“Follow me,” he said. His voice was commanding and invited no nonsense.
I stumbled behind him as he walked to his vehicle.
It wasn’t until I was in my car driving that the previous day’s events began to replay in my head. The heaviness in my stomach and the ache in my chest that hadn’t gone away were constant reminders. I thought of my mother and how she must have felt when Portia came to her with Heidi. I knew my mother would never have turned her away even without the money. But how exhausted and scared she had to have been at times. With two little girls, no help, and one who needed the extra care that Heidi required. The money they’d given her had only lasted for a short time. Heidi’s medical bills added up fast in the beginning.
Heidi didn’t walk until she was five. We were in the kitchen coloring at the table when she took her first steps. I’d had to keep reminding her not to eat her crayons while Momma made biscuits for dinner. She made biscuits whenever money was tight.
I had dropped a green crayon and I had stood to pick it up when Heidi tottered to her feet and took her first steps toward the fallen crayon. She’d said proudly, “I get it.”
Mom had made cupcakes to celebrate after we ate the biscuits with sausage gravy. The image of her hugging Heidi tightly and telling her how proud she was still stuck in my head. But now . . . Now that I knew Heidi wasn’t her daughter, it made my mother even more special. And I hadn’t thought that was possible.
I remembered when Mom would kiss my head at bedtime—she’d tell me to get in bed and that she’d be in shortly. I’d fall asleep before she could get there because Heidi wouldn’t rest until Mom had rocked her. It took hours some nights. Otherwise, Heidi would cry. The dark scared her, even with me in the same room. Mom would bend down and whisper in my ear, “I couldn’t live this life without you my Beulah beauty. You’re my source of strength. Heidi is my joy, but you sweet girl, are my heart. Never forget how dearly I love you. Even when I can’t always hold you as long as you want or tuck you in at night.”
Those words made more sense now. I understood what she never told me. It was something I didn’t need to know. I missed Mom every day. She always told me I was her strength, but she was mine. I didn’t know how I could be hers.
My attention snapped back to the road when Stone switched on his blinker and turned into a driveway in front of me. There was a massive stone wall with a wrought iron gate with the letter M in the center of it. Stone leaned out his window and said something to a small black box and the gate opened slowly. I followed him inside the fortress, or whatever this was. Magnolia trees lined the driveway until it opened up and a small castle appeared. My jaw dropped at the sight of all the grandeur. I’d never seen a house like this one. It looked like a bonafide castle.
Stone pulled around to park right in front of the steps leading up to the impressive doors. There were even stone lions at the bottom of the stairs. I parked behind him and sat there taking it in. Did someone actually build this to look like a castle? And why?
Stone was standing in front of me blocking my view and I shifted my eyes to meet his. He shrugged as if this was to be expected. After turning my car off, I grabbed my keys and got out of the car.
“What in the world?” I asked. My words were laden with awe.
“She’s a bit eccentric. Her husband indulged her whimsies when he was alive. This house was one of them.”
“Uh, this is more than whimsy,” I said walking to meet him on the stairs.
“Not to Victor Mayweather.”
I started to ask more when one of the doors opened and a tiny lady with snow-white hair pulled up in piggy tails appeared. “Stone! I thought the milkman was here. He’s late,” she said throwing her hands up in the air.
“The milkman won’t be coming today Gerry love. He retired about sixty-five years ago.”
She frowned and placed a finger on her puckered lips. “That’s right. I’d forgotten about that. Bill was a fine man. Always brought the best milk. It was cold too.”
Stone bent down to press a kiss to her cheek. “Good morning.”
She patted his cheek. “Good morning to you too, dear. Did you decide to get married after all? She’s lovely. I can see why you changed your mind,” Geraldine said as she smiled at me.
“I didn’t change my mind. I’m still not getting married. This is Beulah, the girl I told you about. The one that I think you would like having here to help you with things during the day. Like your hairstyle choices.” He added the last bit with a small smile. He had never smiled at me that way.
He was making a joke that only I would get. His eyes sparkled with his smile and made me a little breathless.
“Oh yes, yes! I remember. I was just thinking I’d like to color my hair red. Can she do hair color?”
He chuckled then. A real laugh. It was . . . amazing.
“I like your hair the beautiful shade of platinum it is. Let’s not change that.”
She sighed. “Very well. I’ll leave it like this just for you.”
“Thank you,” he replied with complete sincerity.
“Do you think you could find where my chickens went? I was going to make some eggs for breakfast,” she asked me.
“I—”
“There are no chickens here. That was at your cottage in Bath. You no longer live in England,” Stone said to her, stopping me before I agreed to find the chickens.
She waved her hand and laughed. “That’s right. Moved last week,” she replied. “Come on inside. We’ll all catch a cold out here.”
She hurried back inside and I noticed one of her shoes was a red house slipper and the other was a white tennis shoe.
Working here would never get boring, I knew that was for sure.
GERALDINE LED US INTO A sitting room with two sofa’s that looked like expensive antiques no one should be sitting on and two high back chairs. There was a fireplace made entirely of marble, over it hung a painting of a tall, handsome man with black hair and a square jaw. Although it appeared to be a portrait, it was too perfect to be an actual man.
“There are five guest bedrooms each with an en suite. I have them named and you’ll need to memorize them. We will cover that today. The master suite has two en suite’s and two sitting rooms. The kitchen is down the hall to the left. The dining room I use daily is across from it. The formal dining room for entertaining or parties is in the right wing further down. It’s not proper to have it too close to the kitchen. There is a library, office, bathroom, powder room, sunroom, and this room that need daily dusting, sweeping and the like. I can’t keep up with it all anymore. I let the help go after Victor passed because they got in my way.” She paused and smiled. “I didn’t even offer you tea before I started the job description. I’m terribly sorry. I promise I’m not normally so rude.”
“We’d love a cup,” Stone replied.
She beamed at us both. “I’ll be right back.”
I watched as she walked gracefully from the room, baffled by her complete change in character.
“She has her moments. We arrived during one. For the most part, she pretty with it. But the spells as she calls them, come along and she gets lost, confused, forgets, and often thinks it’s the 1950’s and she’s living in England. You’ll learn to spot the switch.”
“Oh dear heavens! What is on my feet?” we heard her horrified voice from the kitchen. Stone chuckled.