The Dowry

by C W Lamb

  In the evenings, Robert would wander the house from room to room, taking notes and signing off on the various projects RD had put on the punch list for him to inspect. With Sandra no longer a love interest, it was just he and Hunter who watched as room after room was completed, although he swore he felt Charlotte looking over his shoulder the entire time.

  By now it had been weeks since the last paranormal event had occurred, and Robert found the others interest in the subject was waning. Beyond the mysterious behavior of the blue bowl in the kitchen, which only he knew of, no one was even discussing the topic anymore. Even the point of his earlier overnighters were now discussed as a convenience and had nothing to do with the work crews’ superstitions or morale.

  With the upstairs dirty work complete, including the sanding and refinishing of the floors, plaster walls and ceilings, he had moved his cot into the master bedroom, freeing up the parlor for its turn. He had also assumed full possession of the study, completing its furnishing from the restored pieces pulled from the carriage house.

  Between those two rooms, the tower, bathroom, and the kitchen, he was completely self-sufficient as far as living conditions went. During this period, he had also been able to get his internet link to the house installed, via the local cable TV service. He had chosen cable instead of satellite to prevent the need of any unsightly dishes on the roof or on the property.

  The high-speed connectivity was like being released from the dark ages and had him happily surfing the web once more. The data exchange improvement was more obvious as he uploaded drawings and downloaded proposals as part of his normal business activities.

  The wireless access points he had installed throughout the house, all well out of sight, had addressed any unsightly computer cabling issues, and the signal strength was such that he was capable of working at the end of the pier if he chose to. Once the pool area was complete, he had every intention of utilizing that space for work when the weather permitted.

  The more he saw completed, the greater his excitement with the house became. He had gone back to reading the first of Charlotte’s diaries once more, comparing his progress to her own as they finished one task after another. He could hear her words in his head as he read through her challenges and triumphs with each stage of the construction.

  After relocating upstairs, he had removed Charlotte’s portrait from the parlor and placed it in his study, for safekeeping, so he said. Frequently, he would set himself down in his chair in the study after his nightly chores had been completed and read aloud from her diaries. He would pass occasional glances at the portrait of the woman who had recorded her life on those pages.

  More than once, he would ask her questions about her life, expecting that she heard him but never waiting on an answer.

  “How had you ever survived the pain? Where did you find the strength?” or “Why did you never look for love again?” he asked quietly.

  The one-sided exchange was, in many ways, more fulfilling than relationships he had before his marriage to Heather. His admiration for everything Charlotte had accomplished in her life was tempered with sympathy for the repeated tragedies that marred it. He saw her as a woman of great depth of emotion, never fulfilling her destiny.

  The final unwritten chapter of the sad tale was the notion that her split soul might be trapped; forever bound to this house. It was little wonder to him now, that should she be aware of this, Victoria had searched for someone intent on preserving this place for all time. He was now motivated to make good on that commitment, not that he wasn’t before, but now it was for Charlotte that he strove to preserve her legacy.

  He was always careful to clear his things out of the study before going to bed each night, so it didn’t betray his time there. Though he didn’t see anything wrong with his activities, he didn’t want to explain his preoccupation with Charlotte to anyone. He didn’t see his infatuation over the dead woman as weird, just uncomfortable to explain to others.

  ----*----

  Charlie was struggling to control the growing unrest within, not sure of the source. She had taken this house-sitting gig, even though she didn’t particularly care for the owner, specifically because he was to be away for several months. This was a welcome reprieve from her nomadic lifestyle.

  Part of her regular life pattern of late, she would sign on to act as caretaker for a house with or without pool or animals while the owners were otherwise out of town. She would then move on once they returned, hopefully just moving on to her next job. The money wasn’t all that great, but free room and board plus the solitude of being the sole occupant had its benefits.

  Most of the time she was lucky to get more than a 2-week run, forcing her to be on constant lookout for the next opportunity. With several weeks of free room and board still to go, the urge to pack up and run was out of place. She sighed and chalked it up to the fact that today was yard workday.

  “I wish he had a pool,” she mumbled to herself as she looked out the kitchen window on onto the expanse of grass that desperately needed mowing.

  ----*----

  “Robert, you gotta come see this!” RD declared as he topped the stairs and entered the study. It had been a week since the pool construction itself had been finished and they were now working on the structures surrounding it. The delicacy of the design required a center out approach to the construction work.

  They began in the center of the project area, excavating the pit for the pool and then lining the pit with the reinforcing steel rods called rebar. Once the steel was in place, they installed the plastic piping that provided for the water movement in and out of the pool itself and allowed for filtering and heating. Finally, a concrete floor was poured and gunite, a mixture of sand and concrete, was sprayed and molded to form the walls of the pool and the spa area.

