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Chapter 7
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"Are you sure this is the right direction?" Hanna looked up from the map on her phone, squinting her eyes while trying to read street signs in the glistening sun that was shining down on them the next day. It was early in the afternoon and they were driving through the quiet neighborhood of Blue Bell, Pennsylvania.
"Relax, baby. I've got this," Caleb put his right hand on her thigh in a soothing manner. "We should be there in about two minutes." He didn't need Hanna to give him directions right from her phone; he had memorized them that morning after making the appointment with the real estate agent. But this had given her something to do on their half-hour drive without having to think of her unsettled work situation for once.
"There! Royal Oak Drive," Hanna yelled, pointing her finger in the direction of the street sign she had just managed to spot in the distance.
Caleb threw her a sideways glance and started laughing. It had been a while since he'd seen his wife that excited.
"Sorry," Hanna muttered in the passenger's seat next to him. "I'm just... kind of nervous and I don't even know why."
"That's okay. I understand. It's a big step... Leaving Rosewood behind," he removed his hand from her lap to take a sharp turn at the corner, entering a broad and winding alley. "And I know we'd left it behind once before when we moved to New York. But this is different. New York was just another starting point..." His hand was now back in her lap, holding onto Hanna's hand. "For our careers, for us living together, for us to be living a life far away from A. or A.D. or whoever…" he trailed off, focusing on finding the object of their destination.
The folder with the printout of the house listing lay in Hanna's lap so she knew what to look for on both sides of the street. There were small kids outside on the street, some playing ball, one riding their bicycle, teenagers watching and laughing as they were filming each other trying out a Segway. The commotion in the street forced Caleb to slow down the car.
Eventually, the light-blue Victorian with a wraparound verandah came into view behind neatly trimmed, yet bleak hedges on the right-hand side. "There it is," both people in the car pointed out in unison.
Caleb turned to the curb, bringing the car to a stop. The couple got out and stepped onto the sidewalk, looking in all directions to see if their realtor was waiting for them close by. But apart from the children playing in the street, there was no other person to be seen.
Hanna's phone rang and she turned away to answer it. Caleb stuck his hands into the pockets of his jeans, biding his time all alone.
A little girl approached their car slowly on her bike. She was about six years old, wore a warm ski outfit that seemed way to bulky for her size, and underneath a teal-colored woolen beanie hat, tufts of curly red hair were showing. She got off a few feet short of their position and proceeded to push her bike until she had reached the Jeep. There, she let her bike drop to the ground and planted herself in front of Caleb. "Excuse me, Mister?"
Caleb, who had gotten out his phone and was now checking to see if the realtor had left any messages, was startled by the unfamiliar voice. "Yeah, uuhh… Hey, kiddo."
"Are you here to buy the Ferguson's house, too?" The red-haired girl stood with her arms crossed, her facial features relaxing a little when she finally caught a glimpse of Caleb's entire face as he looked up from his phone.
"Uuuh, I don't know yet. Maybe," Caleb said in a friendly manner. "Do you live here?"
"My mom says I'm not allowed to tell strangers where I live," she quickly said.
"That's good. I mean you're a good girl for listening to your mom," Caleb smiled at her.
"You look like a nice stranger, though. All the other families that came to look at the house were so old and they had old kids who even had their own iPhones. They would surely never play with me." She looked at him with a sad face. "Do you have kids?"
Caleb smiled a little more. "Uh, no. Not yet. One day, I hope."
The girl pulled a small notepad from the pocket of her ski overall and jotted down some notes.
"Are you with the neighborhood watch or something?" The adult man asked with graveness, trying hard to stifle a laugh when he realized that the child couldn't really write yet, but instead simply scribbled on the pad.
"Kind of. What's your name?" the girl continued her interrogation.
"Uh, my name's Caleb and that is my wife Hanna," his head pointed in the direction of where Hanna stood while talking on her phone. "What's yours?"
"I'm not allowed to tell you my name either," the redhead persisted, looking up when Hanna joined them.
