That made her laugh. “You? I was the one that froze up last time. I’ve never been that tongue-tied in my life.”
With a smile, he pulled her hands in his over across the table to his lips. Kissing her fingers, he held her with his gaze. “I don’t know, I thought it was kind of cute.”
Her mouth dropped open at his bluntness or maybe at the twinkle in his eyes. “Cute? You thought I was cute?”
His grin at her brought out the dimple. “Always.”
Since they were taking Friday off anyway, they decided to leave Raleigh Thursday night. They would stay with Greg and Emily as Jaycee was still occupying the farmhouse though from everything Eric had been able to gather, she was finally feeling a little better. Nonetheless, he also knew that Caleb was as worried about Derek as he was about Eric and Attabury, and Eric was starting to think he needed to show up just to talk his friend off the worrying ledge.
They didn’t bother to drop Jaden anywhere because Dani could hardly contain her nervous excitement over seeing the house.
“Now what color did you say they were going to paint the siding?” she asked as they neared Ridgemount. “Because you know I’m not a fan of that awful putty color they’re putting on so many of the houses these days, and I really hope they aren’t going with green. I am not a fan of green in any shade—forest, celery or olive. Ew. No. Definitely not olive. If they do that, they’re just going to have to change it.”
Eric looked over at her and laughed. “Caleb said we’ll be picking the colors this weekend so they can get to painting next week.”
She sighed. “Oh, thank goodness. ‘Cause I’m telling you, if they put a stitch of green on that thing…”
Dani knew Eric was watching her as they pulled onto the final road. Trying to see and yet not sure she wanted to, she narrowed her gaze all the way to the end of that road. The side she could see was a shiny silver.
“Silver? They painted it silver?”
In his seat, Eric laughed. “That’s the insulation, babe. They’re trying to keep our utility bills from going through the roof.”
“So they didn’t paint it silver then?”
“No. Trust me. It’s not going to be silver with big blue writing all over it.”
Then, as they got closer, Dani stopped talking altogether because the whole thing looked so incredibly different. For one thing, she could see the house which was a completely new concept. It looked much bigger especially because the sides could now be fully appreciated for how far back they went.
“It looks… so big,” she said, reaching for the words. “It’s like… It’s like a totally different house.”
Eric parked and shut off the SUV. “Nope. Same house, but wow. They do some good work, don’t they?”
“I’ll say.”
They each got out, and Eric got Jaden from the back, holding her hand as they crossed the street that had no traffic. The closer they got, the taller the house looked.
“Oh, man, it’s enormous!” Dani said.
“Hey. Hey,” Caleb said, coming out of the front door and down the two porch steps that now didn’t look on the verge of collapse. In fact, the porch posts and all of the trim looked like it had been nailed into place only minutes before. “So, what do you think?”
“I think you’re a miracle worker,” Dani said, unable to look at only one thing. “Wow. This… It’s so different.”
“Good different? Bad different?”
“Amazing different. Eric said you guys cleared the lot, but wow! You can actually see the house now.”
Caleb smiled as Rachel came out to join them. When she got to where they were standing, he put his arms around her as she stood in front of him. “So, so far, so good then?”
Dani nodded. “Absolutely.”
“Great. Why don’t we go inside and see what you all think of that? Oh, but be careful here. They’re coming next week to put in the new sidewalk.”
When Dani stumbled a step, her hand shot out, and Eric’s was right there to stabilize her. “Whew. This place wasn’t made for heels.”
“Tell me about it,” Rachel said. “I ditched mine two months ago coming out here.”
Crossing inside, dropped the brightness of the light down a few notches, but two steps in, and Dani stopped, stunned. The tiny can lights twinkled above her in the entryway, giving it a magical effect. “Oh, my…” Her mouth dropped open. “Are you sure this is the same place? Look at this woodwork on the doorframe. My word! It looks like a million bucks.”
“That was Rachel’s doing,” Caleb said, his hand in his wife’s. “She’s been refinishing so much, she’s started smelling like a lacquer factory.”
Swiping at him, Rachel hit his arm.
“What?” he said, dragging the syllable out to three. “I like the smell of lacquer.” To prove his point, he leaned over and kissed her.
However, Dani’s attention had traveled the opposite direction to what had been the parlor. Now cleaned out with the wood on the ceiling finished, windows, floor and fireplace redone, it was mesmerizing.
“Holy smokes!” Dani said, forgetting the others and going that direction without prompting. She didn’t know where to look or how to keep her amazement in check. “What…? Are you kidding me?” Tears came to her eyes, and she jumped up and down with excitement.
“Do you like it, Mommy?” Jaden asked, clearly concerned for her mother’s emotional state.
“Like it? I love it, babe girl.” Taking her daughter’s hand, she pulled her over to the window. “Look at this view. Oh, it’s just like you said, the fields, the sky, and the trees off in the distance. Oh, man, I could live here!”
They all laughed.
“I think that’s the point,” Rachel said.
Tearing her gaze from the view, Dani took another look around the room, and her attention went up to the ceiling and the chandelier. “And the chandelier. That’s the same one, right?”
Rachel nodded.
