The Hidden Room

by C S Joseph

  Aiden laughed. “You mean he eats like a growing boy.”

  “If you must correct me. Yes, our son eats like a growing boy.”

  “I’ll be back, I’m going to grab the pizza.” He got off the bed and walked out of the room. She heard a noise and looked on the dresser near the door. She reached over and grabbed her vibrating phone.

  “Hi there, stranger.”

  “Hey, I said I would figure some stuff out and get back to you. I talked to the boss. He’s going to let me take the time off.”

  “I figured it wouldn’t be an issue. This remodel business won’t be finished overnight, Julia. There is a lot of work to do. Would you be up here for just a few days?”

  “Actually, I asked for two weeks. If that’s okay? I don’t take off much time.”

  “I would love it if you stayed here for two weeks.”

  There was silence on the other end of the phone. Reese knew what silence meant; she’d come too close to that invisible line. Julia was backtracking.

  “Please, Julia. You could drive up on Saturday morning. Don’t overthink this. I…I want you here with us. You would be such a big help.”

  Silence, again. Reese closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She knew it was no use. Anything she said at this point would be begging. Begging was against the unspoken rules. She would have to let Julia know that whatever help she would be willing to give would be perfect. A few days was better than no days at all.

  “Ok. I will see you two days from today?” Julia asked.

  “Two days too long.” Reese gasped suddenly and put her hand over her mouth. She had not meant to say that out loud. The distance from Julia was messing with her head. She felt out of control. She couldn’t even keep her inside voice…inside.

  They were pushing it today. Reese wanted to push it. She was getting tired of dancing this endless dance.

  “Reese.” It wasn’t a warning this time. “Any moment I can’t spend with you is a moment too long.” Julia crossed the line.

  Reese’s insides felt like they were going to explode. She smiled. “Julia,” she whispered. This was the closest they had ever been to talking about what was hanging between them. “I know. I have to help Zachary with his room. Oh, he wants to practice his pitching and batting out in the field with you.” She paused and quietly added, “You’re going to be here.”

  Julia laughed. “Yes, I’m gonna be there. I’ll help little man with his pitching. We’ll get to that though. Just think, you two will have my full attention. Nothing getting in the way.”

  “We may end up boring you terribly.”

  “I doubt that. I’ll get to sleep in. I mean, I haven’t done that since before I went into this line of work.”

  “What? You sleep in all the time!”

  “No, I don’t. Sleeping in until nine doesn’t count!”

  “How is that not sleeping in? I wake up at five. That’s an extra four hours.”

  “Reese, one of these days, I am gonna make sure that you sleep til noon.”

  “I doubt that. I would have to go to sleep at four, because I can only sleep for eight hours, then I have to get up.”

  “I’m sure I will figure out how to keep you up til four in the morning and exhaust you. We’d have to do exercises or something. Once an hour, jumping jacks to keep you awake.”

  Reese stopped laughing when she thought of a different type of exercise she could do with Julia. Embarrassed by the thought alone, she felt a warmth creep up her neck. She heard another voice in the background.

  “Yeah, I’m on the phone. I’ll be off in a minute, babe.”

  Caitlyn. She was there with Julia. And Reese was thinking about things she could do with Caitlin’s girlfriend. “Julia, are you sure that Caitlyn will be okay with you being gone for so long?”

  Julia lowered her voice, “Yeah, she’s fine with it.”

  “Just like that, she is fine with her girlfriend heading up into the middle of nowhere with another woman?”

  “I won’t be with another woman. I’m going to be with you. You’re my friend. She knows that and is glad I can help you out.”

  “Well, if you were my girlfriend, and you wouldn’t take time off work for me but would for someone else, I would be really hurt.”

  “And jealous.”

  “Yes. I would be very jealous. I would probably forbid it.”

  “Forbid it, now. You would forbid me to help out my friend?” Julia laughed.

  “Well, I probably wouldn’t want you to be gone for too long. I would want you to save time for me.”

