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"It's here!" she exclaimed delightedly.

"Charlie," panted Adam, wiping his brow from perspiration, "I hope you know where you want all this. The front yard's getting full pretty fast!"

Hiram readily agreed. "Charlie, if you'll tell us what you want in which building, Mike and I will start hauling it inside."

While Charlie began giving directions, Adam noticed Kevin carrying four large planter pots into the mobile home. He smiled. So that's what Charlie had been doing. She had forgotten to buy her pots, yesterday.

One of the drivers honked impatiently, returning Adam's thoughts to the task at hand. Even though it was mid-November, the weather was warm, and with all the physical exertion he was doing, it began to feel like summer. Going as fast as they could without hurting themselves, Adam and Jeff carried piece after piece of furniture from the delivery trucks and placed them on the ground.

In amazement at the sheer volume of brand new furniture, Vera overheard Sandra remark to Shirley, "Charlie must've bought out the entire store!" To this, Shirley was silent. Vera had to confess that it did look like more than they could possibly use. But as Mike and Hiram carried each item into the main house or bungalows, Vera began to think otherwise. Villa Rosa was simply a very large estate.

After the last delivery truck had been unloaded, Adam and Jeff collapsed in the shade and accepted a cold drink from Maggie. Maggie was looking quite pregnant these days, and Jeff wouldn't let her carry a single thing-- let alone any of this furniture.

"I hope Charlie knows what she's doing," chuckled Jeff, looking at the huge stack of furniture as Mike and Hiram picked up a heavy sofa and carried it into the main house.

"Are you guys going to sit there all day, and watch?" joked Mike. "How about a little help, here?"

"He's very funny," remarked Jeff, with a laughing grin.

Overseeing everything, was Charlie. She looked in control of the situation, though she often couldn't decide how to arrange the furniture once it arrived at its destination. "I'll figure that out, later," she finally concluded.

To Shirley's alarm, the sky outside was beginning to grow overcast. Several thousands of dollars were sitting exposed to the weather, and she could picture it getting water damaged with just one rain burst. Lunch was postponed until everything was inside, though for an hour or two, the men weren't sure they would make it in time. But the clouds parted, and the threat of rain passed.

At last, the furniture and appliances were safely indoors. Though the buildings were cluttered and unorganized, everything was in the room it was supposed to be. Through it all, Adam never noticed how Charlie managed to keep him out of their new master bedroom. Though he walked by the outside of her surprise several times that day, it never occurred to him that something was different.

"You still have a lot of work ahead of you," Jeff warned Adam, as they settled outside the mobile home to eat the lunch the ladies had prepared. "The appliances have to be hooked up, and the furniture set in order, before you'll be able to move in."

When Adam groaned with a mouthful of sandwich in his mouth, Hiram laughed. "Not while he's eating, Jeff!"

After lunch, the men lingered outside to rest and talk. Adam didn't notice Charlie's absence until their friends prepared to say good-bye, and she was nowhere to be found. Adam offered to go find her, but Maggie quickly intervened.

"That's all right," she smiled knowingly. "Let's go, Jeff."

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