Patrick nodded. “If anyone knows something, it’ll be Percy and Chloe. Let’s look around and see what else we can find.” They spent several more minutes exploring the hidden room, each discovery adding to the mystery. Patrick found more papers, some containing what appeared to be names and dates. Others were letters, though the water damage made them almost unreadable.
“We should be careful with all of this,” Patrick said finally. “Percy and Chloe will want to look at what we’ve found.”
Kathleen nodded, still holding the tiny christening gown. “I keep thinking about the women who made these clothes. They must have cared about the babies and what they were doing.”
Patrick watched her face in the glow from the flashlight and saw tears in her eyes. “Are you all right?”
“I will be. If this was a safe house for unmarried women, they must have been terrified they’d be found.”
Patrick looked at the small door. “There wouldn’t have been many homes in Sapphire Bay in the late nineteenth century, let alone somewhere you could go if you were pregnant.”
Kathleen carefully placed the christening gown back where she’d found it. “Whoever owned this house did everything they could to make it as safe as possible for the people who came here. What do you think about photographing what we’ve found? Percy and Chloe will want to see the room, and we could use the photos to do some more research.”
“Good thinking. I’ve got my cell phone.” Patrick walked around the small room, taking photos of the medical instruments, the tiny clothes, and the scattered papers.
“Will this change the way we do the foundation repairs?” Kathleen asked.
Patrick nodded and gestured toward the stone walls of the hidden room. “Major excavation along this section would damage or destroy everything in here if we followed the original plan.”
Kathleen’s eyes widened. “Thank goodness we found the room before we did any structural work.”
“The good news is that this room actually tells us something important about the foundation structure.” Patrick knelt beside the entrance, running his hand along the stonework. “Whoever built this chamber knew what they were doing. Look at how they integrated it with the original foundation walls. This stonework is solid. It’s been supporting the house above it for over a hundred and fifty years.”
“So the foundation isn’t as compromised as we thought?”
Patrick stood up, brushing dust from his knees. “Not in this section, anyway. Hopefully, we can work around this room and preserve it. In fact, the way it’s constructed might help us with the repairs.”
They spent several more minutes in the chamber while Patrick took additional photographs and measurements. When they finally returned to the main basement area, Patrick pulled out his clipboard and began sketching.
“Here’s what I’m thinking,” he said, showing Kathleen his rough drawing. “Instead of excavating and rebuilding this entire wall, we can install steel support posts here and here—” he pointed to spots on either side of the hidden room “—and run additional bracing along the ceiling. That way, we’ll end up with better structural support without the cost of a full rebuild.”
“Can you still fix the foundation for eight thousand dollars?”
Patrick did some quick calculations. “It should be doable. We’ll need more steel, but we’ll save money on excavating the basement. I’ll need to revise the engineering report to account for the room we found and show how we can work around it. The building inspector will need to approve the changes, but I don’t think there’ll be any problems.”
“When could you start?” Kathleen asked.
“I could clear out the other areas of the basement this weekend. The structural work would take about ten days, and that could start as soon as the permits are issued. The best thing is that we won’t disturb the room.”
Kathleen looked at Patrick’s sketches. “Chloe and Percy will be excited by what we found.”
Patrick knew they wouldn’t be the only ones. The hardest thing would be keeping people away from Kathleen’s house. Because as soon as everyone heard about the room, history buffs from around Montana would descend on her property.
Chapter 10
The morning sun streamed through the windows of Kathleen’s house. She was sitting at the kitchen table with her friends, surrounded by the comfortable chaos of wedding preparations.
Isabel’s dress hung carefully in the guest bedroom, Susan’s makeup kit was spread across the bathroom counter, and Lynda’s practical sensibilities had already organized everyone’s schedules down to the minute.
But Kathleen couldn’t concentrate on any of it. Every time she looked at Isabel, looking gorgeous in her silk pyjamas, all Kathleen could think about was what she’d found with Patrick in her basement.
“You’re awfully quiet this morning,” Susan observed, cutting into her stack of blueberry pancakes. “Do you have wedding day jitters?”
“Not me,” Kathleen replied with a forced laugh, pushing eggs around her plate. “I’m not the one getting married.”
“But you’re the one who looks like she didn’t sleep a wink,” Lynda added, studying Kathleen over her coffee mug. “What’s going on? And don’t say nothing—we’ve known each other too long for that.”
Isabel reached across the table and touched Kathleen’s arm. “Is it Patrick? Did something happen when he was here yesterday?”
