Chapter 34
It was my nose that woke me. Not a smell, but rather that the tip of my nose felt like a block of ice. I was buried beneath the covers, draped over Hawk, his body warm and solid beneath mine.
It took a minute for my brain to get in gear—too many winter mornings waking up in my hammock. It felt so familiar I didn”t immediately put together that I was not in a hammock in the woods. I was in the gatehouse, and therefore my nose should not be an ice cube.
My eyes flicked open. I sat up, dislodging Leo, who let out a trill of annoyance and curled up on top of Hawk, glaring down at me. Frigid air invaded our warm cocoon under the blankets, and I immediately regretted moving. What the hell?
I lay back down, clutching the blankets close, and looked up to see Hawk’s eyes open, watching me with a glint of amusement in their dark depths.
“Heat must have gone out,” he said. “I’ll go down and check it out.”
I didn”t argue. It was seriously cold now that I was awake enough to feel the room around me, and unlike when I slept outside in the winter, I was naked under these covers and unprepared for braving the elements. Moments ago I”d been blissfully, comfortably, deliciously naked with Hawk. Now I was trying to figure out how much of the freezing air I”d have to endure before I could pull on some clothes.
Hawk slid out of his side of the bed, and I stayed where I was long enough to watch his gorgeous, tight ass, his broad shoulders, and messy dark hair as he disappeared down the stairs. Hawk was a lot of wonderful things—kind, patient, strong, smart—but on top of all of that, he was one beautifully made man. The second he was out of sight, I dove for the closet, yanking on clean underwear and a camisole, then a set of long underwear. I was reaching for my jeans when I heard Hawk’s voice, steady and serious.
“Quinn, we have a problem.” He was back up to the bedroom seconds later.
“What?” I asked, my mind going straight to security. Had someone broken in? Was there some threat, a message— “What happened?”
“A pipe under the kitchen sink burst,” Hawk said.
I looked down to see his feet were wet. They weren’t the first thing I noticed since he was still distractingly naked.
“Wait,” I said, pulling my jeans on over my long underwear and wincing at the frigid temperature of the denim. “A pipe burst under the kitchen sink? Why are your feet wet?”
“The whole first floor is under an inch of water.” Hawk’s tone was so matter-of-fact that the gravity of the situation took a second to sink in.
A burst pipe was one thing. The whole first floor under an inch of water? That was something entirely different. The next steps cascaded through my head. It would take time to repair and clean up. And if the weather was bad enough to burst our pipes, we weren’t the only ones, which meant it might take even longer.
Billy Bob, Savannah”s cousins Billy and Bob, had become the Sawyers’ de facto handymen. There was always so much to do around Heartstone Manor that we kept them busy full-time. Billy Bob could do a little bit of everything, but they weren’t plumbers. Unless this was a simple fix—unlikely with an inch of water covering the first floor—we were going to have to wait for the real deal.
I pulled a sweater over my head, the next problem clicking into place. Depending on how long that water had been sitting on the floor, there would likely be more damage than just the busted pipe. We weren’t going to be able to stay in the gatehouse. Not for a few days at least, maybe more like a week. Or longer.
I looked up to see Hawk pulling out the duffel bag we’d brought from my room at Heartstone weeks ago and knew he”d already put together the same pieces that I had.
“I’ll get dressed,” Hawk said. “Throw your stuff in there, and we”ll head over to the Manor to figure out what to do.”
“Okay,” I said, trying not to think about the water covering the floor below and what it meant. I took a minute to brush my teeth, a flutter of anxiety in my chest. I didn”t want to leave the gatehouse. I was happy here. I was safe here. I had Hawk and our little nest together, and everything was perfect.
We had Leo— At that thought I turned to Hawk, toothbrush in hand. Taking a second to spit out toothpaste, I said, “Leo— The litter box— He hasn”t been able to get to it.”
Leo, for his part, didn’t look at all concerned. Curled in the middle of our abandoned comforter, he groomed his front paws with deliberate attention, unconcerned that half his home was underwater.
Hawk looked up from where he was shoving clothes into an olive-green rucksack. “I unplugged it when I was downstairs. Looks like the electronics didn”t get wet. We”ll bring it over to the Manor.”
“But—” That flutter of anxiety bloomed, crowding my lungs until my breath caught and my voice died. I wanted to say I wasn’t staying in the Manor. I can’t— I won’t?—
I couldn’t get the words out, but I didn’t need to. Hawk’s eyes warmed. “We”ll figure it out, baby. Okay? We”ll figure it out.”
“Okay,” I said quickly, that flutter in my chest refusing to ease as I thought of my room in the Manor, of staying there with Hawk. Maybe with him I would be able to… No.
My stomach turned as my mind filled with the idea of Hawk surrounded by those tainted memories. Hawk, sleeping in that bed. No. Just— No.
I finished brushing my teeth, packed my toiletries bag, and filled my duffel bag with my things, my heart growing heavier, my chest tighter as I understood that wherever I was going after this, it would be a while before I came back to the gatehouse. It was Hawk’s gatehouse, but I was starting to think of it as my gatehouse too. Ours.
And what if…
I yanked together the sides of my duffel and tugged on the zipper. I needed to chill. This didn’t have to be a big deal. I didn”t have to stay in the Manor, in that room. I had options.
