I was furious, but Ben tried to calm me. “Don’t worry about this. Remember what I told you. He will have a tough time convincing a judge to give him an inch of that property after all these years. I’ll call my father in a few days and discuss it with him. My father’s firm will take care of everything, I promise you.”
He held me close until another knock at the door interrupted us for the second time.
Ben jumped up from the bed. “That will be our breakfast.”
This time, he was right. We sat at a table near the window that overlooked the pool area and ate our breakfast of croissants, cheese, and fresh fruit.
“Would you like to visit with Sophia before we go to the manor?”
His question surprised me. “I didn’t know we were planning on going to the manor.”
“As long as we’re here, we might as well look at it. You agreed to see it yesterday until we got side-tracked. Not that I mind you side-tracking me this way.”
He leaned over and kissed me on the lips as he looked sheepishly into my eyes.
“Okay, okay. We can go look at it if means that much to you.”
He kissed me again. “This is a dream come true. I already have you trained to give in to my every little wish.”
I kissed him passionately. “Perhaps you need to give me what I’m wishing for right now.”
“I think I’d like that very much.” He picked me up and carried me to the bed, where we stayed for the next hour.
We decided together that it would be better if we went to visit Sophia at the orphanage before seeing the manor. But first, Ben offered to do a little shopping since we hadn’t brought any luggage with us. As I gave him my list, I felt a little funny asking him to get me some new underwear, but he was my husband now, and since he didn’t mind getting them, I wasn’t going to fuss about it. I filled the Jacuzzi and soaked while he went to the nearby Cost-Mart to pass his first test as a new husband.
Ben took a little longer than I expected, but just as I’d feared, he had to ask for help in finding the items I had put on the list. Surprisingly, he got everything right on my list, and he didn’t complain. I rewarded him with a kiss, then, he threw off his jeans and slipped into the large Jacuzzi with me.
At the orphanage, Sister Mary Ellen greeted us happily and thanked us for returning as promised, and ushered us into the reception area where Sister Frances, the administrator, was waiting for us. I looked to Ben for explanation, but he shrugged a smile and kissed me on the lips as he grabbed for my hand.
Sister Mary Ellen noticed the kiss. “You two seem different today.”
Ben couldn’t resist holding up my hand that boasted my wedding ring. “I married her yesterday after we left here.”
She pasted a smile over the confusion that showed on her face. “Congratulations. But what on earth made you decide to get married? I didn’t think you were even dating.”
Ben held tight to my hand. “That was yesterday. Today, she is my wife, and I love her.”
It was the first time he’d said it, but he wasn’t saying it to me. He was telling a nun, as if confessing it to her.
Feeling my hand tense in his, he turned to me in time to catch the look on my face.
“I love you, Claire.”
I smiled. “I love you too, Ben.”
“That’s all I ever want to hear from those beautiful lips of yours.” He kissed me again, and the nun made a quiet exit from the reception area.
I tried to speak in between kisses. “So why do we have to meet with the administrator?”
Ben continued to kiss me. “It’s a surprise.”
Turns out, one of the phone calls Ben had made while at the diner was to push the paperwork for Sophia’s adoption. I was excited and afraid at the same time. Not only was I a new wife, but I was about to be a new mother. I didn’t know anything about being a mother, except what I’d witnessed from Emily, but half the time I wasn’t paying any attention. Ben assured me there were books I could read, and Emily would be a big help.
“They say it takes a village to raise a child, and we have that. I have my brother and his wife, plus my parents. And you have Emily, and Frank and Ida, plus all the other people that loved your mother. Let’s open our hearts and give little Sophia a family.”
He was right. We had plenty of people we could turn to. And I was certain even Sister Mary Ellen would lend a hand if I needed it.
Suddenly, I couldn’t wait to see Sophia. I longed to hold her. But most of all, I couldn’t wait to introduce her to Emily and Isabelle.
When all the paperwork was filled out, Ben and I walked hand-in-hand to the nursery on the second floor to see our new daughter.
Sophia spotted me when I entered the doorway and held her arms out to me. “Momma,” she called to me.
I went to her and picked her up and twirled her in my arms. She giggled as I kissed her on her chubby cheek. I was so excited that my being there had made her happy. Ben hugged us both and she continued to giggle. She reached for Ben, and he took her from me. She laid her head on his shoulder, and I thought how Sophia and I were the luckiest girls in the world because Ben was my husband and we were a family.
We sat on the floor to play with the toys that were scattered in the corner of the nursery.
“Did they say when we get to take her home with us?”
Before Ben could answer me, Sister Frances walked into the nursery and told us everything was all set with the preliminary paperwork and we could take her home whenever we wanted.
Owning an orphanage has its advantages.
“We can take her now?” I asked.
Sister Frances nodded, and Ben squeezed my hand. Sister Mary Ellen packed her few belongings, and handed us a set of house keys and the address to Sophia’s home.
“You can get the rest of her things from the house. It’s only a few miles from here.”
“What are we going to do about her house, Ben?”
“We will have to draw up the paperwork to hold it in trust for her so she can have it when she turns eighteen.”
