in this world, Jake," she replied.

"To the world you may just be one person, darling, but to this person, you are the world." Jake pulled her to him and hugged her tightly, snuggling back down in the bed.

"We need to go down to Sydney soon, Luv. Do you want to fly, or shall I ask Kev to drive us down?"

Angie thought for a moment before answering. "If it’s not too much to ask, I think I’d prefer to go by road. I’m still not too sure about flying yet."

"No worries. We’ll speak with Drew when we get there. I need to call Shannon and let him know we’re coming."

Shannon had been staying at Jake’s Wharf apartment since returning from his visit at the farm. He still hadn’t managed to find a place he liked after selling his adapted house.

"I hope he won’t feel that he has to move out while we’re there," Angie worried.

"I’ve been thinking about that a lot, Luv. He really loves our place, doesn’t he, and we need to think about getting somewhere a bit bigger before junior comes along. How about we talk to him about buying our place when we get there? It’s already been adapted for a chair, and he knows his way around it."

"Wow, that’s sudden, Jake! You’re right, of course. We do need to think about moving, and it would be nice to know the place has a good owner."

"You don’t look too happy, babe."

"I guess it’s just that I love the place and…"

"You want to stay on the wharf," Jake completed the sentence for her and got a smile in reply. "No worries. I don’t want to leave there either. I’ll give the managing agents a call and set up an appointment. We’ll have a squizz at what they have on the books. It’ll have to be on the west side, though."

Angie hugged Jake and rested her head on his shoulder, trying to stop the tears of relief from falling. She couldn’t think of living away from the wharf when they were in town, and was glad Jake felt the same way.

"Baby, you need to come see this…now!!"

"What is it, Jake?" Angie asked, looking up from the footy game she had been watching with Shannon. They had been back in Sydney for a few days, and Jake had been with the managing agents almost every day.

"I think I’ve found the perfect place…if you don’t mind moving a bit. I want you to come look, too, Shan."

Angie’s face fell when Jake mentioned moving, but her expression turned from disappointment to confusion as they went down to meet Josh for the tour, then to disbelief and wonder when he took them to the far end of the wharf and stopped at the door which led to the walkway over to the exclusive Northern Apartments. They couldn’t be going there, could they?

"Jake, are we really going in there?"

"We sure are, darling."

"But…rich and famous people live in here!"

"And they’ve been our neighbours ever since we lived on the wharf. Anyway, we’re rich as, well, most likely more than some of the residents here. Just don’t tell them, eh!"

Jake grinned at Angie. He would have held her hand, but he was on his crutches for this visit. They made their way across the walkway and Angie held her breath as Josh keyed in the code to unlock the main entrance. They followed him to the lift and watched silently as the door closed.

Josh smiled as he led them to the door. "There are three apartments to each floor, apart from the third floor. That was bought complete by the previous owner and she had it converted into one giant apartment complete with integral ‘granny annex’. The present owners are very happy with it. They are away a lot of the time due to the gentleman’s work."

"No need to continue, mate. We all know who lives there. We’ve lived on the wharf long enough to know all our near neighbours." Jake answered.

"I know that, Mr. Mitch…sorry, Jake," Josh smiled. "I guess I flip into automatic when I show clients around. It’s not very often I get to show an existing resident around a different apartment."

"I guess not. We have a good reason to move, though, as you might have noticed. We’re expecting, so need a bigger place."

Josh smiled. "Oh, congratulations to both of you…but your present apartment has three bedrooms."

"Yeah, mate, but this one also has three bathrooms, much bigger living area, and a fantastic view out to the harbour. Also there’s the outdoor living area as a bonus. Being on the west side is a bonus, too. The biggest plus would be the fact that outside area is safe for the little one.

Josh took them all through the apartment. It was a beautiful place, and the only northern apartment property they had on the books. Angie fell in love with it but was worried when she looked at the paperwork for the price and noticed it said ‘price on application’. She just hoped that Jake wasn’t going mad with his money. She knew that one of the main wharf apartments was on sale for $2.400.000, and had heard how much some of these apartments went for.

After almost an hour looking round and asking questions, Josh led them all back through to the main wharf building and towards the agent's office.

"Thanks for showing us around, Josh." Angie said.

