Giggling Sam agrees, and I say to Kara. “You want to pick up Sam tomorrow so she can finish her shopping?”
I hear Daniel chuckling, and the two of them whisper back and forth a couple times and they ask, “Would twelve tomorrow be too late?”
I say, “I think that will be just about perfect, Sam can do some swimming and then be ready at noon to go with her Aunt and Uncle shopping.”
Sam gives me a hug after the phone call ends. She loves spending time with Kara, and I know Kathryn trust Kara to ensure Sam is safe. I like the fact that Sam loves her Aunts and Uncles if anything were to happen to Kathryn or me I know Sam will still be well cared for. Of course I’ll never let anything happen to Kathryn or Sam.
We start dinner, and have it ready as Mom arrives home. When I get the opportunity I tell Mom my plan for Sam’s Christmas present. Her eyes express her happiness at the idea, and she has to admit she hadn’t thought of what to give Sam either. Now with the play house idea she already knows what she’s going to do. Mom says, “Make sure there’s a porch on the house.”
Daniel’s house is coming along surprisingly fast, before my week is done at school it seems to be finished. Well before the crew said it would be ready. I stop and walk to the worksite, I find Daniel speaking with a few of the crew, he tells me, “JJ, we’re going to make a foundation for the play house, you can tell Sam it’s a greenhouse for Kathryn. Here are the plans, your Mom talked to me about putting on a porch. We’re actually going to put you on two a front and back. A good part of the crew is already working on it. We’re going to have a small kitchen play area, no real cooking but the kids can pretend, a water closet so they don’t have to run home just a pee, the loft will have a sleeping area so they can nap or sleep over. I have a friend of mine who does security cameras and he found some micro security cams, and we’re already installing them. The kids will never know they are there.”
I chuckle, “You know you’ll probably end up having to design several of these especially for the family.”
Daniel says, “Not really, this will be big enough for all our kids. Your Mom and Helen suggested that.”
I look over the plans, and he’s right it’s nearly 850 square feet without the porches, the living room, the kitchen, dining room, water closet, one downstairs bedroom, and a loft. They’re monitors in each of the areas, and numerous angles on the security cams so everything is watched even the porches and the yard around the play house.
He tells me, we’re going to bring it in two sections, setting each down on the foundation and move them into place. It would take about fifteen minutes to set each and another half an hour to make the connections, and bolted to house together and down, once they are together the center section of roof we’ll complete. The entire operation should take no more than an hour to an hour and a half.
The only thing is it can’t be done in the dark, will have to do it the morning Christmas Eve, I want to be there too. We checked everything the two halves will go together perfectly. Electrical, water and sewage connections can be done while we’re securing the sections together the electrical actually being the last thing to be accomplished.
Chuckling Daniel says, “Kara really loves Sam. She wants this for her so much. She is going to have Sam and Kathryn stay with her in town on the night before our wedding, which will give us plenty of time to actually put the house together. We can do it first thing in the morning.”
Instead of having Jamie work on the house, I have him fix up a sled with roller blades mounted under the runners. He even uses the non-reversing blades and devises a braking system. He has a horse training to pool the sled and will drive it for Daniel and Kara.
The reception is going to be in town, only two blocks away from the church. They both didn’t want a huge wedding but about five hundred people should attend. Mom, Helen, Misty, and Kathryn along with a few people they’ve hired are decorating the church, the Reverend has agreed to their decoration scheme, Kara loves Christmas and a Christmas themed wedding is what she’s always wanted. So the decorations will be good for the church, they’re planning a Christmas morning service.
What we decided to do is attend the midnight mass with father McCoy. Kathryn, Sam, and I will spend the entire day in town after the wedding. Daniel, Marshall, Ron, Michael senior, Michael Junior, Mark and Edward along with me will help with Sam’s play house. But our main job is to make sure Daniel gets to the church on time.
Alyssa, Joan, Misty, Kathryn, Mom, and Helen along with all of us guys are there for Kara’s furniture delivery. That was a long day, but when the house comes together it’s absolutely beautiful the job that was done.
Fortunately Sam’s house isn’t going to be as bad. We have the stuff delivered for Sam’s play house storing it in Joan’s garage. I’m sure Sam will have us rearrange her furniture, but that will be Christmas Day.
