Whispers in the Wind
Chapter 10
The Windmill was quiet. Stephanie was curled up on the chaise with her morning coffee. Tink and Mingo were in their favorite spot stretched on the black and white fern print rug enjoying the warmth of the pot belly stove in the corner that Stephanie had going. It was cool outside in the early morning and she threw some logs in it to take the chill off. Another of the same area rug was in front of the bookcases in the other corner.
The grey-blue hardwood floor was through the entire first floor. The living room was long and had lots of windows on both sides for the Maine sunlight. In choosing furniture, Stephanie and Regis did it together. It was kept simple with a white sofa and double chaise. The punch of color in the neutral black, white, and grey color scheme came from the big red dahlias amongst the black and white ferns in the middle area rug Regis found on a sale table. He had to have some 'Burg' in him because he shopped the sale racks, too. To keep the muted red going in the room, it was in the pillows on the furniture and the storage bench that went from window to window on the opposite long wall.
She just finished typing an e-mail to her best friend Mary Lou. She was helping Stephanie with her house project in Trenton while she was in Maine. She sent one already to Arthur, the Burton attorney, explaining what she had in the works and if his office would handle the legal stuff for her. When she returned to Trenton, she along with her parents had a custody hearing in front of the same judge to petition the guardianship be transferred to Stephanie. She wanted to have all her groundwork in place before that day. She didn't have much time, but was determined to get as much done as possible. Her dogs went prancing into the kitchen so Mary Alice and Angie must be up.
"Hey, Sleepyheads. Did you sleep OK?"
There were sleepy smiles on their young faces nodding at their aunt.
"I love that bedroom," Mary Alice spoke first. "Maybe someday I'll have a bedroom like that."
Stephanie quizzed her younger niece, "What do you like about it?"
"I like yellow. It reminds me of the sun and that quilt in so pretty. It goes."
On the simple white wooden bed, she chose a quilt that was strips of pastel fabric which most were shades of yellow. Two big yellow pale lemon shams topped the bed with an old rag doll between them. There were two white night stands. The closet was organized with shelves so there was no need for any chest of drawers in the room. In the corner for a bit in whimsy by the window was a pale blue saucer chair.
"What about you, Angie?" Stephanie noticed her other niece was listening to her sister but hadn't said anything.
"I like the room, Aunt Stephanie, and we were really warm under the blankets, but I like more color. Brighter ones. Mary Alice likes the softer colors I guess," she explained her preference.
"You may be sisters, but just like your mother and me, like different things. You are both individuals. How about we get dressed and I'll take us to breakfast. I need to stop at the Brunswick tourism office and show the photographs I have so far, and then we'll go shopping at L. L. Bean so I can get new hiking boots."
The girls said together, "Sounds like a plan, Aunt Stephanie."
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They were seated in a corner booth at 'Ruthie's Corner Café'. Stephanie ordered her favorite breakfast bowl with slices of toasted homemade bread and blackberry jam. When the waitress described the homemade breakfasts of bacon, scrambled eggs, and seasoned home fried potatoes, Mary Alice and Angie ordered the child's portion hesitant if they would like it, but were willing to give it a go.
"Why go they mix everything together?" Mary Alice asked noticing in the packed diner the breakfast bowls were very popular.
A weathered man in loose plaid flannel jacket and worn cap stopped. 'I'll answer that, Little Lady. Us men of the sea need to have a hearty breakfast to start our day so we can bring in those nets with our catches. Working the sea is a hard life sometimes, but we love it."
"Wow! That fills you up?"
"It does most of the day. Enjoy yours," he said tipping his cap at the three girls.
She took a bite of her morning mix savoring the flavors together, especially the thick pieces of crispy-tender bacon waiting for the verdict of her nieces.
"Mmmm, this is the best," Angie gave her culinary opinion.
Mary Alice was enjoying her jelly toast almost as much from her smeared faced. "Don't tell Grandma this is as good as her waffles."
"I won't," Stephanie told them. She would never burst her mother's 'Burg' bubble.
The next stop was a short walk along the Brunswick sidewalk to the tourism office with the photographs Stephanie had developed before leaving for Trenton. Angie and Mary Alice met Bernard, the director, and Twyla, the secretary and his wife. They loved the pictures she had so far and thought maybe with so many they liked that possible the ones not used in the travel guide could be made into a calendar. Before leaving the office, the girls had their own 'Welcome' packs with 'I 'heart' ME' T-shirts.
After a shopping trip to L. L. Bean for Stephanie's new hiking boots and each got a new light weight hoodie to roam around Brunswick as she finished up her job, they returned back to the windmill with subs for lunch. The dogs were happy to see their mistress and her young nieces returned and after eating it was a exploring around the two acres with the dogs for Angie and Mary Alice while Stephanie decided on which lenses she wanted to snap pictures on the swinging bridge over the Androscoggin River. It also gave her a chance to call to reserve spaces on Captain Wally's Whale Boat the next day for them as a surprise.
At first her nieces were hesitant of the long suspended walking bridge across the Androscoggin River, but Tink and Mingo have been on it since they were puppies, so Mary Alice and Angie followed them. Stephanie got pictures of Brunswick on one side and Topsham on the other. It was built in 1892 for workers coming from Topsham into Brunswick she explained the history of the bridge built by the same company as the Brooklyn Bridge in New York. Stephanie gave each niece a small digital camera to make their own memories; she was pleased seeing them taking photographs. Most were of her dogs running on the bridge.
Standing on the bridge, there were clear blue skies in the late afternoon and in the rushing water, she could see fish. It made her think of Trenton and the Delaware River wondering what was going in there.
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In Trenton, a lone figure was in his office focused on his lap top. He was reading and studying the images from his search he found related to a blue eye photographer. Ranger wasn't interested in knowing any financials; he wanted to get insight into the beautiful woman who was sad he had seen. There were pictures of her next to Regis Burton at various functions dressed for the evening, national acclaimed photographs of wildlife from all over the world, and there was one very similar of the Ozarks Lester had in his apartment. He glanced over at the out-dated magazine he had open, the pages were images of Burton's horse farm in Virginia hosting a camp for handicapped and under-privileged children that Stephanie photographed for 'Virginia Life'. He ordered a back issue.
In each moment captured on the screen or on paper, it was seeing into her soul. Stephanie Plum cared deeply with her whole heart, whether showing an eagle soaring in the sky, on the face of a young girl in leg braces smiling at riding a horse for the very first time, or gazing lovingly at the tall, fair man next to her. Would he ever see into her soul so maybe his wasn't so dark? He could hope, but Ranger didn't know.