“Wow. Who knew it could even look like that again?”
“Nice, right?” Caleb said. “We had an antique shop out of Greely refinish it for us. I thought it turned out pretty well.”
As she looked around at everything, Dani finally just stopped talking because she knew she sounded like a blathering idiot.
“Oh.” Caleb went back out the door, and they followed. “We got the powder room to open this way into the living room instead of into the dining room. He opened the door, and although it was just the bones covered in sheetrock, Dani nodded her approval. “There’s a small coat closet that opens into the parlor the other way.”
“Works for me.”
“And…,” Rachel said, putting her hands out to indicate the massive living room. The walls were all white owing to the primer. With the wooden floor, it looked like a grand dancehall with another large fireplace in the opposite corner. The two double-sized hall entrance points had the charming wooden frames back on them. They were gorgeous and perfectly matched the stateliness of the staircase beyond them in the hallway.
Dani stopped, trying to take it all in. “Hold… Hold up for just a second. Let me… Let me have a second here.”
Stepping next to her, Eric put his arm around her, and with a shake of her head, she ducked into his embrace, swiping at the tears. “It’s great, isn’t it?” he asked, looking down at her.
She sniffed. “It’s more than great. I can’t believe it.”
“I told you so.”
“You know,” Caleb said, “as much as I want you to see the rest of it, Aaron is going to kill me if I don’t keep some of the surprises for the cameras.”
“What?” Dani asked in shock. “You’re not going to let us see the rest?”
“Hazard of the job,” Rachel said, leaning toward them. “But don’t worry. Tomorrow we’ll come out and be able to go through all of it. Trust me, you’re going to love it.”
Well, that much was easy to see.
Greg and Emily were glad to see them when they showed up,
and after a nice meal, Emily went with Dani to Jaycee’s to talk paint and finishings. Greg and Eric stayed behind just to talk.
“So,” Greg said. “Things seem a little better.”
Eric sat forward on the couch. “A lot better actually. It’s like I’ve got my wife back.”
“That’s good, right?”
“It is. Only thing is, I keep thinking it can’t last. Dani’s not the kind of person who wants to sit around and knit. Eventually, she’s going to get the wind in her sails again, and away we’ll go.”
Nodding slowly, Greg said nothing for a very long minute. “And Raleigh? Things are good there? With the job and everything?”
“Mine?” Eric shrugged. “Yeah. Couldn’t be better. We’re moving on to the next bridge project, got two lined up behind that. I mean, yeah. I couldn’t ask for anything better.”
“That’s good.”
“Ugh. I am tragically bad at paint,” Dani announced to the tableful of women—Emily, Rachel, and Jaycee. “Let’s just get that out there right now.”
Jaycee, who looked a little wan, but was heading up the discussion waved that off. “You’ll be fine. All we really need is some general things, what you like, what you don’t. That kind of thing.”
“Wait a minute!” Sage called, banging in at the back door. “Do not start without me!” She came in, looking more harried than her usual put-together self, a child’s hand in one hand and a child in her other arm.
“Jaden!” Dani called toward the living room. “Livvie and Macy are here.”
That’s all it took for the other three kids to appear.
“Yay!” Jaden came right over and gave Livvie a hug. Then she took Macy’s hand. “Come on. We’re playing with the big blocks Rhett brought.”
Children occupied for the moment, the women huddled back around the table.
“Okay,” Dani said, letting the drama queen come out in her voice. “I will tell you right now. No green. None. Zippo. Nada.”
“Aw, come on,” Sage said. “What do you have against green?”
“Nothing,” Dani said. “It’s just not welcome in or on my house.”
When they climbed into the bed later, Dani sounded like someone had hit fast forward. “Emily is in love with the ice gray, but I’m really thinking a little darker for the main color of the exterior. I want something in the dark slate blue palette for the trim and window casings. Jaycee liked that combination, but we want to see it on the house before we decide.”
Eric listened in amazement. “Sounds like you all got a lot done.”
“Tomorrow’s going to be big,” she said, flipping the covers over her legs. “Jaycee says we’re going to go through each room and get everything decided.”
“She up for that?” Eric turned off the light and slid farther down into the sheets. “We don’t want to overdo it with her. Caleb will kill us. Never mind what Derek would do when he gets here on Saturday.”
Snuggling with a pillow between them, Dani came all the way over to facing him. “Where’s he at anyway? I can’t believe he isn’t here.”
“Phoenix I think,” Eric said. “It’s hard to keep up with him because Caleb’s always talking about where he is and where he’s going next. Then, half the time he’s going back to California for meetings and stuff.”
“It’s got to be hard.” In the dim light, Dani’s eyes grew soft. “On both of them. Jayc being here without him, and him being out there in Timbuktu when I’m sure he’d rather be here with her.”
Eric shrugged. “It’s what you do. When you’re both working crazy hours and trying to keep everything going.” His gaze came over and landed on hers. “It’s what we did.”
“Yeah,” she said softly, “and look where we almost wound up.” She shifted her cheek on her hand on the pillow. “I don’t want that for them. I hope they don’t fall into the same trap we did.”