The days finally countdown and it is the day to finalize Sam’s adoption. Ms. Clark and another of her associates meet us in, Uncle George, Judge Thurgood’s office. Another judge from a neighboring county will preside, to prevent a conflict of interest. The judge’s name is Cynthia Natters; she’s a family court judge. Ms. Clark shows her the entire file and indicates Sam’s well-being is been well looked after. The entire family waits silently in the courtroom adjoining the judge’s office.
After looking over the records Judge Natters a little confused turns to Uncle George, and she asked what conflict of interest would require her to oversee such a simple adoption. Uncle George asked if the room could be cleared, and Ms. Clark and myself along with Sam and Kathryn leave to join the rest of the family in the courtroom.
A few minutes later Judge Natters comes out it looks like she’s been laughing so hard she cried, she calls them for and ask, “Sam did you actually name your uncle George as one of beneficiaries to your great-great-great-grandfather’s treasure?”
Sam says matter-of-factly, “I did he is family.”
Judge Natters turns to me and asks, “Mister Meyer do you realize, that was not required under the law. Because you owned the land when the treasure was found even though you may have been a descendent, it actually was not covered under any will therefore what you did was voluntary.”
I shake my head yes, then I say, “It may have been voluntary, and not required under the law. But we are all descendants of the man who buried the treasure. He fully intended to recover it at a time when it would be safer to. If the events had played out differently, and our ancestor John Thurgood had lived longer it’s very likely he would’ve distributed the treasure equally among his heirs. Therefore it was the right thing to do.”
Judge Natters’ faces a little strained as she struggles to control herself suppressing her laughter. Shaking her head she says, “Your dedication to your family is commendable, and demonstrates one more reason to allow the adoption of Samantha Sheridan to Mister and Mrs. John Mayer.” The Judge asks one more question of Mrs. Clark, “Mrs. Clark you see any reason for further visitation?”
Mrs. Clark answers simply, “No your honor.”
Judge Natters then orders, “I hereby grant the permanent custody of Samantha Sheridan to Mister John J. Meyer and Mrs. Kathryn Meyer. I further grant the name change of Samantha Sheridan to Samantha Sheridan Meyer.” Sam flies into my arms and hugs me tightly. After giving me a kiss she goes to her Mommy and repeats the process. Sam moves through the entire family repeating a hug and a kiss to each of her aunts and uncles.
Time flies by with helping the organizations I always have, plus the give a gift of giving organization and before you know it is the day before Christmas Eve the day before Kara’s wedding. Everything seems to be in place. The foundation completed and triple checked. Power line sewer lines and waterline are ready. At two in the afternoon Kathryn and Sam leave with Kara, they’re going to have a spa afternoon with Mom and Helen. I will join them for dinner, along with Daniel and Michael senior.
We decided we would start Sam’s play house today, we finish up anything that needed work done tomorrow morning and not have to rush so much. We altered the plan, because all the work completed three days ago. This would allow the carpenters to spend Christmas Eve with their families. We also had another surprise for Sam. The play house was big enough that we were going to move the Christmas tree into Sam’s living room. Sam’s first Christmas would be in her play house, a Christmas gift in itself.
Daniel has done a tremendous job of designing this Playhouse for Sam, most of the lighting is recessed nothing for me to hit my head on. He’s even added heat in the form of radiant heating. Both the floor and ceiling use a series of specially made pipes they carry a warm fluid. It’s a cool day and the radiant heating warms the interior of the space and just a few minutes after it’s fully connected. Air conditioning provided by a forced air unit with an external compressor. The kids should be very comfortable in this house.
We had a smoke machine, and hopefully the wind would be calm once we bring Sam home after midnight mass. It would be very late for Sam hopefully she would sleep as I brought her into the house. The smoke machine was to add a little insurance to Sam not seeing her play house until the morning.
MC is driving Kathryn and Sam into town. She also will stay with Kara tonight. Almost as soon as they drive past the first truck pulls out followed by the Crane, a half hour later the first piece is in place, the crane lifts the second and slowly moves it into place. This is actually the most dangerous part, if a breeze catches the section they could blow into the other half destroying our plans.
Fortunately it’s a very calm day. We set it down gently exactly where it belongs. Everything now fits perfectly together. Several bolts tightened than the Crane released. The last bolts installed, tightened and the two halves now are one. The last of the shingles are going on the roof. Were busy hanging curtain rods, Alyssa and Joan are helping with the decorating.
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