  Normally, only a minor amount of decorative tile work would be done at this point, usually around the top edges. However, Robert’s design had a massive black and white tile mosaic laid in the bottom of the pool. Accent designs lined the pool walls and spa, while the edges were capped in white marble.

  Rising from his seat, Robert pushed aside the paperwork he had been going through and followed the other man down the stairs and out onto the back porch. Here, Robert could see the entire work crew watching the crane operator working his magic.

  As the two men watched from the porch, the large crane had a significantly huge piece of white stone dangling from a cable, hovering over the column-lined path. Attached to either end of the stone were ropes, used to steady and guide the piece into place. The men holding the ropes would pull to pivot the piece until it aligned with the columns.

  Beyond, Robert could see the large flatbed truck with more of the long stone pieces, waiting to be installed. They watched as each stone lintel, the name for the horizontal block that spanned the openings between the columns, was carefully placed, one after another. In a remarkably short time, they had all the stones in place. Once the path was completed, they took a break before starting the next project.

  Moving the crane to the far side of the pool, not a trivial feat considering the finished pool on one side and the trees bordering the other, the men began assembling the stonework for the temple structure. A miniature of the one in California, it still required a number of stone columns and decoratively carved stone lentils to be lifted into place by the crane.

  Robert had ensured that the concrete foundation was more than capable of handling the considerable weight of the structure. RD had joked that he had created the only hurricane-proof pool house in Florida.

  There was an army of men assisting the stone masons as they worked each block into position. In what Robert considered record time, the stonework for both the walkway and the replica of the temple were all in place. Given the all clear on the near side, the two men advanced onto the worksite to better inspect the assembled structures there.

  “Look at this,” RD said as he pointed to the joint between two of the horizontal blocks. The
piece of paper he held in his hand couldn’t fit in the seam between the stones. For the cost of the construction, Robert was certainly getting his money’s worth.

  Scanning the worksite, he could see into the finished pool, devoid of water at this stage. The tile mosaic that lined the bottom would be spectacular once it was filled with water. The pool decking surrounding the pool itself was yet to be laid, a precaution taken for fear that the stone flooring would be damaged as they assembled the structures around it.

  “Well, looks like we can get the pool deck down now,” RD stated, as if reading Robert’s mind.

  “I can’t wait!” he replied, not trying to hide his excitement.

  With that, the two men vacated the job site, to allow the others to work in peace. Returning inside, Robert wandered the main floor, mentally ticking off all the items left to complete until he could start furnishing each room. The list was wonderfully small.

  Entering the parlor, he could see where they had just finished the second coat of paint. Charlotte’s portrait was still upstairs in his study for safety, but he did intend to replace it in the parlor at some point in the near future. As he scanned the window coverings piled in the center of the room waiting for installation, he thought of Sandra.

  He had gladly paid her fee in full and left a glowing recommendation concerning her work but felt it insufficient for the circumstances. He had attempted once more to persuade her to give him another chance, but she was firm concerning the house. He hardly blamed her for the feelings she had, considering her experiences here.

  His conflicting emotions over a dead woman and the loss of a living, breathing, vibrant female companion had him in turmoil. Should he abandon the house and pursue the redhead or stay the course and embrace his growing obsession.

  “Why did you drive her away?” he asked to the empty room.

  As he considered the question himself, he debated his future. He was at a crossroads in his life, starting fresh and looking for passion equal to his own. It was the love of the house itself that finally decided the matter for him. In the end he decided he would keep the house and Charlotte.

  ----*----

  With the house so close to completion, and the loss of Sandra as decorator on the project, Robert had assumed the duty of selecting the pieces of furniture from the carriage house to furnish his home. After choosing the pieces, he wanted them cleaned, repaired as necessary, prepped, and returned to the house as the final furnishings. Some pieces only required a good oiling for the wood while others could use a complete restoration. The dining room chairs, for example, all needed reupholstering before they could be used.

  His designs called for most of the first floor to be restored to the original 1860s décor but made it functional as it was to be his home. He was delighted with how the kitchen had turned out, mysterious blue bowl and all. The combination of original Victorian functionality and modern conveniences satisfied all his needs while staying true to the theme.

  There was one room next to the butler’s pantry, and on the opposite side of the house from the dining room, that he had made an exception of. Likely once intended as the servant’s room, though there was no record of Charlotte ever retaining any such individuals, it was only accessible through the kitchen or from the back porch. Robert had lifted the restrictions in this room, making it a much more modern family area, hidden from the rest of the house.

  On one wall, he planned to have a seventy-inch flat screen TV as well as a large sectional sofa. The rest of the furnishings were to be a mix of classic and modern, with the focus on comfort over authenticity. At the other end of the room, he planned for a bar and entertainment system for indoor gatherings.

  The double doors on the south wall that led out onto the back porch were the twins to the doors in the dining room. That allowed him the option of opening the space for both indoor and outdoor use without compromising the feel of the rest of the house.

