Chapter 19
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Scott pointed out, “You’ve got a few lamps and other things left in here and there.”
Doreen suggested, “We’ll gather them into one bedroom, so I can contact the local women’s shelter and know where to direct them.
” She picked up two lamps from this room and carried them to the bedroom closest to the second-floor landing.
Each time they went into a room, he picked up one or two of the remaining items, and so did she.
Mack now trailed along with them, helping to gather it all together.
Her animals made the trek with her to each room. She had to admire their loyalty to her.
When they got to the master, a little more was here, so she put all they had collected together in the one bedroom and went over everything with Scott. She looked at some electronics and found Mack eyeing them steadily. “If you want a TV,” she suggested, “now is the time.”
He looked at her and then grinned. “I may take you up on that.”
“Hey, hey, hey, what about me?” Nick asked, from behind them.
“Oh, I’m pretty sure there are more than enough TVs in this house for the both of you,” she stated, with an eye roll.
Both brothers grinned at her. Nick added, “Finally now we’re talking about something we might want.”
She turned to Scott and asked, “How much more is there to be done overall?”
“The vehicles are gone,” he shared with a great big smile, counting on his fingers now.
“The garage does need a bit of a cleaning. While it was in pretty immaculate condition to begin with, it probably still needs a quick sweep to take care of it. The bedrooms are done now, except for this donate pile and the last bits of stuff in the master closet,” he added.
With that mention made, they all trooped into the master suite and opened up the massive walk-in closet. Again they all took an armful or two and dumped the remaining clothing in with the gathered decor to be donated, now in the one guest bedroom.
As they traipsed through the bedrooms again just to be sure that everything was gone, she noted, “You really don’t like lamps, do you, Scott?”
“Those from the master suite are going. They just haven’t been packed up yet.” He sent off a text to somebody to remind them.
She laughed. “You can have the others from the guest bedrooms too, if you want them.”
“We may take them yet,” he muttered. “They just weren’t on our priority list because there’s a lot less value in them.
But,” he added, as he looked around at the ones she had gathered together from the different rooms, “one of the reasons I was less concerned with them was because they weren’t part of a set.
However, seeing them all together now, I can see that they are pairing up nicely. ”
She nodded. “Good. Take them too. After your guys are through with this second floor, I’ll donate what’s left.”
He laughed. “I’ve lost count of how many truckloads we’ve already taken. So what’s one more?”
“I know, and I’m happy to say that you’re welcome to take even more.”
As they wandered through, she realized that all the sitting rooms had been emptied, including the lamps and even paintings off the walls. She shook her head. “I can’t even imagine the headache you’ll have when you get to the other end.”
“Not my headache there,” Scott announced cheerfully, “and the unloading crew are all prepared and waiting to get started.”
“Good to know.”
“And you already know the drill. It’ll take quite a while to get through all this and get it sold.”
“I know, but hopefully there won’t be quite as much repair or cleaning that needs to be done.”
Nodding, he agreed. “No, everything is immaculate.”
“Good, so that should move things along a little faster, plus keep the price up.”
“The price will be whatever the highest bid is, but you’re right. The condition of these pieces certainly won’t detract from the price.”
“Are you done now?”
“No, not quite yet,” he said. “I’ve got to supervise the last few things.”
“And what about the refrigerated paintings?”
“The temperature-controlled gallery room downstairs is empty.”
“That’s all good to know.”
He hesitated, then just forged ahead, but in a whisper. “A really nice leather chair is down there, and I was thinking … I apologize if I’m being forward, but it’s fairly tall and deep. So I thought it would be a really nice chair for Mack.”
She looked at him, surprised. “Oh, wow, I hadn’t even considered that.
” She turned back to Mack, but the two brothers were still fussing over their TV selections.
She nodded. “I think that’s an excellent idea.
Could you guys bring anything that’s left down there upstairs for me?
Maybe just put it in the entry hallway?”
“We can do that,” Scott confirmed.
“And add the chair and the matching footstool near the front door. We’ll figure out how to get it home.”
He beamed at her.
“Thank you, Scott. That was a nice thought. I honestly hadn’t even considered such a thing.”
“Mack’s a big man, and I’m sure finding furniture that fits is a challenge.”
“Again, not something I considered,” she muttered, with a laugh. “Thankfully someone always seems to be around who can help me out.”