  “It’s a good thing you’re not my girlfriend then. Seriously, it was Caitlyn’s idea for me to take the whole two weeks. I spend plenty of time with her. She just sat down on the couch with me, and she’s petting Ollie.” Julia had rescued a puppy a few weeks before. Reese smiled thinking about his adorable, little face.

  “Hey, Reese. I miss you!” Caitlyn said into the phone. “Are you giving our Julia a hard time?”

  Reese was irritated. She did not like this woman, but always was nice to her. “I’m just trying to make sure that she isn’t here too long. I would appreciate the help; we could get a lot finished up. I just worry about her not spending enough time with you.”

  “Don’t be silly! You would be doing me a favor by keeping her out of my hair while I finish up the article. I should be finished in about a month. If you take her for me, it would help me out.”

  “If you’re sure.”

  “Of course I’m sure. You’re like our straight sisterwife. I’m passin’ her off to ya.” Caitlyn always made weird off-color jokes like this. Reese had the hardest time understanding her.

  “I don’t understand what a straight sisterwife is. Polygamy does not tend to blend same-sex couples and heterosexual people. It is mostly an extremist view of the Mormon religion. It is not appropriate to use this example between friends.”

  “You really do take things too literally.” Caitlin laughed, a particular sound Reese secretly found annoying. “It’s not like you’re sleeping with Julia, are you?”

  “No. I’m not,” she said truthfully.

  “See? You can’t lie! It’s fine, Reese. Okay, Julia is grabbing the phone. I will talk to you later.” Reese heard some rustling on the other end.

  “Reese,” Julia said softly. “I’m walking into the other room. I am so sorry about that. She just. She doesn’t...”

  “It’s okay.”

  “No, it’s not,” Julia growled.

  “Julia…I will see you soon.”

  “Yeah, you will, Reese.” Something else hung there in the air for a few moments.

  “I know. You too.” Reese hung up the phone and laid it back on the dresser. She sighed. Julia would be there with her for two weeks. She went back into her son’s room.

  “Ok, Zachary. Let’s get the rest of your clothes put away.”

  Reese knew she was starting to play with fire. Strangely, she was starting to care less about her moral obligations. Julia made Reese feel so much during that short conversation. She felt happy, and for the first time in a long time, she felt as if she weren’t alone.

  †

  Zachary’s room was finished. Reese brushed her teeth and removed her contacts before she joined Aiden. When she lay down, he closed his laptop and set it on the floor. “So, I’m leaving early tomorrow. I’ll check in with you when I can, but I will be swamped with work.”

  “Okay. I talked to Julia. She said she can come up for a couple weeks to help out. She’ll be here in a few days.”

  “Excellent. I’m glad you’ll have some help. Is Caitlyn coming with her?”

  “No, spoke with her as well. She would rather stay in town and work on her article. It seems to keep her rather occupied. Zachary’s excited. He wants her help with his swing.”

  “Do you really think we should be encouraging him to play baseball?”

  “Of course, why wouldn’t we? Studies show that children who are active in athletics tend to p
erform higher academically. There’s nothing wrong with Julia helping him out a little bit. It’s their thing. They have the Mariners.”

  “If you say so. I just never played baseball. It never interested me.” He shrugged. “Anyway, we should probably get some sleep.” He scooted down and snuggled closer to Reese. She laid her head on his chest, one hand over his stomach. “Wanna fool around?” he asked.

  “Any other day, I would be agreeable. Today was really long. Can we save it until we see each other next? It will be really great because we waited.”

  He pressed a kiss to her hair. “I love you, Reese. You do know that, right?” She vaguely nodded her head against him. She closed her eyes and imagined what it would be like if she was curled up against someone else.

  “I love you too. Goodnight.” She continued to fantasize about Julia coming to visit, until she drifted off to sleep.

  Chapter Four

  Reese watched Zachary walk toward his new school. He looked hesitant but smiled when a young boy ran up and asked who he was. They introduced themselves and ran off. Her heart lightened a bit. When she got back to the house, the contractor was standing on the front porch. She parked the car and headed up the porch steps.

