When she got the script that killed off BeeBee Evans and changed her life as she knew it, Hailey was on her computer that same day, looking up property for sale in Trinity Falls, hoping that there was a nice farmhouse she could renovate and put a garden around.
When she saw the Wrights’ place was up for sale at a price she could miraculously afford, she got in touch with her old friend Sloane right away.
“They’re not the ones selling it,” Sloane had told her. “And it was subdivided the last time it changed hands, so it’s not as big as you’re remembering it.”
“Really?” Hailey had asked.
“They cut off a small slice on the east side, starting with a stand of pine trees,” Sloane said. “It includes the A-frame guesthouse. The rest would all be yours.”
Hailey knew that slice well. It was where the Wright cousins would stay when they visited. The A-frame was super cool, but she could definitely do everything she wanted to do without it.
The farmhouse was perfect, and there was already a beautiful garden, and plenty of space for horses.
And now it’s mine…
She tapped the button for the radio and chuckled happily when she heard Elvis Presley crooning “Santa Bring My Baby Back to Me.” She had completely forgotten that WCCR, the local radio station, played all Christmas music all day long at this time of year.
By the time she turned north on Providence Road,Smokey Robinson was breaking into “Jingle Bells” and Hailey was starting to get excited. She glanced up at where the bare tree branches met overhead, remembering how they always formed a lush canopy in the summertime that made it seem like you were driving through a tunnel into a storybook woodland. Now that tunnel would be taking her home.
She took a right on the long drive that went back to the Wrights’ old farm and braced herself for the bumps and ruts in the dirt road. But when there was just a slight crunch instead, she remembered that Sloane had told her about how the man who bought the farm from the Wrights had leveled the driveway and laid down gravel.
“There’s one thing I don’t have to do,” she told herself.
Apparently, while she’d been away, some billionaire named Radcliffe had bought up a lot of properties in the area around Trinity Falls. He’d fixed them up some, and then put them back on the market at reasonable prices.
It seemed like a pretty bad way to do business to Hailey, but she had a feeling there was more to the story. And besides, she felt really lucky to be able to take advantage of his generosity. She’d thought she would have to do the soap opera for quite a bit longer to be able to buy the kind of property she wanted. Instead, the timing had worked out perfectly.
As she continued down the driveway, the first thing to appear was the big red barn. Happily, it still looked amazing. Radcliffe had obviously put a coat of paint on it. The roofline was softened with snow, and in the faint bit of moonlight that peeked through the clouds, it looked like a Christmas card.
The driveway curved and went uphill a bit, and then the big farmhouse appeared at the crest, flanked by massive evergreens.
Hailey swallowed back the tears that threatened as memories crowded her mind.
The windows of the house were dark now, but she remembered them glowing with warmth, and smoke swirling from the chimney.
Ransom’s mom had raised him and Willow on her own, and Hailey knew she’d probably struggled. But you never would have known it from the childhood she gave to her kids, and their friends too. The house was always bustling with activity. Hailey was far from the only extra kid who sat around their kitchen table playing cards or checkers on winter afternoons. And she’d helped out with chores and roamed the farm with the others in the summer too.
The house looked almost lonesome now. Hopefully, Hailey could fill it up soon, even if it was with strangers.
She kept going, past the big house to the little stone and stucco cottage where Ransom’s grandmother used to live.
While the farmhouse was undergoing renovations, Hailey planned to live in the cottage just as it was. All the furnishings had been included, so she could move in with her few possessions and get right to work.
She pulled up beside the house, glancing up at the stand of snowy pines that now formed the eastern border of the property. If she trooped through the trees, she would be able to see the A-frame cottage across the meadow.
“At least I’ve got one neighbor,” she told herself quietly as she got out of the station wagon.
The snow flurries had stopped, and she paused for a second to take in her surroundings.
After living in a crowded apartment building, the deep quiet of the countryside was actually a little spooky. Even when she lived in Trinity Falls, she and her parents had been in a little house right in town. Her visits out this way happened mostly during the day, and always when there was plenty of company. Being out here alone at night was a whole different vibe from what she was used to.
But she comforted herself with the knowledge that there was no safer place in the world than Trinity Falls as she headed to the front door and pulled her keys from her pocket. From what she’d read online, the biggest police response in town had happened while she’d been away, and involved a deer crashing through the window of the local jewelry shop.
A burst of warm air greeted her as she stepped inside, and she thanked her lucky stars all over again for Sloane Greenfield, who had obviously turned up the heat when she stopped by earlier.
Hailey flicked on the lights to reveal the small living room. It was just as charming as she’d expected, with a beamed ceiling, a fireplace, and a big sofa. It was too dark outside to see much, but the windows would look out on the fields and the pine trees.
She wandered back to the small kitchen and turned on the lights. The wooden table and chairs were just as she remembered them. The cupboards were painted paleblue and Ransom’s grandma always had pretty yellow tea towels.
