Isabella sighed contentedly. “I think we both know someone who can see to it that it does,” she whispered. She didn’t have to mention his secretary by name.
CHAPTER 9
EPILOGUE
Ayear later, on the north side of New Town
Barely able to contain her excitement, Isabella bounced on the balls of her feet as she held her hands over her eyes. “Can I look now?” she asked, glad Daniel still had his hands on her arms to guide her. She was sure her slippered feet were on a clipped lawn while the unmistakeable sounds of pounding and sawing could be heard in the distance.
Another new house was going up somewhere nearby.
“You can look,” he said, his voice coming from in front of her.
She opened her eyes, blinking at the sudden brightness. Directly in front of her, Daniel stood watching her as he smiled.
Isabella giggled in delight. “Oh, Daniel, you’re so handsome when you grin like that,” she said, pretending to ignore the structure behind him.
Daniel sobered and scoffed. “You’re supposed to be looking at thehouse,” he said, stepping aside to give her an unimpeded view of their Gothic Revival house, the two-story structure built with blocks of limestone cemented with harling.
A single turret with windows, its conical roof tiled in slate, stood at one front corner of the house while the rest of the asymmetrical design featured two gables, their roofs also topped in slate. A pair of Palladian windows framed the arched set ofdouble doors on the ground floor, and above those, the second story featured four rectangular windows.
“It’s gorgeous. It’s just like your drawings,” she said, taking a few steps forward. She paused and glanced down at the lawn. “Is this our grass?”
Chuckling, he took her hand in his. “It is.”
“It’s so green,” she said, her gaze going from the lawn to the house. No ornamental bushes adorned the front of the house, but she knew some would be added soon.
“Let me show you inside. The colorman is seeing to the nursery, so its yet to be painted,” he warned, his gaze darting to where her yellow gown did little to hide her advanced pregnancy.
“What color will it be?”
“Jonquil, of course,” he replied. He opened the front door and allowed her to step inside the hall before he joined her.
She gasped, her gaze immediately going to the ornate plaster ceiling and then to the stone fireplace set in a wall made entirely of stone. The floors, wood planks sanded smooth, had been stained and varnished. A set of spiral stone stairs occupied the turret.
“We’ll have gas heating in the winters, and there’s a water closet upstairs,” he said proudly. “With a shower.”
“We could afford that?” she asked in surprise.
He nodded. “I did some work in trade,” he explained. “A set of plans for the man who did the pipes for both and did all the necessary plumbing.” He pulled her farther into the front hall, the arched doorway directly ahead leading into a dining room.
“We have a chandelier,” Isabella said in awe. Although there weren’t yet any furnishings in the house, she could imagine how the table they had ordered would fit, how a sideboard could be placed at one end.
“A bit of a splurge, but I thought it worth it,” he said. “After hearing Lord McDonald sing the praises of the one he had acquired in Venice, I spoke with an importer and discovered he already had several in his warehouse here in Edinburgh.”
Isabella sighed contentedly. “Is the kitchen close?” she asked, noting a separate door in the back corner.
“The kitchen is at the back of the house, through that door, as are the servants’ quarters. There are rooms for four,” he said, waggling his brows.
Although they hadn’t discussed staff, she knew a cook would be their first hire.
Back in the hall, Daniel said, “The study is over here...” he waved to an arched doorway. “Parlor is in here.” He led her into a brightly lit room adjacent to the front door, its window one of those on the front of the house. “Needs a carpet of some sort,” he murmured.
“I can sew in here,” she murmured, rushing to the south-facing window. “There’s so much light.”
Daniel grinned as he watched her stroll the perimeter of the room. “You could, but... would you like to see the upstairs?”
She paused and directed a suspicious glance at him. “Of course,” she replied, rushing out of the parlor and to the stairs.
