Will came out before she could get out of her car. He took a bag of groceries. “I’m glad you’re back so I can keep an eye on you and make sure you’re doing what you should—like staying off the foot.” He followed her into the kitchen. A moment later he returned with the other two bags.
“You should never have left without telling me.” It was the subtle, low tone of his voice that told her Will was furious. He held up one of the grocery bags. “You did not need to go shopping!”
“I had to get your kids’ favorite foods,” she insisted. “They live here, remember?”
“Every moment.” He helped her sit down on the closest seat in the breakfast nook and kissed her. “Let me worry about getting their food.” Then he glanced into the bag. “But I do hope you got French vanilla ice cream, peaches, apples with caramel, and creamed spinach.”
“What? How could you know I love creamed spinach?” she asked without thinking. “I mean all the other things could be mere guesses, but how did you know about the creamed spinach?”
He looked at her slyly and grinned. “You talk in your sleep.”
“I do not.”
“So is it broken?”
She looked at her foot. “No, just sprained. But I don’t think I’m going to be able to handle lugging this heavy boot around for the next few weeks.”
“For now, you aren’t lugging it anywhere. You’re staying right here. If you need anything, I can get it or Alice can get it. Rest, ice, elevation. I’m sure those were the doctor’s orders.”
Torrie gave up the argument. “Fine, I’m here. Except I should be at my work table with my notes and computer.”
“No problem.” He scooped her up and carried her there without protest.
And there at the desk was where she remained. For the next two hours, she remained on line or on her cell phone, ordering everything she felt was needed to make that third bedroom complete.
She called Susan as soon as possible. The Dalton family was right; the beige paint was wrong, totally wrong. It needed wallpaper with tiny violets. The bed she ordered was walnut, with violets carved into the headboard and footboard. She ordered a drafting type desk that fit perfectly below one window. A high-back winged chair with a matching ottoman fit perfectly in the corner near the second window. Hadn’t Will said he had a wing chair with an ottoman in the master bedroom? She wondered if it looked anything like the one she ordered for the third bedroom. The chair would be a great place for a young artist to sit and dream with a sketchbook.
Torrie didn’t know where that idea came from. She just knew it was true.
On her computer, she brought up the house planning program and put in the third bedroom which she’d already programmed in. In another hour, she had a picture of her dream room, complete with a few simple framed works of art on the walls.
For the first time Alice’s sudden appearance didn’t startle Torrie. Obviously Torrie was growing used to it. “Lunch already?”
The morning had flown by. Time seemed to race or crawl inside Hargrove House.
“Yes, Miss Torrie, as well as some tea to warm your bones,” Alice replied.
She set the tray on the small table nearby.
“Thank you,” Torrie said.
Alice paused to lean over and take in Torrie’s computer screen. “If you don’t mind my saying so, I think that’s perfect for the third bedroom. The beige walls you put in there first were all wrong.”
“Well, you were the only one who didn’t say something about them before. Why didn’t you?” Torrie had to ask.
“I only work here, Miss Torrie.”
“Yes, but you spend day in and day out in this house. Always feel free to state your opinion to me, Alice. I may not always use it, but I will listen to it.”
It was Alice’s turn to reply, “Thank you.” At the door she turned back. “Your clothes are washed, and they are drying. I left your broken shoe in the mud room as you call it. I didn’t throw it away. I know you put on a new shoe when you went home, but would you like me to find a slipper or something more comparable to wear on your other foot with that strange boot?”
“That would be nice. Thank you. But you really don’t have to. The boot has some elevation to it and my athletic shoe feels more even.”
“As you wish. Please let me know if you need anything.” Then Alice left as quietly as she’d come.
Susan arrived an hour later, as did the delivery from the wallpaper store, which luckily happened to have the violet wallpaper in stock. Of course, they charged an arm and a leg for delivery on a Saturday, but when money was no object, it worked out well for both parties.
“Boy, did you just catch me at the right time,” Susan said, as she slipped out of her raincoat. “I was supposed to start a huge job at the Radison family house today—new paper in every room. But when you called, I had just hung up after talking to Wyona Radison. It seems the whole family is down with the flu, so that job is put off for at least a week, which allows me to come and get this done for you. I see the paper has already been delivered.”
“You bet. It came a few minutes ago. We lucked out with it being in stock.”
“We’ve sure lucked out with just about everything with house.”
“It’s a good thing, too, because Mr. Dalton wants to have an open house holiday party on December fourth.”
“That’s next week.”
“Yes, and I think everything will be ready or at least ready to show. I didn’t tell him it was my birthday, but he already knew it.” Torrie shifted her ankle, tested the weight of her boot and considered getting some ice next time she ventured in the direction of the bathroom. Also, since everything was ordered for the last bedroom, she could now try out the pain medication the doctor had prescribed. “You’ll find everything you need upstairs. Would you like half a sandwich? Alice makes enough to feed an army—way more than I need.”
“I don’t mind if I do.” Susan came close again. “Damn, what happened? You sure did a number on your foot,” Susan noted, taking in the boot. “Is it broken?”