  Upstairs, he had finished furnishing the study, with its tower room above as close to the day Charlotte sat behind its desk, as possible. Both upstairs bathrooms were now complete and just the cleanup work needed to be done before the towels and such could be moved in. All the bedrooms were to use as much of Charlotte’s furniture as was salvageable from the carriage house.

  The beds were all new of course, mattresses made specifically for their particular frames, at a significant cost over store-bought size. Robert conceded on his own room, having a specially made reproduction bedframe in a true king-size presentation. While his guests could enjoy the novelty of an 1860s bed for a few nights, he was planning on a lifetime in his.

  ----*----

  It was just over 2 weeks later when Robert and RD were standing by the pool, inspecting the finished product completed the day before. Robert’s excitement over the finished space was almost uncontainable as he wandered through the outdoor kitchen and then over to the edge of the pool itself.

  Now completely full of crystal-clear water, the tile work on the sides and bottom were a true work of art. Completely surrounded by white stone decking, the entire space was a brilliant wonder. Robert had made sure the stone surface was left slightly rough, preventing it from becoming an ice rink once it got wet.

  “Well, what do you think?” RD asked as he stood next to the grinning Robert.

  “I think we need to go swimming!” Robert declared as he kicked off his shoes, pulled off his shirt and dropped the contents of his pockets on the pile of clothing.

  Diving in, he found the water surprisingly colder than he expected, but then remembered it had just been filled a few days before. Cleverly concealed in the roof of the temple structure that covered the outdoor kitchen were solar panels that heated the pool water as it passed through them. A small enclosure behind the structure concealed the pump and filter equipment from sound and view.

  Moments later a second splash telegraphed RD’s entry into the deep end of the pool.

  “Damn, you need to get that heater working!” he proclaimed as he broke the surface nearby.

  “I was just thinking that myself.” Robert said as he made his way to the far end, closest to the house, where the steps provided easy access in and out of the water.

  Nearby, in one corner, he could see the circular spa as it spilled water into the pool.

  “You absolutely need to have a party here,” RD commented as he followed Robert up the steps and out into the sunny part of the deck area.

  “It won’t be just a party; it will be an event!” Robert replied as he considered the possibilities.

  ----*----

  The days that followed had Robert back to bouncing between the work on his house and the two restoration projects in town. With all three heading to completion, the work in town requiring far less work than his house, he was buried in a mound of details, all requiring his specific attention.

  Each night Robert would arrive home and find another room completed and closed off to prevent accidental damage. Hunter was particularly confused at this stage, as he had been free to wander from room to room before. Now it was not uncommon for him to encounter a closed door at every turn, preventing his arbitrary inspections.

  The one plus for him was the newly introduced nightly swims. Robert was delighted to see his hound take to the new pool like a duck to water. Every evening, a little after dinner, the two would go down to the pool and swim until after dark. Robert found the hidden lighting he had installed gave the pool area a magical appearance after dark.

  Specially positioned to illuminate the columns and areas surrounding the pool, it gave the entire area a nice glow, enhanced by the underwater lights in the pool itself. When he was floating in the water, the darkness beyond the range of the lights became the walls that bordered his refuge.

  His only regret was he could never actually show Charlotte what he had done to enhance her beloved home.

  Chapter 15

  Foxworth House, January 1864

  Charlotte was reading the latest letter from
her husband out on the front porch as she enjoyed the warm afternoon breeze coming from the west. In its pages, she could feel the longing for her he expressed over their prolonged separation. While he had been in several small skirmishes, she was thankful that there had been no large-scale engagements for his unit as of yet. She also wondered at times if he wasn’t diminishing his activities to prevent her from worrying.

  Most of the letters she received from him spoke of his desire to be at her side, and his frustration over being taken away from her at the moment they had just begun to understand one another. She had expressed the same emotions in her letters to him, and it was with great anticipation that she looked forward to the end of the war that was keeping them apart.

  “Mistress Charlotte, someone is coming,” one of the kids said as he pointed to the road.

  “Go get my gun,” she told the boy as she watched the three riders slowly make their way toward the house.

  By the time the three riders had made it to the house, Charlotte had seen enough of them to know they weren’t customers. There had been several reports of deserters and other renegade groups wandering the area, raiding homes and performing all sorts of unsavory acts on the women they found there.

  “Here Mistress Charlotte,” the boy said, as he handed the gun over to her. Longer than he was tall, he had to hold it up as he walked.

  “You go back inside now,” she said to the boy after taking the gun and checking it to be sure it was loaded.

  She held the gun easily and even though it wasn’t pointed at the approaching riders, all she needed to do was raise the barrel to bring it to bear. Quite familiar with its operation, she had used it many times over the last few years to put meat on their table.

  “Can I help you gentlemen?” she asked calmly as the three reined up in front of her.