A/N: I'm working hard on The Pit and following my nose here. I hope you all stay tuned. I'll do what I can for you all. That's a promise!

Chapter Four: The Drawing Room

Elizabeth heard the wonderings of her nephew, David, as she took her hand to turn his head toward the drawing room of Collinwood's Old House, so that David could easily see who awaited them inside: Mrs. Johnson and Willie Loomis. Willie answered David's question with the widest of smiles, saying, "Yeah! Here we are! Mrs. Johnson and I knew to come over to this house before everyone else did!"

"AND," Elizabeth nodded, happily, "You've had all the candles lighted to show us the way, right Willie?"

"Well, we had to, didn't we?" Willie answered her, toasting upward with a can of Pabst in his hand, "I sure as hell wasn't going to welcome you all with a damned axe, was I?"

"Willie," Carolyn turned to him, "I was never as proud of you as I was in the moment I learned you'd approached Angie with an axe."

Willie snorted, slurping from his beer can and answering, "Meh, I never thought I'd want your pride… but here we are, Miss Stoddard. And I'm happy to have it."

Mrs. Johnson nodded in assent as she took a seat in a dusty armchair.

"Willie," Barnabas wondered, "did you lead the way here for the two of you?"

"Nah," admitted Willie Loomis, "It was Mrs. Johnson… I just followed her here. She seemed to know where she was going and she-"

"Was about as useful as a bucket without a bottom?" Josette smirked.

"If you say so," Willie told her.

"No, I didn't. You said so, Mr. Loomis."

"I suppose I did, Miss Winters. Yeah."

The abode was not untidy. It lacked some dusting but was more or less what Barnabas and Josette anticipated from their old memories. The two loyal servants had built a fire in the fireplace of this main room and the staircase invited the family desires to tread upwards to pick out rooms for themselves.

"I know exactly the room that I want," David exclaimed, "It's up the stairs and three doors to the left!"

"Then?" Elizabeth leaned down to him, "Go ahead and take it, my lad."

David looked as if the entire home was his kingdom. The sounds of stomping and tromping up the staircase proceeded and all the adults in the drawing room happily chuckled at David's delight.

"Look at him go!" Elizabeth smiled.

"That's great," Carolyn expressed, sarcastically, "then where do I go?"

"Where do you want to go, Carolyn?" her mother asked.

"I'm not sure."

"Do you have preternatural anticipations about what room would be best for you, Carolyn?"

"Are you making fun of me, Mother?" Carolyn inquired, dubiously.

"No, Carolyn" Elizabeth answered, "I simply wanted to make sure you knew I appreciated your differences in tastes and tendencies before I asked you. It wasn't easy recognizing what you were tonight, but I believe I'm coming to terms with it… you're… blessing…. As it were…"

Carolyn was uneasy with this response but finally answered, "Thank you, Mother." And then trounced up the stairs following David's footsteps.

Josette held Barnabas' hand and then put her other hand on Elizabeth's shoulder, "The children are going to do so well here, Mrs. Stoddard."

Elizabeth nodded happily to Josette, "I believe they will, Miss Winters. Or… what should we call you now, my friend?"

"Who I am," Victoria responded, "My name is… Josette du Pres."

Elizabeth smirked, "I have always had the terrible feeling, since you walked through our door, that Josette was who you were all along."

"Why need the feeling be terrible, Mrs. Stoddard?" Josette wondered.

"Because that would mean things were turning out for the better… and who could believe such a thing at Collinwood?" Elizabeth answered, leaning her forehead, lovingly, against Josette's.

Barnabas smiled toward them with adoration and at all that occurred around him. These beautiful admittances, the glory of an estate he'd known, his new family understanding how to handle it; there was nothing to do but smile and accept it. Now it wasn't a question of going over the family papers with his beloved cousin, Elizabeth. It was a matter of deciding what the family would do with him, her and his long-lost love: Josette duPres. And how wonderful she could be with modern understandings. Maggie Evans had become Victoria Winters to reach Collinwood. But she would forever be to him his one true love: Josette.

[A/N: I'm adding to this as much as I can. I am easy to reach of you want to talk to me. Please keep the faith and STOP the senseless gossiping on Twitter!]