"It was a pleasure. I hope you all liked it. I’ll leave you to have a chat and think about it."

Jake looked over at Angie and raised an eyebrow in question. Angie beamed back at him in silent reply.

"You got time to sit down with us now, Josh? I think we’ve made up our minds."

"Of course, Jake. Come on through."

"Is it okay if Shannon here comes as well? I know your office isn’t that large, or we can all go up to my place if you like."

Josh took a look in the back office. It seemed a lot busier than normal back there. He noticed some of the staff from their office at Crows Nest, on the north shore, were down.

"Can you give me about ten minutes to get some paperwork up together, Jake?"

"Of course. You want to pick up the file to my place while you’re at it? I’m sure you’ll want to talk about what I intend to do with it."

"Sure thing. I’ll be up in two ticks."

"I’ll put the kettle on, "Angie grinned.

It wasn’t too long before Josh joined them and they all sat round the coffee table drinking tea and discussing the paperwork.

"Okie dokie, Josh. We’re going to take it. Would the owner accept an offer?"

"Let me get them on the phone and we’ll soon find out," Josh smiled in reply.

The vendor seemed ready to negotiate and Jake made his initial offer, thinking that there was no way it would be accepted. To his surprise they weren’t offended by his offer, but instead told Josh that if the offer was raised by just another $10,000 they would accept. Jake grinned and shook Josh’s hands.

"You’re on, mate."

Josh relayed the news to the vendor and hung up, grinning as he heard Angie squeal in delight.

There were piles of paperwork to go through, including a recent surveyor's report, and it took a long time to sign every sheet of paper that was handed to him. All that was needed in the end was for Jake’s lawyer to take care of the legal aspect. He made a quick call to Jenny to get things started, and she called back to say the firm's lawyer was on his way over.

"This is the fastest I’ve ever sold a property," Josh admitted. "You were lucky, Jake. It’s very rare for one of the Northern Apartments to come up for sale."

"Yeah, it was good timing, wasn’t it. We were up at the farm until a few days ago. We could have easily missed out on it."

"So," Josh asked, relaxing back into the luxurious sofa, "what do you have in mind for this place?"

"We’re gonna sell it, mate."

"Ah, I thought you might keep it for a business apartment like the one you have on the east side."

"Not this time. We’ve even done your work for you and have a buyer in mind."

"Really? May I ask who?"

Shannon had been quiet since they got back from the viewing. He wheeled himself forward a little and spoke. "That would be me, mate."

"Right, that’s good. Do you need a valuation at all?"

"No, that won’t be needed, Josh. He’s made me an offer that’s more than generous. Of course the sale will go through M&M. Can’t have you losing out on your commission."

"Hey…"

"Just kidding, Josh. There’s no way I’d do a private sale. M&M are good managing agents, and Shannon needs to know that you’ll be there if he needs anything."

"Well, we hope we give a good service, and that the residents don’t begrudge our charges."

"I’ve not heard any complaints at the ressie meetings," Jake grinned.

Just then the security phone rang and Angie went to answer it. It was Jake’s lawyer, so she let him up. After greeting everyone, he got down to work with Josh. Jake, Angie and Shannon went out onto the balcony to give them some peace to work.

"Wow, I can’t believe this will soon be mine," Shannon said as he looked out at the view. Can I make you an offer on the furniture, or do you want to take that with you?"

"No, mate, I think you can have it if you like. My princess here deserves new stuff. As soon as we get a moving date we can set out for the shops."

Four weeks later the family was down from the farm to help with the move. The entire apartment had been refurnished, and all that needed to be moved from the old place was their personal stuff. By the early afternoon everything was moved, and they were all out on the patio area enjoying a nice meal in the warm sunshine.

"This is beautiful, Aaron."

"Thanks, Emily. It means a lot to know you approve."

"And are you happy in your new home, too, Shannon?"

"More than happy, Dr. Mitchell. There’s such a warm and welcoming atmosphere about the place. I felt it the first time I went there with Jake."

"I’m glad it’s gone to a friend. I know you’ll be as happy there as Aaron and Angeline have been."

Sam stood right then and held up his glass, proposing a toast to Jake and Angie, wishing them health and happiness in their new home.

ON TO DOUBLE THE PLEASURE

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