“That’s a very worthy recommendation,” Darach nodded, as they reached the alcove.
Tessa moved to the door and held out the key. “Do you want to do the honors, Em?”
“Gosh, it’s heavy,” Emily said, fumbling a little as she tried to insert the key into the lock. Finally, after a couple of tries, they heard a loudclick. Em pressed the latch and pushed, but the door didn’t budge. Tessa joined her and they both put their shoulders to the task. Still nothing.
“May I?” Darach asked.
They moved back and Darach applied his bulk. After a couple of moments, the door gave a light pop, shifted, and opened in a flourish of dust.
The cavernous cold inside seemed chillier than the temperature outside. Stirred-up dust motes floated in the shafts of light stealing through cracks in the boarded-up windows.
Timidly, Tessa stepped inside what must have been a grand entry hall at one time. The ceiling rose two stories where a large candelabrum had presumably hung.
“Wow, cool,” Emily exclaimed, running for the broad, curved stairway. “It’s like Beauty and the Beast’s house.”
“Stop, Em!” Tessa called. “We don’t know how safe those stairs are.”
“Beast?” Darach echoed, squinting into the shadows.
Emily reluctantly stopped on the bottom step but lingered to trace her fingers along the curved volute at the end of the handrail.
Tessa shivered and pulled her coat tighter. “So much for thinking it would be warmer in here.”
“Mayhap we can fix that. Surely, there’s a fireplace, somewhere,” Darach said, moving through tall double doors, into the room on their right.
“Come with me, Em,” Tessa said, following Darach into what must have been a library. Her sigh of pleasure was instant.
The room would have been stunning in its day. Banks of ornate shelves rose to the high ceiling on either side of a huge fireplace, all unfortunately showing the ravages of time. Wood panels lined the walls beside a wide bank of windows. The view from here into the garden would have been lovely, easing the pressures of the day.
She pictured her ancestor working behind a large, rectangular desk with two wingback chairs facing the fireplace.
But, if it were hers, she’d choose something lighter. Softer. Working on her illustrations in here, with all this light, would be amazing.
Although this room couldn’t be more perfect for B&B guests to enjoy a relaxing evening, she couldn’t shake the greedy desire to make it her own. After all, she’d need to continue working to support Emily and herself.
Her last job had garnered recommendations to two successful graphic novelists. Once she and Em were settled, she’d need to pursue those contracts, and seek others in order to provide a steady income stream.
Thankfully, as a concept illustrator, she could work from anywhere, or she couldn’t have tried to give Emily this new start away from the stark emptiness of her childhood home and all it represented.
Six months into the convoluted process of legal guardianship, estate settlements and finances, Tessa’s head was still spinning. What money there might be from Emily’s parent’s estate must be set aside for Em’s education. What came from Tessa’s parent’s estate, once everything was settled, would fund part of the renovation costs if they decided to go ahead with the bed and breakfast. Tessa’s savings would supply another portion, but it was up to her to earn the rest.
Regardless of the hoops she’d need to jump through, she intended to provide a secure, healthy and happy future for Emily. There’d been far too much tragedy in her young life.
Shaking off the melancholy, Tessa walked around the room, touching the mantel, the walls, and realized it was more what shefeltin this room, than what she saw, or imagined, that called to her. She was sure, at some point in history, someone in her family had made this room their sanctuary. They’d been happy here and she wanted to bring that back. A gift to the house of her ancestors.
“What are you looking for?” Emily asked, trying to mimic Darach as he knelt on one knee inside the huge fireplace, to peer up the chimney.
“Sunlight,” he replied.
“Why?”
“So, I’ll ken if there’re bird’s nests, or animals or parts o’ the chimney that might’ve caved in, that could block smoke from getting out, if I build a fire.”
“What if there’s babies in the nests?” Em looked horrified. “You’d cook them!”
Darach shifted his broad shoulders out of the fireplace but stayed on his knee to speak to Emily. “Dinnae fash, lassie. There aren’t any nests, and if there were, we’d get ’em out first.”
“How?” she asked, her eyes wide.