  “Ms. Iverson?” the man asked.

  “Yes, are you Spencer?”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  “Let’s go inside. I would like to start on the interior. We can work on the exterior soon enough.”

  Spencer nodded and followed Reese into the house. “Obviously, the kitchen is in a severe state of disarray. I will need this area worked on first.”

  “Do you know anything about the house, Ms. Iverson?”

  “Not really. But as you can see, there is this large pantry area. The way the counters were laid out won’t work for what I have in mind.”

  “You know, an architect built this house for his wife. No one has lived in it since. About three years ago, I was asked to upgrade all the electrical. It was all knob and wire. Now, you’ve got a good sized amp panel. All we gotta do is pull new wire for outlets and fixtures. We upgraded the plumbing as well and refinished most of the upstairs.”

  “Yes, I have noticed that the upstairs doesn’t really need any work. I have a list of the appliances that I want to order. They should be able to be shipped here this week. How quickly can you get the kitchen ready?”

  “Well, I need to know exactly what you want. I’ll call my cabinet guy. Depending on what you want, it might be a couple weeks. We gotta tear up the flooring. I don’t know what’s under there. If there is any dry rot in the subfloor, we’ll have to tear that out and replace it. The easiest part will be stripping the plaster and lath walls. As you can see, we tore a lot of it off already for the plumbing and electrical work. About a day or two to replace the sheetrock. Depending on what you want as your new floor, its availability could be anything from a couple days to a couple weeks. We could probably have the kitchen ready for cabinets in two or three weeks. Everything else will come together pretty quickly after that.”

  Reese considered the timeline. She wanted the project to go faster. “Okay, I can tell you exactly the cabinets I want. I know someone who can get them here rather quickly. In the center there will be an island with a counter-top stove. I want seating on the other side and plenty of space for food preparation. Along this wall, I would like a tall cabinet, then the sink with the counter wrapped around to this other side, where I will have the refrigerator. Over here will be an under-counter wine cooler. A double oven here and a warming drawer under the stove.”

  “I’ll take some measurements of the space, and he can do a quick layout for me. Do you have any idea the style you want or colors?”

  “Yes, I’ll write them down. I would like a new shelving system in the pantry as well. The flooring will be ceramic tile. I prefer a twenty-four by twelve tile, set in a running bond with a very thin grout line. If you have a flooring company that you use, I will go and choose the colors that I would like.”

  “Sure thing. I know this room is higher priority, but what about the rest of the downstairs? I can rotate my guys around from room to room on similar tasks.”

  “I think that would work out. I can pick out flooring options for each room as well as paint colors. I do like the existing baseboard and crown moldings. If you can’t save it, I would like an exact replica.”

  “You’re making this pretty easy Ms. Iverson. You seem to know exactly what you want. What about light fixtures? There is a fixture store in town. You could see if there is anything that meets your fancy.”

  “Thank you, Spencer. How soon can you start?”

  “Well, I’ve got a guy that can start tearing up the kitchen and dining room in the morning. The quicker we get the layout of the kitchen hammered out, the quicker we can order cabinets from your guy. That’s the thing that will hold us up the most. I can start setting up the dust sheets this afternoon, so we aren’t tracking all over the house.”

  “That sounds fantastic. I can start emptying out the pantry, so you’ll have plenty of space.”

  “Let me get to measuring.”

  Reese went upstairs and pulled out her laptop. She found the photos of the kitchen cabinets she wanted. She sent them to her printer. She also grabbed the phone numbers of a few people for Spencer to contact. She recalled his comments about the original owner. Curious, she decided to do a little research.