“Just a sprain that hopefully will heal before Mr. Dalton’s party. It’s what I get for wearing cheap shoes with heels that break in the mud. I have to clomp around like I have a wooden leg or something, but I guess I should be glad it’s not a cast up to my hip like my brother had in high school after a football injury. Will, I mean Mr. Dalton, feels responsible since I fell in his driveway. I told him it wasn’t his fault. He didn’t make the heel on my shoe break. It could have happened anywhere.”
“I once had a spiked heel break off a boot as I was rushing up a flight of stairs in the courthouse. I just felt lucky to not have broken my neck,” Susan said.
“Oh, that does sound bad.”
“Gosh, if Mr. Dalton feels responsible, maybe he’s hanging closer by and I’ll finally get to meet the mystery man,” Susan put in absently. “Of course I might not know him if I saw him. I’ve never seen him yet that I know of.” Susan turned to the door.
“You mean you’ve never met him?”
“Nope. It seems like he’s always off doing something else in another part of the house while I’m here. Oh, well. At least he pays well.”
“Yes, he does.”
Susan smiled broadly. “And I’m hoping for an invite to the holiday birthday party now!”
Torrie smiled too. “Until then, would you like to see my plans for the room before you go up there and get started?”
Susan looked down at the computer. “Man, you sure do have a knack for recognizing what would look best where. I wish I had that.”
“What you have is the ability to put up wallpaper perfectly straight without one seam being noticeable.” Torrie smiled. “I couldn’t do that no matter how much William Dalton paid me.”
Susan chuckled and finished off the sandwich she’d been enjoying. “You could with a bit of practice.”
“That’s very doubtful.”
“Well, then, I’d better quit wasting time and ge
t to it. He’s not paying me to stand and eat his housekeeper’s lunch, is he?”
A moment later, Torrie was alone again, feeling wonderful with how quickly her plans for that third room had been put into action. She poured herself another cup of tea and sat staring at the computer picture of the room. There was something missing, but she couldn’t think what it might be. Not that she worried, she knew in time it would come to her.
She spent the next hour looking at desks. When she couldn’t find anything she felt fit the conservatory, she found a new desk for her own office and decided to give her own desk to Hargrove House. Perhaps years down the road, there would still be talk about her donation. And she knew Will liked her desk. He had admired it the moment he walked into her office.
“Jane?” Torrie called her assistant on her cell.
“Yes, Torrie?”
“I know you don’t usually work on Saturdays, but if you’d do a favor for me today, I’ll give you Monday and Tuesday off.”
“Really? What’s the favor?”
Torrie nearly laughed at Jane’s excitement. “Find some boxes and using as much organization as possible, clean out my desk.”
“No, you’re not quitting.” Now there was alarm in Jane’s high pitched voice.
“No, I’m not, but I am getting a new desk.”
“Oh,” Jane let out a huffed breath. “Don’t scare me like that.”
“Can you do it?”
“Sure. I’ll go to the office within an hour and I’ll have it cleaned out by later this afternoon,” Jane agreed.
“Great, I’ll have some guys there by four to pick up the old desk, and I already ordered the new one.”
“I’ll be waiting for them,” Jane promised.
“Great, thanks, you’re the best.”
“Thanks for the days off.”
Torrie let out an easy breath and smiled. That was done and she felt wonderful about it. She should have done it a week ago.
At least she didn’t imagine any sounds of shoveling, so that eased her mind.
At nearly two, she thought she heard crying from up above. She paused to listen. Was someone crying or laughing or wailing? It was hard to tell.
A short time later, the sounds of footsteps as children ran on the floor above her caught her attention. “Sounds like elephants!” she let out with a smile. Well, it didn’t exactly sound like elephants, but it did sound like more children than two. Then the sounds of laughter drifted faintly down to her, too. And it sounded as if there were more children than two laughing, also.
This time, it was definitely laughter. There was no mistaking it. It was contagious and Torrie smiled, too. She was going to have to get up there sometime today so they could share with her what was so funny.
As it turned out, she didn’t have to. Eleanor and Alexander came barreling into the parlor a few moments later. “Are you working hard, M—M—Miss Torrie?” Alexander asked. His cheeks were rosy, his eyes bright.
Something tugged at Torrie’s heart and she fought the urge to grab him and hug him tight, knowing full well such a sudden action might frighten him.
“Yes, I am,” Torrie replied.
“How does your foot feel?” Eleanor asked.
“It feels fine,” Torrie said without hesitation. The truth was despite the elevation of her foot, it still throbbed and the boot felt just a tad bit too tight, nothing terribly uncomfortably, just nagging enough to let her know the injury was there. It was a good thing she had aspirin and her painkiller prescription in her purse. As soon as the kids weren’t looking, she’d take a painkiller. Then in a few hours, she’d down a dose of aspirin with a swallow of her tea.
“Is it still raining?” Torrie asked.
“Yes,” Eleanor replied.
“But not as hard as before,” Alexander piped in.
“I thought I told you children not to bother Miss Torrie while she was working,” Will said from the doorway. He captured the attention of the children by the sound of his sudden voice.
He caught Torrie’s attention by the intense blue of his gaze and the rugged look of his jeans and blue work shirt. Torrie realized it was the first time she’d ever seen him in jeans. But she didn’t have time to admire him or the way his jeans molded his body.