"You're right, I'm sorry." Caleb told her as he opened the passenger door and bent down to retrieve his wallet from the glove compartment. When he shut the door again, he noticed the little girl was still watching his every move closely. Feeling a little uneasy, he looked at Hanna, hoping she'd bring him up to speed about that recent phone call.
"That was Ted. He told me that Winston won't be able to make it," Hanna murmured. "His friend the handyman?" Caleb reacted surprised. "So he's not coming after all?"
"Yeah, no. We're on our own," Hanna said as she put the phone back into her purse.
"Great," Caleb muttered, sarcasm playing in his voice. "Where is the realtor anyways?" His head swerved around, as he heard a car engine splutter in the distance. But the vehicle disappeared at a corner, and his attention focused on their little spy again.
For a moment, Hanna considered leaving the conversation with the girl up to Caleb in order to check out the vicinity, but then she lowered her head to address her. "So, little lady... Do you like living here? Is it a nice neighborhood?"
"It's okay," the girl said, nonchalant. "Sometimes it's boring. Nothing ever happens here and my mom won't allow me to ride my bike past Mrs. Wheeler's house at the end of the street." The girl turned around to point at a cream-colored mansion farther down the road.
Hanna followed the direction of her hand and spotted a car which was approaching slowly, driving at considerate speed because some kids had started playing soccer in the middle of the street. Caleb saw it, too. They stood silently, waiting to see if the car was coming closer, thinking it had to be the realtor at long last.
The little girl looked up at the visitors, grateful for the distraction and felt the need to confide in them, "When I'm all grown-up, I want to be a police officer and solve crimes."
"Well, wow. More power to you," Caleb said, appreciative. "l think you'll be a great police officer. You're being very alert." He got down on one knee and opened his wallet. Then he fished a coin out of the pouch and leaned over to the girl. "Here's a quarter. You're doing such a good job observing the neighborhood. Will you watch my car for me while we're in the Ferguson's house?"
The girl pretended having to think it over before quickly answering, "Okay." She took the quarter and put it into her pocket, along with the notepad. Then, she brought her head closer to Caleb's, saying quietly, "I'm Annie, by the way, and I live next door."
And then, for the first time, her lips cracked a smile, revealing two missing front teeth. "Thank you, Mister."
The car stopped on the other side of the street and soon after, the clicking of heels walking over the blacktop disrupted the quiet peacefulness of the suburban neighborhood.
Annie stepped away from the Jeep and picked up her bike while an elegantly dressed woman approached Hanna and Caleb, apologizing for being late and introducing herself as Rhonda Haynes, the realtor. She extended her hand to greet them before asking them to follow her lead for the house tour. Soon, the group of three disappeared from her view behind the hedges.
Sighing, Annie pushed her bike along a narrow trail leading to the house next door. She dropped it onto the gravel and walked up the four steps to the verandah where a stroller was standing in front of the kitchen window. She leaned over to look at the baby that had been sleeping in there all bundled up in the crisp, fresh winter air and that was stirring as if about to wake up any minute. "Hi Molly," Annie whispered to her. "I'm sorry I can't play with you right now. I got work to do." Then, she sat down on the stoop, folded her arms on her knees and started keeping a watchful eye on her target object.
Hanna stepped into the old Victorian mansion, feeling an instant connection. She had almost burst into a sob a second ago after seeing the hand-crafted nameplate that was still attached to the light-blue shingles on the right-hand side of the door. There were two names on it — Cecile and Harold Ferguson — and the latter had been roughly scratched through with a knife, but it was still distinguishable nonetheless. Caleb didn't seem to have noticed; he was completely enthralled by the interior of the house and by how well-maintained everything seemed despite the fact that it was a rather old building.
Rhonda had stopped by the stairs to turn around and face her clients. "Ok, l feel compelled to tell you the truth," she said as soon as they were all inside the house. "I've been thinking a really long time about putting the house on the market. You see, this place belongs to my mother. She's in a nursing home now that my father passed away and of course she wanted me to take the house and make it my own family's new home. But my home is in Chicago. My husband has a good job there, I have my own real estate agency there, and our kids just don't want to transfer to a new school." She looked into the faces of Hanna and Caleb, appreciating their understanding. "My mother gave all of her belongings to goodwill because that's the kind of person she is. And I know she would want the house in good hands. I've had ten families here before you. They were all either not appropriate enough for my liking or they didn't like the house, expecting something more modern on the inside. You two are actually the last couple I'm showing it to."