  There was little information online. She would have to go to city hall and look for old records. The house must have been built in the early 1920s. It was surely a Queen Anne. Buildings always fascinated Reese. She had attended lectures by very prominent architects, researching for her novels. Architecture was an interest she shared with her mother. Helena Iverson often traveled the globe holding gallery openings for her own art and others. Art and architecture shared similar histories. It was difficult to learn about one without the other. The technological advancements of the last hundred and fifty years allowed styles to jump quickly from one expression to another.

  The Victorian era had been a time of beautiful ornamentation that was typically painted a very dull white. Born as a counter reaction, the modern movement was Reese’s favorite. She loved the clean lines and simplistic trend that rebelled against the earlier decorative frills. She’d been lucky enough to see European Modernist works on her many trips overseas. While living in France, she was able to visit the work of Le Corbusier, her personal favorite. He had a unique passion for his work.

  She sighed and grabbed the photos from her printer. Spencer was busy in the kitchen, marking down measurements. He added the printouts to his pile of papers. “Ms. Iverson? Could you help me measure the pantry? There is a lot of stuff in there. I’m not sure I can control the tape measure by myself.”

  Reese imagined she would have to use the oversized pantry for more than just food storage. She stepped over a few broken pieces of wood and scraps of metal entangled on the floor. Once she was at the back wall, she held her hand out. Spencer inched the tape measure toward her. She grabbed the end and held it against the wall. As she did so, the edge of her foot backed into a nail sticking out of a board. The pain and surprise made her jump backward against the wall. “Ow!”

  When she hit the wall, the plywood shifted downward and fell onto Reese’s back. She stood there with the weight of the plywood leaning on her back and rubbing the bump on her head.

  Spencer quickly and gently lifted the plywood away from Reese and took it out of the room. Reese turned around to examine the space. The wood framing of the false wall stood in front of a beautiful, wooden door. She reached through the studs and turned the handle. The door swung away from her. She squinted into the dark space, noting a set of stone stairs that disappeared out of sight.

  “Are you alright, Ms. Iverson? Is that a door?” Spencer asked when he returned.

  “It is. It looks like the original cellar. There are steps that go down into the darkness. Do you have anything to get rid of the remainder of the wall? A cel
lar might be quite useful for my wine collection. The temperatures could be ideal for my reds.”

  “Sure thing. I’ve got a crowbar in my truck. I’ll be right back.”

  Reese walked out of the pantry and into the living room. She remembered leaving a flashlight there. She looked around for a few minutes and saw Spencer head back into the kitchen. She heard loud creaking and cracking, as she continued her search. In the back of the living room, she found the last box she had opened but not quite emptied. Next to the box was her flashlight.

  Spencer had worked quickly to dismantle the remnants of the wall. He grabbed a few boards and began to carry them out.

  “I’m going to go down there and see how big it is. How strange that someone covered it up.” Reese was careful where she stepped, as she made it to the top of the stairs and looked down into the abyss. With the aid of a flashlight, she began to descend the steps, which curved slightly until she got to the bottom.

  Brick walls lined a small room. A thick blanket of dust covered a narrow bed against one wall. A large desk sat against opposite, supporting a stash of large rolls of papers, some bluish and some a tattered yellow. A nibbed pen sat in a jar of dried ink. Black-bound books were stacked in various places around the room. It appeared as though someone had boarded up this room, never expecting it to be discovered again.

  Reese picked up one of the books. On the inside cover she read, Property of Clara Bogard Dumas, August 1918-June 1919. The handwriting was immaculate, some of the most beautiful writing Reese had ever seen. The strokes were simple and not overly developed. However, its preciseness gave a sense of thoughtfulness. Reese looked around the room and picked up another book. July 1920-December 1920. She continued to examine each inscription and placed the books on the desk. She collected a little over a dozen books and grabbed the stack as best she could.

  Making her way up the steps, she called out to Spencer as he came into view. “There seems to be some blueprints down there. Maybe they are of this house. If the original owner was an architect, perhaps he stored the drawings for the house down there.” She awkwardly held the books with one hand and her chin, as she attempted to hand off the flashlight to Spencer. He grabbed the flashlight and began his own journey down to the secret room.