“I think everybody’s got to figure it out for themselves—what works, what doesn’t.”
She looked at him before closing her eyes for a long blink. “I think I’m still trying to figure it out.”
“Me too.”
As Dani stood by Eric in the front yard watching Caleb paint the options on the exterior, she was acutely aware of the cameras capturing every moment of the drama.
“That’s the ice,” Caleb said, painting a strip. “This one is called Newport. It’s a little darker. Then we have Flintstone. Darker still with a lot more gray in it.”
“I don’t know,” Dani said as she glanced up at Eric. “I think the ice is too white.”
He nodded. “I actually like the Newport one the best I think.”
“That’s the one I’m leaning toward too.”
“We’re thinking Newport,” Eric called to Caleb.
“Newport.” He made a mark on that one and went for the second set of tiny paint cans. “This is for the trim. You said darker, so here’s Deep Slate. It’s pretty gray, not a lot of blue in that one. This one is called Carolina Slate. It’s got more blue to it.”
“I like that one,” Dani said, and Eric nodded.
“Okay, we also have this one. It’s Foxhall.”
“Oh, yuck. Green. No,” Dani said with no hesitation, making Eric laugh.
“I think that one’s a no,” he called.
“And this one. It’s called Harper’s Ferry. It’s really blue.”
Truly thinking through how it would all look together, Dani considered. “I think I like the grayer one better.”
“This?” Caleb pointed to the second one.
“Yeah. I think that’s it,” she said and looked up at Eric. “What do you think?”
“I think we have a house color.”
At eleven that morning, they started the stand-ups, and Eric made it a point between each one to rub her arm, back or shoulder. She was doing better, but it was clear the camera did not make her feel at all comfortable.
“Let’s head upstairs,” Aaron said, reviewing what they had and a list of things he had decided they needed to get. “I want a little footage of you guys in each room.”
As they headed up the stairs together, Eric smiled at the quiet way she was trying to take it all in. Between them, he took her hand, loving how it felt to be connected to her.
“Can’t you just see pictures of Jaden on this wall?” she said as they went.
“I think we could put our wedding picture up here,” he added. “And that one of my dad in his dress blues.”
So many new possibilities.
At the top, she hesitated and he turned them toward Jaden’s side. Having been up here with Caleb before, he wasn’t quite as lost as she seemed to be. However, she didn’t exactly turn with him, and one step up, he noticed she had stopped.
“What?” he asked, still holding her hand though awkwardly between them now. She was staring up at the wall in the middle of the split.
“What if we did a new family picture and hung it here? A really nice one and did it in that, like that wrap around thing like that one we have of Jaden.” She was gazing up at the high wall. “We could put it right there.”
He loved the idea. “I’ll talk to Caleb about it.”
Every new room was an adventure in a way Dani hadn’t ever known simple rooms could be. It was like the blinders of what could be had come off, and her vision for the place began to splash all over it. She couldn’t wait until Jaycee and Rachel got here to walk through it with them so she could tell them exactly what she wanted.
In each room they did a mini-reveal and a little stand-up. It was all easy until they got to the master. Walking in, Dani’s breath caught and held. Hazel. How many hours had she spent in this room? The window called to her, and she walked over to it, letting Eric’s hand go. At the window, she put her hand on it and wanting only to get closer to the vision outside, she pressed her head to it.
There was a whole world out there, a whole world that Hazel had never experienced. Somehow Dani could feel that the little desk had been close he
re, either to the right or left of the corner. Otherworldliness took over her spirit, and she moved, seeing things she couldn’t really see except if she completely surrendered to it and let herself.
“This wasn’t the end of the story, Hazel,” she said suddenly, out loud yet quietly. Her spiritual eyes brightened on the understanding. “Thank you. You taught me so much, and I needed every one of the lessons. It’s going to be different this time. I promise you. It’s going to be different.”
Turning, she could see the room exactly how she wanted it set up with the writing desk and the vanity and the armoire. The bed would go against the opposite wall, draped in soft gray-teal with chocolate brown and eggshell white accents. All the colors she had poured over the night before now poured through her. She could see them all in all-but living color.
“What do you think?” Eric asked, watching her carefully.
She laughed out loud, her spirit soaring on the feeling. “I love it.”
When they finished the stand-ups at nearly one, Eric told Caleb he was going to go get his own camera from the SUV.
“Have at it,” Caleb said as he and his team finished the sheetrock in what was the servant’s quarters, kitchen, and the new office. There were workers upstairs as well. Everywhere was banging and thumps.
He came back to find Dani with Caleb discussing the final plans for the fireplaces.
“I really like this tile,” she said, pointing at one piece on the sawhorse-to-sawhorse table made with a thick piece of wood between them. “It’ll be perfect upstairs with what I’m thinking for the master.”
Eric clicked a picture of them, checked the screen and took another. Something in him said if she stayed like this, he might never get enough pictures of her to be satisfied with the sight.
“So, you have some ideas now?” Caleb asked.
She laughed with happiness wafted through it. “Oh, yeah.”
Raising Attabury: A Contemporary Christian Epic-Novel (The Grace Series Book 5) Page 40