I hugged the giggling little girl. “I guess you and I have more in common than I thought.”
She nuzzled her head on my shoulder. “Momma.”
Ben had another surprise waiting in the trunk of the car. The reason he’d taken so long at Cost-Mart was because he was shopping for a car seat and diapers and baby food geared for toddlers in addition to the long list I already gave him.
I dug through the shopping bag. “It looks like you got one of everything. No wonder you took so long.”
“The lady in the baby department pointed out the different steps of baby food, and how they go according to age.”
He showed me on the outside of the jars and boxes.
“Wow, that’s great. It’s like instructions on what to feed your baby every time she gets older. That is very handy for a new mom like me that doesn’t know what she’s doing.”
As soon as it left my lips, it registered to both Ben and me what I’d said.
Ben looked at me funny. “I think it just hit me that we’re parents.”
I looked at him for any signs of regret, but I couldn’t find any. All I could see was the smile that mirrored my own.
“Have you talked to any of your family yet?”
“No. We can tell my parents when they get back from their trip. But my brother, Sam, and his wife, Hillary live here in Wellington. Hillary’s family is from here.”
“Do you think they’ll be upset with you?”
“Claire, in case you hadn’t noticed, I’m a grown man.”
I kissed him. “Yeah I think I’ve noticed that three times now.”
His smile widened. “I can show you again if I need to.”
“Why don’t we get her home first, and then you can show me all night.”
His face twisted. “I just realized something. I’m not sure I know where home is. That’s the one
thing we haven’t discussed yet. Where are we going to live?”
“I’m not sure I like the idea of taking her back to her house because that might cause her to become upset. Maybe when we get there one of us could go in and get her things. In fact, we should probably get a truck so we can get her crib, and you will need tools to take it apart. Wow, I didn’t realize this was going to be so complicated at first.”
“Don’t get upset, my lovely wife. I’ll call my brother Sam to meet us there with his truck and his toolbox. But in the meantime, let’s strap her into the car seat and head over to look at the manor while we wait for my brother.”
Ben read the instructions for the car seat three times before installing it in the back of his car, then, showed me how to strap her in.
“I think we might need to shop for one of those SUV’s that I see families driving around town in.”
“You are really taking this to the next level, aren’t you?”
He kissed me and Sophia on the cheek. “I’ll do anything for my girls.”
It was not something I was used to, but I already liked being taken care of by Ben. He was indeed a good man, and Sophia and I had made the right choice.
When we pulled up to the manor, I began to feel nervous. Ben picked up on my agitation quickly and reached for my hand. He steered the car down the lane and around the lake to the cottage where the Widow Karington resided until her death. I took out the keys, wondering which one fit the door to the manor, and which one fit the cottage door. I supposed it didn’t really matter since there was a 50/50 chance one of them would fit. I was stalling, and Ben nudged me.
“You will never know what you’re missing until you open the door. Let’s go see what’s behind door number one.”
“You are worse at making jokes than I am, if that’s possible because I suck at it.”
“Don’t tease me, Mrs. Avery.”
I liked the sound of that. I kissed him gently before opening the car door to begin our family expedition. Ben opened the door behind him and unbuckled Sophia from her new car seat. She seemed happy to be free from the restraint as she held fast to his shirt sleeve and chewed on her pacifier.
My hands shook as I turned the key in the lock of the cottage door. It clicked open. Ben pushed hard on the heavy door that couldn’t have been used more than a handful of times over the past fifty-seven years. The door squeaked in protest as he pushed further to allow passage to the inside of the cottage. Cobwebs hung all over, making me step back from the door.
“What’s wrong, Claire?”
I pointed to the mess of webs that filled the entrance. “Wherever you find cobwebs; you’ll find spiders not too far away.”
“Don’t be silly, Claire. Those cobwebs are sagging. The spiders that made those probably ran out of food in this house about fifty years ago. But just in case, I’ll clear the way for you and the baby first.”
He grabbed a fallen tree branch from the ground and began to tear away at the cobwebs that filled the home. He twirled the stick and wound the webs around it like an expert. I felt proud as I watched my new husband, the spider web slayer.
When he gave me the signal all was clear, I boosted Sophia onto my hip and walked into my ancestor’s home. As I looked around, I could tell that the Widow Karington had updated the home very near the end of her life. Most of the furniture and the appliances were brand new retro fifties-style. Some items appeared to date back to the forties and even the twenties, but she had made an attempt to update—probably for the sake of Ellie. I liked the décor. Despite the fact that everything was covered in a thick layer of dust, everything was very neatly arranged, and everything seemed to be in its place. There wasn’t even a dirty dish in the sink. Ben found them in the very outdated portable dishwasher, but they weren’t in the sink. The old woman was either very clean, or she had a housekeeper. It was almost spooky to be wandering around in a house of a distant relative I knew next to nothing about. Perhaps with a lot of dusting I could find some clues as to who the Widow Karington really was. I picked up a Ladies Home Journal from 1953 off the coffee table and blew the dust off to examine it.
Ben started sneezing almost uncontrollably. “Is it too late to tell you I’m seriously allergic to dust?”