"I think it has great style," Caleb stated as he took in the high ceilings and the ornate banister.
Upon entering they had stepped into a small hallway that was leading to the living room. Sunlight was streaming in through large bay windows, glistening on the hardwood floor. Just like Rhonda had explained before, all the furniture in the house had been removed, making the room seem even bigger and the ceiling even higher. The words of the realtor telling the life story of the former residents and some details about the architecture and structure of the house, echoed from the walls in the bright main room.
Together, they strolled through the empty room, imagining filling it with life.
Hanna's face broke into a smile as soon as she caught a glimpse of the fireplace that was built into the wall on the left. The only thing that had been left behind by the old widow who had lived there before was a mirror hanging above the marble mantelpiece. She let her hand slide across the dusty surface, imagining to put her framed wedding picture there plus all kinds of baby pictures that she'd hopefully get to take herself soon.
Rhonda saw Hanna move closer to the mirror, assuming a deeper interest. "I'm sure you're wondering why my mother gave everything away except for this vintage mirror." She didn't wait for Hanna's answer and went on to explain, "You see, my parents lived in this house more than fifty years... fifty happy years... and when my father died last summer, my mother started donating everything to charity because she couldn't bear looking at all the stuff without bursting into a sobbing mess. Her words, not mine."
As Hanna was listening and letting her gaze sweep over the room, she spotted Caleb who was standing in the open space in front of the bay window, bathing in the sunlight. She watched him as he cracked a smile, thinking he had to have been having the exact same idea as her at that moment. A perfect spot to put the table... she thought. Then she turned back around to focus on Rhonda's moving story again.
"She kept the mirror because it was the only thing she couldn't remove saying it would only make her cry even more. There's a small part of the original 19th century wood frame construction behind it that they had kept undecorated from when they first bought the house in 1964."
"Whoa, babe, you've got to come see this," Hanna heard Caleb's excited voice call out to her from the windows and turned away from the fireplace. "There's a pool in the backyard. A pool that is bigger than my old apartment!" She walked over to him in order to see where his excitement was coming from.
Rhonda quickly joined them at the window and told them the specifics of the backyard and the pool. Her own mood about selling her childhood home seemed to be increasing by the minute. The house tour continued and she proceeded to show them the kitchen and its adjoining pantry, an office and a small bathroom that were also situated on the ground floor.
The kitchen cabinets were old and didn't match Hanna's style. For a short moment, she pictured Caleb and Toby refurbishing the room together and goofing around like the little boys that they sometimes still seemed to act like whenever they thought there were alone.
Through the window, she could see the porch, a small front yard with leafless scrubs and empty flowerbeds. The yard was in good shape prompting Hanna to think that Cecile and Harold must have loved sitting outside in the summer just as much as she imagined herself doing that when she first saw the image of the wraparound verandah in the listing.
Upstairs on the second floor, there were four bedrooms, a small bathroom and a larger bathroom. The furnace and all the floors had been modernized only five years previously, prompting Rhonda to emphasize that her parents had always kept the interiors in excellent condition.
All three climbed up another flight of stairs and found themselves in the spacious attic, fully insulated and suffused with sunlight. Hanna slowly crossed the room, measuring up walls and corners in her mind. Caleb saw the delight in her face grow by the minute. So far, this was all going according to plan. "This would be a great studio for you, wouldn't it?"
"Oh my god, yes!" Hanna called out aloud.
"Are you an artist?" Rhonda asked curiously. "My mother used to paint when she was younger."
"No, no. I'm not an artist," Hanna countered.
"Don't believe anything she says, Rhonda," Caleb intervened. "My wife still has a hard time believing that what she creates with her own beautiful mind and hands is just as much of an art as a painting. Come on, tell her, Hanna!"
"I'm a fashion designer," she said, sounding a little more self-confident now.
