"I heard we're having a Halloween party," Hazel said as she set a box of cookies on top of the big boxes of soup and sandwiches. "I have so many ideas for snacks and treats!"
* * *
"Remy was thinkingwe should have hayrides," she said as we pulled through the tall iron gate of the Svensson estate. "I love horses. Do you all have some?"
"When were you talking to Remy?"
"Your brother is in charge of the grounds, right? Mace gave me his number."
My little brothers were all home from school, and they stampeded to us when we walked through the front door.
"Remy said we're having a Halloween party," Peyton said, jumping around me.
"We are!" Penny said, walking through the house, spinning around to take it all in. "Wow, this place is amazing! You could have two thousand people here and not even realize it."
"You should see the backyard," I told her.
"Davy!" She picked up my youngest brother and snuggled him to her chest. As the kids washed up, I took Penny out to the backyard. It was expansive, with a wide stone terrace leading down to a lawn. In the summer it was green, but now in the fall the grass was brown and dry.
"This is amazing," Penny said in awe as we walked around the grounds. The sun was already setting. The lights that lined the bridle paths and walking trails into the woods that started at the edge of the lawn glowed softly.
"The Harrogates originally built this house in the late eighteen hundreds," I told her as we walked around so she could take pictures and make notes. "Building big estates to show off your Gilded Age money was very in vogue. We bought it because one, it was cheap, and two, it was the only place big enough to fit all my brothers."
"It's nice that you all care for them so much," she said, touching my arm softly.
She looked down then back up, the setting sun making her hair glow like fire. "I wish I’d had some family to take me in when my mom up and left. You're doing a really good thing."
"I worry about them sometimes," I admitted to her. "Like maybe it's not enough."
"You're a good man. You're doing a good job with them." She rubbed my arm. "Davy seems better, at least."
She looked back at Davy. He was eating dirt out of one of the potted plants at the top of the wide stone stairs leading up to the terrace.
"Or not," she said, running up to grab my little brother.
"Gross, Davy," she said as I fought with him to pull the root of whatever dead plant he was eating out of his mouth. "We have yummy soup and grilled cheese. Don't eat that!"
"I’m hungry," he complained.
"I'll make you a dirt cake for the Halloween party, how about that?" she offered. "We'll decorate it like a graveyard with ghosts and zombies and everything."
* * *
Remy was handingout food when we walked back into the dining room.
"Are we saving any for Hunter?" Remy asked as he handed Nate a bowl of soup.
"No. No, we are not."
The kids were more or less well-behaved at dinner.
"Are you going to come help Garrett cook tomorrow?" Peyton asked Penny.
"Don't talk with your mouth full," I chastised him.
He swallowed then continued, "This is so much better than what Garrett makes."
"I didn't make this," Penny said. "But I'm sure Garrett makes you nice dinners."