My father”s will forced us to live at Heartstone Manor if we wanted to inherit whatever he’d left for us. Harvey had been generous enough to interpret this as meaning on Manor grounds versus underneath the Manor”s roof, which had given me some leeway for sleeping in the woods and at the hunting cabin. The will also allowed us to be absent from the Manor for fourteen days every quarter.
For those of my siblings who traveled for work, the two-week limit could get a little difficult, but for me, it had never been a problem. My work was here. My friends and family were here. I liked to travel, but I could easily get in a few trips without pushing the limits of the will. I still had the full fourteen days this quarter. We could stay at the inn for the next two weeks. We’d be close enough to the Manor and Sawyer Outdoor Adventures for both of us to work. It was the perfect solution. No big deal. I gave a final tug to the zipper of the duffel and started to lift it.
“Leave it,” Hawk said. “I’ll get it later.” I looked up to see him at the top of the stairs, carrying the enormous electronic litter box.
“Why did you bring that up here?” I asked. “Aren’t we taking Leo with us?”
“We have to figure out what we’re going to do before we drag Leo out of here, but he needs his litter box. I figured I”d plug it in up here and bring his food and water bowl. He”ll be safe and dry while we work out a plan.”
“It”s too cold,” I protested, hating the idea of leaving Leo behind.
Hawk glanced over at Leo, snuggled into our pillows, partly under the comforter. Somehow the big cat managed to take up half of a queen-sized bed, and he looked smugly comfortable. “He”s already wearing a fur coat,” Hawk said. “We won’t leave him here forever. I’ll get his food and water while you get your boots on.” With a wry smile, he added, “Your regular trail shoes are soaked. You’ll have to wear your hiking boots.”
I sat on the edge of the bed and pulled on the boots, glad for the extra support for my newly healed ankle. Hawk returned with Leo’s food bowl and water. At the dry rustle of his food in the bowl, Leo’s head popped up. The second the bowl touched the floor, he stood, gave a luxuriant stretch, and leaped off the bed in the direction of his breakfast.
“See? He’s fine,” Hawk said. “Once we know what we”re going to do, we”ll come back and get him.”
I followed Hawk down the stairs, noticing for the first time that he wasn’t wearing his normal boots. These were dark brown, well-worn, and looked waterproof. At the bottom of the steps, he grabbed my parka off the hook by the door and handed it to me. When I had it on and zipped, he reached for me.
“I’m carrying you over,” he said. “It’s wet in here and icy out there. I don’t want to risk your ankle now that it’s finally better.”
I nodded, struck momentarily silent by the sight of the first floor, covered in a layer of icy water. It was soaking into the cabinets and the flooring, just touching the bottom of the couch. We”d been so warm upstairs under the comforter that I had no idea when this had happened, but from the look of things it had been hours ago. Hours for icy water to soak into everything, to freeze— I couldn’t calculate the amount of damage we might be looking at.
Hawk let out a short huff of breath, almost amused. “Well, Parker”s going to be happy. She finally has her excuse to get her hands on the gatehouse.” He wrapped an arm around my back. “Look at it this way—by the time we move back to this place, Parker will have brought it into the current century. At the least, we’ll have a decent kitchen and a bigger bathroom.”
I was still processing the “when we move back in” as Hawk swung me into his arms. My cheek pressed to his shoulder, my thoughts racing.
Hawk pulled open the front door and water spilled down the steps. So much water. We stood there, watching it run out in a flood, until it had mostly drained away and we could shut the door behind us.
In theory, I absolutely wanted Parker to get her hands on the gatehouse. I”d seen what she”d done with Savannah and Finn”s cottage. It had been all peeling linoleum and chipped paint, with ancient appliances and a stained ceiling. Parker had stayed on time and under budget and still managed to give Savannah a jewel of a cottage.
She had marble countertops and a gas fireplace in the bedroom upstairs. There was plenty of room for Savannah and Finn, and Nicky had his own bedroom and bathroom on the first floor. The place was beautiful. And Parker wasn’t just good at renovations. She was great at decorating. Every little piece in the cottage had been a perfect fit for Savannah, and for Finn when he”d moved in after their wedding.
I knew Parker would do the same to the gatehouse, and I knew I’d love it when she was done. The gatehouse needed the work, and Hawk deserved better than a shabby, out-of-date place to call home. I wanted all of that, and apparently Hawk did too. It sounded like he wanted it for us. Together. I loved that idea, that the gatehouse would officially be our gatehouse. And yet?—
Repairing the water damage and renovating the gatehouse was going to take time. The terms of the will only gave me fourteen days. Maybe— I thought of the cabin. Maybe— I closed my eyes to block the sight of Heartstone Manor looming closer and closer, listened to the crunch of Hawk’s feet on cold stone as he carried me up the path to the house, my nose stinging from the damp, freezing air.
There must have been sleet in the night. The grass and trees were glazed with a layer of sparkling ice. The sky was still overcast, but the sleet and rain had thinned. It wasn’t so much coming down as hanging in the air like an icy fog. Despite Hawk’s warmth and my winter parka, it was cold. The heat of the Manor was more than welcome by the time Hawk carefully navigated the slick front steps, set me down, and unlocked the front door.