Both children looked as if they were cats caught in the canary cage.
“They aren’t bothering me,” Torrie put in quickly. She didn’t want them scolded for merely wanting to see her. “I love when they come and see me because I love to see them.”
This satisfied Will, and he smiled easily.
Movement behind him caught Torrie’s eye and she couldn’t miss the way the door swung slightly as if there was someone there and had moved it.
“Is someone there?”
“Where?” Will asked, looking around innocently. “There are just us here. And of course, Susan Schmidt upstairs putting up lovely wallpaper and Alice cooking supper.”
“Why are you talking so loud,” Torrie asked.
“I didn’t realize I was. Come, children, let us leave Miss Torrie to her work,” he insisted.
“Can you help me with my studies later?” Eleanor asked before she left the room.
“We’ll see,” was all Torrie could promise.
Will stayed behind after the children were gone and their steps were heard on the stairs.
“I’d love to help her, but I don’t want to step on your toes, and I’m not sure with the painkillers I’m taking I could come up with the correct answers,” Torrie explained.
He took a deep breath and watched her closely. “You would never step on my toes if you helped Eleanor or any of my children. And as for not giving correct answers, if Eleanor’s as smart and bright as you say she is, she’ll come up with the right answers, and you won’t need to.”
“That’s true.” Torrie discovered that not only could she not deny Will Dalton, she also could find no argument with him.
“I’ll leave you to your work, although I think you might be close to finished for the day.”
“Now, you’re going to tell me when to work and when I’m finished?” She might not have had an argument before, but she certainly felt one coming now.
“Yep. After your accident I wanted you to take all day off. I compromised and let you work for a while.”
“That was big of you,” she put in.
“Yes, it was. So no arguing with me now. And I told Alice to set a place for you at supper.”
When Torrie started to reply, he stopped her by holding up a singer finger. “No, don’t argue that point either. You were hurt in my yard. The least I can do is feed you supper.”
“Is this another attempt to get me to stay the night with you?”
He shrugged and raised his brows slightly at the suggestion. “Whatever it takes, now that you mention it. Would you stay with me—if I asked you?”
“What a question,” Torrie said. A small spark, like that when a match is struck, started in the pit of her stomach. Yes, she’d stay in a heartbeat. Hell, she wanted to lock the door right now and make love to him here on the table.
Before she could reply, much less, think of a good reply, he went on. “I’ll give you time to think about it. But I already told the children I’d ask you to stay for dinner. I’m sure you wouldn’t want to disappoint them.” And with that, he turned silently and left as quietly as he’d come.
Torrie shook her head in amusement. “Extortionist,” she said aloud. The man certainly knew how to get what he wanted.
That tiny spark he started turned into a fire that burned through her veins. He certainly had ways to get what he wanted, she thought.
When Alice brought another tray with a snack of cookies, Torrie laughed. “You’re spoiling me, Alice. I’m going to expect this kind of treatment on every job.”
For the first time, Alice offered a small smile and didn’t appear so stiff. “You could always make that a part of any contract you sign when you take a job. I also found these slippers. The
y look like they should fit. So you can wear one and see if it’s more comfortable than your shoe.”
She set the eloquently sewed leather slippers below the chair where Torrie had her foot elevated. “They look brand new. Wherever did you find them?” Torrie asked.
“They actually are new. I got them as a gift last year and have never worn them. I had considered re-gifting them, but hadn’t done so yet.”
“You seem very happy today, if you don’t mind my saying so.” Torrie couldn’t get over how a small smile softened Alice’s features and made her look more real and less like she might crack when she moved.
“Alexander got the train running upstairs, and the children are exceptionally happy. It just seemed to brighten the day.”
“Hopefully, I’ll get up there to see it run,” Torrie said.
“I hope so, too, Miss Torrie.” Then she was gone.
Just after Torrie finished her first cookie, she felt as if she was being watched. She turned to the door. The feeling was so strong, the hair on the back of her head stood up. There was no one there.
When she slowly clomped her way to the mud room to use the facilities a short time later, she could have sworn she heard a child’s voice coming from the cellar. “I just wanted to see her.”
Then all was quiet.
Torrie couldn’t help her curiosity. She pulled the cellar door open and peered down the stairs. But there was nothing and no one. The cellar was silent. And dark. Perhaps it had been Alexander she’d heard from another part of the house.
Seeing the darkness sent her heart pounding and Torrie closed the door as she fought to calm her breathing.
The doorbell rang startling her.
Torrie expected to hear movement—Alice coming to answer the door, the children on the stairs as their curiosity got the better of them. But there was nothing. The house was silent.
The doorbell rang a second time.
When Alice didn’t come to answer it, Torrie hobbled toward the front door. “Where is everyone?” she muttered. “Maybe they’re all up in the attic exploring or checking out the ballroom where they can’t hear the bell.” Now that she thought about it, she hadn’t heard any footsteps or movement upstairs for a long time. Well, as soon as she answered the door, perhaps she’d attempt to crawl up there and see where they all were.
Hargrove House: The Haunted Book One Page 17