"Really? Have I seen anything from you in stores?" Rhonda asked.
"Uh, no. I'm not quite there yet," Hanna shook her head violently.
"But you will be one day. I assure you." Caleb came closer and put his arm around her shoulder before turning to face the realtor. "So. Are we through? Have we seen everything?"
"Well, there's still the backyard or I can show you the basement, if you want."
The couple exchanged meaningful looks. "Basement sounds good. Is it soundproof?" Caleb asked, mischief glimmering in his eyes. But Rhonda continued climbing down the stairs without looking back. "Oh, it's not actually a basement, rather a crawl space of sorts," she explained.
"Perfect," Caleb said and grinned at Hanna before they started descending all the way to the ground floor where Rhonda was already waiting for them.
XX
Half an hour later, they had seen everything from top to bottom, front to back, and the realtor was escorting them outside to the porch, struggling to pull some papers from her shoulder bag with her car keys, cell phone and the house key in one hand. "Listen, I'm leaving you some forms for escrow and a copy of the pre-contract in case you might want to look into that with your lawyer, and I suggest you both take a day or two to decide."
"We will. Thank you, Rhonda," Caleb said as he took the papers from her and glanced at them shortly.
"Was this the first showing you've been to?" Rhonda asked while taking the few steps down from the porch.
"Yeah, actually it was," Hanna started, "We've only just started thinking about buying a house."
"Well, then… Really, sleep on it. It's a big decision." She smiled at the couple and extended her hand to say goodbye.
"We know," Caleb said, and they all started walking down the gravel pathway.
On their way back to the car, Hanna stopped dead in her tracks, covering her face, abashed. "Oh, damnit! I lost my gloves somewhere in the house."
The realtor gave Hanna the key, saying, "Would you be okay going back inside all by yourself? I have a few calls to make."
"Sure," Hanna said, playing it cool. "Caleb, would you come inside with me and help me find them? Two eyes see more than one..."
Caleb frowned at her but eventually complied, following her back to the house while the realtor crossed the street to get to her Lexus. When she was out of earshot, he said quietly, "Han, first of all, it's two pairs of eyes see more than one. And secondly, you didn't bring any gloves. I've never ever seen you wear gloves because you keep saying they make your hands itch. What is this all about?"
Hanna kept mum, instead she turned around and winked at him.
"Han? Baby? What did you have in mind? The realtor is outside waiting for us," Caleb turned to look over his shoulder, but all he saw was the woman leaning against her car holding the phone against her ear in one hand and a cigarette in the other.
Hanna pulled him inside and closed the door behind him. Caleb looked anxiously about. "I don't think this is quite ethical." She ignored him as she started walking up the stairs. "Don't worry. It'll be fine, Caleb. Trust me."
He rolled his eyes, but followed her upstairs anyways. "I've heard that before."
Upon noticing that he was nervously looking down to the hallway, Hanna smiled at her husband. "Are you worried about what the realtor might hear?" She winked, catching Caleb off guard.
He shrugged his shoulders. "Well... yeah, sort of... I guess."
She giggled as she slipped through one of the open doors and disappeared into an empty bedroom on the second floor. "Then we better make it quick... and quiet."
"Han!" Caleb followed Hanna inside, quickly closing the door behind him.
Hanna positioned herself by the window overlooking the backyard. "l just had to see it one more time without Rhonda breathing down our necks," she said with her back turned to him.
Caleb sighed, tilting his head as he understood that this was the moment which would lead to her making a final decision. This was about all about her and about making a new home with her. She was the one needing to feel completely at ease in a new environment. He would be at ease wherever Hanna wanted to settle down. Heck, he would gladly move into a dark basement again if she was right there by his side, being everything he ever needed to feel at home. He had learned early on that having three German cars parked in the garage didn't automatically make for a nice home. It was always about who you were with. And this house with Hanna in it… this felt like hitting the jackpot in the lottery of life.
"You know, this could be the baby's room..," Hanna said after a while and turned around. "Um, if we ever, I mean, for when we have... babies," she trailed off, insecure.
Caleb smiled gently at Hanna. "l know. It would be a perfect nursery."