“Maybe it’s time to go. This house needs to be professionally cleaned. I’m willing to bet the manor is one hundred times worse.”
Ben couldn’t stop sneezing so we left the dusty cottage and headed for fresh air outside. After several more sneezes, Ben grabbed some tissue from the trunk of the car from the supplies he bought for Sophia and blew out the remaining dust.
“Are you okay now?”
Ben shook his head, and pointed toward the dock.
“Let’s take a walk down to the lake and take a look around.”
I held fast to Sophia’s hand, aware that children liked to run off. I’d noticed that much about Isabelle. Poor Emily was always chasing after the toddler. Thankfully, Sophia seemed a little shy of the water. Ben picked her up with one arm, and grabbed my hand with the other. In front of the dock, a rusted row boat lay upside down in the grass. There were small holes in the boat, which looked in part from scraping the bottom of the lake, and part from the rust that ate away at the metal.
We stepped onto the dock, but didn’t walk too far out because some of the boards were in need of repair. Ben was already making a mental note of things that needed taking care of. His brother, Sam, was a contractor, and he was sure his brother would take on the many projects that would need to be taken care of before he would even consider the manor as home for his new family.
As we stepped off the end of the dock into the grass, a family of ducks swam out from the reeds at the water’s edge. Sophia giggled at the ducklings as they followed their mother in a neat row, bobbing across the lake. The water was murky, but I could still see the duck’s feet paddling furiously against the mild current that had begun to pick up from the gusts of cold wind that blew from the north. I pulled Sophia’s sweater around her and pulled up the hood to guard her from the late afternoon cold that was becoming the norm as winter was quickly approaching.
Ben squeezed my hand. “Are you ready to take a look at the manor?”
“It’s getting late. Won’t Sam be at Sophia’s house by now?”
Ben looked at his watch. “We still have another twenty minutes. Can’t we take just a quick look, please?”
I sighed heavily. “What happens if I don’t indulge you? Are you going to whine all the way home?”
Ben poked me in the ribs playfully. “Maybe. That is if we can figure out where home is.”
“Well I think we figured out it isn’t here. Unless you want to sneeze all night.”
After we buckled Sophia into the car seat, Ben resumed our conversation on the short drive to the manor.
“What about the house you live in? Is it big enough for the three of us for now? I live in a studio apartment, so that is out of the question. We’d be tripping over each other.”
“To be honest, it isn’t that big. It will do for a few days or maybe even a few weeks. It’s only a two bedroom home and I am not up to using my mother’s room. Truthfully, I think the reason I slept so well last night is because I don’t want to live in the house anymore. My mother died in the house in her room.”
Ben put his arm around me and kissed my forehead. “I didn’t know that. I’m sorry.”
“I guess we better figure this out soon. Your brother is going to want to know where to take Sophia’s crib.”
“Why don’t we stay at your house tonight and we can talk some more tomorrow.”
I agreed as we approached the manor, which looked to be a much bigger version of the cottage. The porch stretched around both sides of the three-story home, and on the top floor was a widow’s walk. Ben had been right about the woodwork being in need of a fresh coat of paint, but the detailed scroll work was still intact. I clenched my husband’s hand as we stepped onto the porch. He
held onto the baby, stating he didn’t want to let her down for fear she might get hurt if the foundation was unstable.
I surveyed the area before approaching the door, trying to stall just a little longer. A porch swing hung at each side from the ceiling of the porch. The heavy, wooden door was weathered; red paint still clinging to the inside corners of the inset panels. Beveled glass in the door offered a distorted glimpse of the interior of the house. Though clouded from many layers of dust, I could see that the furniture was covered with white sheets. I turned the skeleton key in the brass lock and turned the handle. Like the door to the cottage, it was stuck and required the strength of a man to push it open. Ben stepped in when I couldn’t budge the door more than a few inches.
I stood in the doorway and stared at the thick layer of year’s worth of dust that covered everything. Several sets of footprints on the dusty floors were evidence of previous visitors to the manor. There were very few cobwebs compared to the cottage, and they were mostly confined to the corners of the room.
“It looks like someone cleared the cobwebs in here. Probably my father and his partners when they toured it recently with the insurance company.”
“I wonder if the cobwebs in here were worse since it’s been vacant longer than the cottage.”
We walked into what could be a sitting room or parlor. I carefully lifted a white sheet from a tall piece of furniture to reveal an upright piano. A songbook lay open to a daily exercises page, where pencil marks indicated the student’s lessons were very disciplined. I closed the book entitled New Method for the Piano Forte, by Jean Manns, published in New York in 1893. I replaced the sheet over the piano. This was someone else’s life, their history of who they were. It was like a museum of artifacts from a family I would never know, except by the things they’d left behind when they passed.
“I kind of feel like I’m in an antique store, except all the items belong to family. It’s kind of eerie.”
Ben smiled. “Eerie maybe. But no ghosts.”
“Hey, you’re right. It’s so quiet in here, I almost forgot about the possibility of ghosts.”
The Apothecary's Daughter (Romance/Mystery/Suspense) Page 6