Chapter 10
Determined to sleep at least one night in the mansion, Katie decided it was going to be the master bedroom.
The mattress was still in the plastic cover, almost as if it had arrived too late for them to put it on the bed to be used.
She didn’t care; it was going to be her place to sleep tonight in the big room on the new mattress.
It took her most of the afternoon to get the used mattress off and the new one on, but it had been well worth it.
Just lying on the bed with the sheets in the basket to be washed was more than she could have hoped for.
Putting her things in the washer, she was ready to explore the rest of the house before she had to sell it. And she really hated to do that.
The first room that she explored was the kitchen.
She didn’t find much in there that reminded her of her dad and moved on to the dining room.
The first thing there that she discovered was the dining wear set that had been shoved into the two China cabinets in the room.
There had to be twenty-four place settings to go with the narrow dining room table and chairs.
There was so much of it that it had been stacked on top of each other without rhyme or reason.
She wanted to pull it out and start over, but she thought that she’d be all day and that would take up her exploring time.
The plates and other pieces were pretty. It has a cornflower design on it that went with the place settings of silverware. The tablecloth was folded up and put into a plastic bag that had the same design on it for the table.
She would have loved to be able to set it up and see it in all its glory, but time wasn’t on her side, and she didn’t want to get it all out only to have to put it all away again.
She was hoping to sell the house as is with all the furniture and items in it, but the banker wasn’t holding out much hope for that.
The house went on the market in five days.
All the time, she was going to be able to stay in the house until it was sold to some person who wouldn’t know how hard it was for her to sell it.
The living room, or setting room as the realtor called it, was her favorite room in the house.
She’d noticed yesterday that none of the rooms on any floor had a television in them.
But this one was filled with books. Books of all kinds, too, she’d noticed.
When she was finished for the day, she was going to find her a good one and sit in the oversized chair and read.
There was a library, too, that she loved, but the one big overstuffed chair that was in the setting room seemed to call to her.
Her dad, Roger Richardson, had won the house in a case settlement deal.
The other man had owed him just over two million dollars in a scam that her dad had been on the wrong end of.
The courts decided that since the man had used the money to build the house that her father should have it while the man was in prison.
When the house was given to her dad, he had put it in her mom’s name immediately, hoping to convince her and Katie to come live in it with him.
But he’d gotten sick, and no one knew how to contact the new owner of the home.
So it had been sitting empty for all this time.
Katie didn’t know all the fine details. Getting as much as she did from Mr. Gloom had been hard enough. He was a funny little man, but he wasn’t great with details. She hoped that his partners knew what a helpful and wonderful man he was. Just as she was leaving the library, her front door rang.
“I had hoped that I’d catch you here. On Monday, a gentleman is going to come by and look at the house.
I told him it had a pool, and he seemed really excited.
” The pool was covered right now, but it did look like it was as big as her condo.
She went out to the yard to have a look around with Mr. Gloom.
“He said when his wife comes along, he had a feeling that she was going to love the pool.”
“I wouldn’t blame her at all. I’d love to have a pool all of my own.
This one is warmed in the winter, I read, and it would be lovely to be able to swim year-round.
” Mr. Gloom, his name didn’t suit him at all, said that he’d love to be able to use the pool for all kinds of projects.
Like having water year-round would be nice.
“I’d swim first thing in the morning and right before bed.
I doubt that I’d get tired of it ever. And the garden out here just screams beauty.
I could sit out here for hours and never get tired of the view.
Whoever takes care of the gardens here has done a wonderful job. ”
“I’ve had a hand in them some. Not as much as I usually would, but I’ve helped some.
” She thought him odd. How would he have a hand in the flowers if he’d only just found out about the place?
She didn’t know, but he was too proud of the fact that the flowers were in good shape not to believe him.
“You’ll get to see the flowers in the spring next year. ”
“I wish. They’ll be someone else’s treasures next spring.
Not to mention the pool.” She watched as the breeze made the pretty little flowers sway back and forth, and she wanted to pick a few for the house.
But she wouldn’t. Getting used to having flowers in the house would only make it harder for her to leave when the time came.
“You need one for your coat. Pick one that goes with your suit.”
His suit today was paisley. Brown and orange.
His tie was a bright blue that was neon if she didn’t miss her bet.
The man had had a different suit on every time she met him, and they were brightly colored like his ties were.
Never did they match, but they were colorful.
Paisley seemed to be his favorite with all the colorful designs.
She wondered what his partners said when he came into work dressed like he was daily.
He told her that he couldn’t pick just one because they were all so beautiful.
That if he did, he’d make the other flowers jealous.
She could see him thinking that. The next time she got to work with flowers, she was going to see if she could plant some of the kinds that were in this garden.
They seemed to be flowers that she’d never seen before.
After he left her, dropping off her copy of the will, she made her way to the library to read a book.
She’d already decided to have dinner delivered to her place and was excited about having a hot meal in her home.
It would only be her home for a few more days, or at least until she sold it, but she could pretend that it was something that she was going to be living in for the rest of her life.
The man in her dreams would be someone who would be strong.
She was strong, too, but she wanted someone to be able to take her to task when she messed up.
She didn’t plan on doing that much, but she didn’t just want a husband who would give her whatever she wanted when she asked for it, like this house.
For as much as she wanted to keep it, the upkeep, even with the monthly check, would run her dry, with working several jobs to keep it.
Even with a strong partner, it would mean that they’d both have to be working all the time to keep up with it.
She wanted someone who would say that to her and not kill them both in staying in a house that she could ill afford.
Not that she thought there was a man out there for her.
She’d seen too many things ending up in divorce before the landscaping was even done, before she would believe in true love.
After dinner and clean up, she decided to uncover the pool. It was only the push of a button to have it uncovered, and it didn’t take long at all before she could see the water. However, nothing could have prepared her for the beauty of it.
On the bottom of the pool floor was the most beautiful faerie that she’d ever seen.
And the colors were brilliant against the sunset around the yard.
She slipped into the water and swam to the other end of the Olympic-sized pool and back again.
The water was the perfect temperature, and she loved it.
Swimming for at least another hour, her legs and arms were rubbery.
She’d had to sit down in one of the lounge chairs so as not to fall, and she had to laugh at herself.
She’d overdone it for sure, but loved every second of it.
Just as she was feeling her strength come back, she made her way up to the third floor for bed.
Tonight she was going to sleep well, or know the reason why.
She was beyond exhausted and felt like it was a good kind of exhaustion.
No stress, just tired from working all evening.
The bed was better than she thought it would be.
snuggling up under the covers, she closed her eyes.
She thought about the house and how much fun she was having in it, and wondered how hard it was going to be for her to leave.
It wasn’t going to be easy, that was for sure.
The house was feeling like it was hers from the very start, and she was going to be sad to see it go to someone else.
At least she had this time with it, she told herself, and decided that it was going to be for the best. The house should have been something that she had shared with her mom and dad; even if they were divorced, they’d been friends, and that would have given her more memories to remember.