Scott shrugged. “I would love to have a chair similar to that one myself.”
“And yet you don’t want to bring it all the way back to your place?” she asked.
“No,” he replied, now laughing. “I will just get something locally, and now that I’ve seen it, I may just do that, in my size of course.”
She smiled. “And, by all means, if there’s anything left here that you want …”
“I’m flying,” he added, “but thank you for the offer.”
“Right,” she agreed. “That flight really changes everything.”
“It sure does,” he noted, with a laugh. “Have you by any chance gone through the collection of books? We hadn’t discussed them, but I did notice a lot of books in the library.”
She blinked at him several times. “Oh, good Lord,” she groaned, “I didn’t even think of that either.”
“I did, and I was thinking I might bring somebody in for that, if you don’t mind.”
“Of course.”
“He’s kind of tied up, but he wanted me to go into the library and send him some pictures and details. Would that be okay with you?”
She nodded and then smiled. “I think I better come along because I know the more valuable books are in a special case.” He raised both eyebrows at her. “I know. I know. I’ll be glad to be rid of this house because, for the life of me, I can’t seem to remember all the bits and pieces of it.”
Mack came up and asked, “Now what?”
“I forgot about the books,” she muttered, as she led the way back down through the office into the library.
Mack glanced over the books and frowned. “I don’t know anything about books. Are they valuable?”
“These here are valuable. Some of these”—Scott pointed to a glass case—“are collector items. If you wanted to, you could hang on to them, but Doreen mentioned a special cupboard.”
She walked over to the bookshelves and frowned as she stood in front of them.
With excitement in his voice, Scott asked, “Does it open?”
She nodded. “It does open, but I don’t remember how.”
“Are you sure it opens?” Mack asked, frowning.
She snorted. “A whole room is back there.”
“You’ve got to be kidding,” Mack muttered, as he stepped back.
Scott immediately stepped forward and asked, “May I?”
“Please,” she replied, as he went through the usual options.
When he went to pull out a book, as if maybe that would be the magic trick, she said, “Wait. Pull the one beside it.”
He grabbed a huge maroon-colored leather-bound book and pulled it toward him. Immediately came some creaking, then barely a breath of air, and the whole wall pulled forward.
Both Mack and Nick stepped back, then forward into the hidden room, with Scott directly behind them. She walked in, having seen this room many times before.
The three men all sighed happily.
“Yeah, this was his man cave,” she muttered. Then she walked over to a large glass wall and tapped the glass. “This is a wine cellar thingy.”
And there, indeed, was a fully stocked cellar and bar. Mack looked at the bar and shook his head. “We will definitely take some of this home with us. You know that, right?”
She winced. “Scott, I don’t know anything about booze. Would you happen to know anything?”
“About booze? Why?”
“He collected vintage. I don’t even know these names. Some of the wine is very expensive, as is the whiskey and champagne.”
He walked over to the glass wall then turned to look at the well-stocked bar and the bottles at the highest shelf, and not one of the bottles was opened, which Scott pointed out.
“Right. The ones Mathew drank all the time were on that shelf.” She turned and pointed to a selection of open booze bottles. “That’s the stuff he drank, and this is the stuff …” She shrugged and added, “served by him. All I can say is it was coveted.”
Scott pulled out his phone and called somebody.
Nick noted behind her, “You really do have a huge asset in Scott, don’t you?”
She nodded. “Oh gosh, yes. He’s accomplished so much that it’s amazing. I don’t know anything about all these bottles,” she muttered, “but I’m pretty sure Mathew spent a small fortune on them.”
Scott looked at her and nodded. “So, we may have to pack up some more stuff if you don’t want these.”
She turned to Mack and Nick. “Do you guys want these?”
“No, I think we would be happy making do with these over here,” Mack teased, as he pointed to the ones behind them, mostly open.
“Oh good,” she said. “We have room in your truck to take those home.” She looked at Scott and asked, “Anything valuable?”
The smile on his face was almost paternal with joy and pride. “My dear, all of them are valuable.”
“Fine.” Then she looked at the chair that Scott had mentioned. “This matches the one by the front door, doesn’t it?”
“It does, indeed,” he replied in delight.
Mack looked at the chair, walked over, and sat down. There was almost a groan of relief as he sat there, a big smile on his face. “Now this is a chair.”