It touched her to hear her sister bragging on the work they’d done together. With each area of the house they’d cleared, she’d seen Becca’s confidence grow.
Becca nodded at Griff and Jase. ‘We can have a nice cup of tea and a good natter, and you can meet these two lovely men.’
Jase stepped forward and offered the old lady his arm. ‘Ma’am, I’d be honored to walk with you.’
Lyndsey suppressed a giggle. He sounded like one of the Southern gentlemen fromGone With the Wind. Two blobs of heat colored Miss Grey’s thin cheeks, and she nodded at him. Griff caught Lyndsey’s eye over the old lady’s head and winked.
They walked through to the back of the house and stepped into the conservatory. Ceiling fans whirred silently over the newly scrubbed white wicker furniture, and they’d opened all the windows, so it was warm but not unbearably so. An abundance of pots and planters stood around the space, overflowing with colorful flowers, chosen according to Harold’s advice for their intoxicating scents. Before the decluttering, it’d been knee-deep in moving boxes of Deke’s that were never unpacked and assorted bits of broken-down old furniture that had been there since Ruth Mae’s time.
‘This room was my mother’s pride and joy.’ Miss Grey stared around, her eyes drinking it all in greedily. ‘She was a green-thumbed lady and grew most of her plants from seeds or cuttings. This is where she brought her lady friends to entertain them. As a little girl, I’d be allowed to join them sometimes and . . . Oh my goodness, wherever did you find this?’ She unhooked her arm from Jase and hobbled over to a child’s small wooden rocking chair.
‘It was over in the far corner under a pile of old blankets,’ Lyndsey said.
‘That was mine. I’d sit by my mother’s legs and listen to them talk.’ A secretive smile creased her face. ‘They’d forget I was there sometimes, and I’d hear all sorts of things I probably shouldn’t have.’
‘Shall we all sit down?’ Becca suggested. ‘I’ll go and make tea and retrieve my children. I left Theo playing with Nora in the kitchen.’
The four of them got settled, with Ruth Mae in the most comfortable chair with plenty of cushions tucked behind her back. Lyndsey wondered how best to get the conversation going, but her hero jumped in to the rescue.
‘Miss Grey, we haven’t ever met properly. I’m Griff Oakes.’ He leaned across and offered his hand. The old lady took it briefly while raking him with her shrewd gaze. ‘I’d love to hear more about the history of Paradise Valley and your family sometime. I’ve a particular interest in old barns and I love that Deke kept a lot of the original features in the one here when he converted it to his studio.’
‘I suppose you know the Greys came about 1850 to farm tobacco?’ Ruth Mae said. ‘That would be my great-great grandfather, Thomas Scott Grey, and his wife Kathleen. Rounded up the whole family, they did, and moved here.’
‘Yes, ma’am. It must’ve been a hard life to start with.’
Lyndsey waited for Miss Grey to brush him off, but the opposite happened and once Ruth Mae started to talk, they were treated to all sorts of fascinating stories. They heard about the barrels of sauerkraut the first settlers made to last them through the winter, to her pride in the fact no travelers were ever turned away if they stopped by the settlement needing food or a bed for the night. In this rural, thinly developed part of the state, there would’ve been nowhere else for them to go and people helped each other when they could.
‘If I haven’t bored you too much, you can stop by the house sometime to hear more.’ Ruth Mae nodded at Griff.
‘I’d be honored, ma’am. It’s fascinating stuff.’
‘Not many of the young are interested. They think us old folk have always been aged, but we had our hopes and dreams, too. My kinfolk wouldn’t have settled Paradise Valley if they didn’t.’
‘It’s what drives us all, ma’am. Without it, we’re nothing.’ Griff glanced at Lyndsey.
Her cheeks warmed and she was relieved to see Becca return carrying a loaded tea tray, followed by Theo, who held Nora in his arms. Lyndsey sprang up to help her sister and watched Theo tenderly place his sister down on a colorful alphabet quilt on the floor. He set up a wood arch, dotted with dangling toys over Nora’s head and batted several of the animals to show her the noises they made.
‘They tell me you’re some sort of artist.’ Ruth Mae addressed Griff again, a hint of disdain threading through her voice.
‘That’s right. I work in stained glass. In fact, I made somethin’ for you.’ He whipped out a flat oval object, encased in scarlet silk and tied with a length of wide red ribbon.
‘For me?’ Miss Grey took it cautiously from him and undid the wrappings to reveal a mosaic panel of a bouquet of roses. The sun streaming in through the conservatory windows brought the intense shades of red to life.
‘It’s stunning.’ Lyndsey’s breathless admiration made Griff’s face turn ruddy.
‘You’ve got a good eye.’ Ruth Mae pointed out of the window. ‘I used to grow those very roses out there years ago.’ Her wrinkled smile rested on him. ‘You did your research well.’
‘I had some help.’ Griff winked at Lyndsey. ‘I heard how much you admired Harold and William’s roses at the tea party I missed.’
‘Hopefully, we can grow them here again one day,’ Becca said.
‘I’d sure like to see that,’ Ruth Mae murmured. ‘I might even consider returning the bird bath for the front of the house. It’s where it belongs.’
‘That would be . . . amazing.’
Silence fell briefly on the group but it didn’t last long. Nora swiped at her toys, kicked her legs in the air and giggled merrily.
‘You’re a very talented young man.’ The old lady touched the mosaic and sounded approving.
