“Mr. Savage, the side entry will work better for that.” Coop jogged over to the truck.
“Let the guys do the grunt work.” Mom took my arm and drew me past the formal dining room in the east tower.
“Nice prep room,” I said, appreciating the meal staging area sandwiched between the dining room and the kitchen. I paused at the door to the large kitchen. With its cozy furnishings and familiar appliances, it felt like a home. Then I remembered that Coop had grown up eating his meals there.
The boys hurried in, each lugging an end of one of Mom’s large, labeled boxes. She waved them where she wanted it taken. We hadn’t brought much furniture—just beds, bedding, and personal stuff—since the castle had some furnishings already.
“This way,” Mom said to me.
I followed her up a narrow flight of stairs to the third floor. It contained smaller rooms, none with bathrooms. Once again, a hallway ran the length of the east wing with windows overlooking the garden. Except these were small windows, high up the wall. The designers must not have wanted to make it easy for the pesky servants to spy on their master or his guests. I smiled to myself thinking about what Mellie would have to say about that.
“There are lots of rooms to choose from for your bedroom.” Mom opened a small door. “This floor has a couple of good-sized bathrooms.” My mother stared down the hallway, thoughtful. She glanced at me.
“What?” I asked.
“I noticed you had that boy with you again.”
“Coop?”
“Yes.” Her eyes darted down the hallway, all suspicious.
I leaned over and searched the hallway too before peering back at my mom. “Is that a problem?”
“We think they could be trying to scare us off.” She pinched her lips.
I stared at her for a second. My mother, one of the most practical people I’d ever met, had no patience with conspiracy theorists. “What makes you think that?”
“At the gatehouse, that woman told me the castle is haunted. Then they pulled that stunt on the tower.” Mom planted her hands on her hips. “We won’t be scared away.”
“I don’t believe they did that on purpose.”
“Listen,” Mom said, pulling me down the hall toward the main wing. “Ezra said the boy helped you with the inventory. Did he say anything?”
“He told me Miles Savage had plans to turn the village into something like Williamsburg.” Not exactly what she’d asked about, but I wanted her thinking of something else. “I guess that’s why the projects in Wildstone looked unfinished.”
“Hmm.” My mother paused at the door, smiling for the first time. She must like the idea. Good. One point for Coop.
We went through the doorway, and Mom gasped. She stepped into the huge open space, turning as she examined it. “What a great area. This is even better than the main floor.” She took out her notepad, mumbling to herself. “We could definitely be ready for the Fourth of July event. A picnic or a tea or something.”
The huge room had an entire wall of large windows overlooking Coop’s garden. The opposite wall had smaller windows, but they had chalk outlines marking the stone surrounding them. To enlarge the windows, I guessed.
On the side with the garden, right next to a modern window, sat a state-of-the-art computer workstation adjacent to a drafting table. I went there while my mother examined the opposite windows.
I lifted a piece of paper. It contained a much grander design for the garden. Coop’s vision for it gave me a thrill. A true English garden, in its infancy.
I wondered what the Irish ancestor who’d originally built the castle would have thought of it. Had he been one of the Irish lords who’d worked with the English, like one of our own American colonist Tories who’d supported the British during the Revolutionary War?
“Lia, what’s this?” Mom stepped beside me. “Oh, my.”
“Yeah.” I handed the paper to her. “Coop designed that. He said it was his senior project. He’s a landscape architect.”
“That boy did this?”
“That boyhas a name, Mother.” I fought my rising irritation. “It’s Coop.”
“I can tell you like him already.” Her expression softened.
“I’ve liked him for a long time,” I said. “Didn’t Ez tell you we met Coop last summer?”