She smiled back at him, and they both knew they had made a decision. Hanna turned around to look out the window again. Caleb stepped behind her, putting his arms around her. "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"
Sighing, she leaned back into him. "l can't believe we're actually doing this. Buying the first and only house we've ever been shown? That's crazy!"
He bent his head toward her and placed a soft kiss against her neck. "We'll finally have our own place. No rented apartment, no sublet from Lucas. It'll be ours."
"l like the sound of that," Hanna said quietly.
"Hey and I know for sure that we won't be needing surveillance equipment. Little Annie from next door will take care of neighborhood security," He stated before he began to laugh and soon, Hanna chimed in. "Yeah, maybe she has a big sister who could babysit for us so we can still go out on dates."
"Nah, I don't think we'll be needing her big sister. Annie is your go-to person for surveillance of all of our belongings," Caleb chortled. "Did you see the little walkie-talkie she had clipped onto her ski overall? I mean what does she need the ski overall for? It's not even snowing! I wouldn't be surprised if she had a mic underneath it or a guide on how to establish a neighborhood watch."
"Yeah, or the headlight that stuck out under her beanie hat?" They both burst into loud laughter.
"But that's all in our future," Caleb turned serious again. "Right now you could actually start focusing on setting up a studio in that insanely spacious attic above. Isn't that just like you imagined it? I saw the dreamy expression you got right after setting foot in there."
"It's not New York, but it's pretty close to perfect. Hey, how does 'Rivers of Blue Bell' sound to you for my clothing line?"
"When it comes to you, anything Rivers sounds damn right to me." He murmured his words against her soft skin, his warm breath tickling her earlobe.
Smiling, Hanna lifted her hand to his face and ran a finger down his jawline before connecting their lips for a brief moment. Then, she walked past him into the empty living room. Her touch served as a lead for Caleb, who followed her almost as if he were on a leash.
Hanna looked around the room and took a breath, imagining how the room would look, lived in. Caleb seemed to have the same thought.
"We can put the sofa over there," he pointed, his voice echoing in the hollowness.
"Ah," Hanna smiled, taking his hand and pulling him with her where he had pointed. "So, we can sit here, and look out across there..." she started positioning him as if there really were furniture, "and I can come down the stairs over there..." Now she pushed Caleb down as if he was actually sitting, "and I can walk up behind you and kiss you like this..."
"Actually," he said, and laid down on the floor. "I'd likely be laying on the sofa."
"Okay, fair enough," Hanna said as she squatted down next to him. "You know… I watched you before… when you were talking to Annie outside while I was talking to Ted on the phone."
"Is that so? Caleb folded his arms behind his head and looked up at the fake stucco on the ceiling.
"Oh, yeah!" She smiled at him until he finally returned the look, and for a second she thought that he was blushing a little. "You were so cute with her, the way you got down on your knee to be eye-to-eye with her. Or the way you asked her to watch our car…"
"Yeah, I never liked it when adults were talking down to me when I was a little kid," he said in a serious manner.
Hanna's smile disappeared and she nodded her head, understanding. "So, what are we going to tell Rhonda when we give the key back to her?" she asked after a while.
"About the gloves that we weren't able to find anywhere in here?" Caleb gave a short chuckle.
"No, about the house," she quickly countered.
Caleb scrambled to get up and sat next to her. "We're not going to say anything today. We'll sleep on it, just like she suggested and which is a smart thing to do, and then we'll give her a call first thing in the morning if we still feel that this is right." Caleb pulled her close to his side and brushed a kiss against her forehead. "Though I do feel tempted to tell her right now that we're like eighty percent sure that we want this house so she won't let any other families see this place."
"More like eighty-eight," Hanna said jokingly and laid her head down on his shoulder. Her gaze traveled through the room, landing on the mirror above the fireplace. "Wait a sec." She got up and crossed the room.
"What?" Caleb looked after her, wondering what she was up to again.
Her hands touched down on the edge of the looking glass, checking the sturdiness of the mounting on a whim. Just as she had hoped, the mirror followed her movements, revealing what was behind it. A smile started playing at her lips.
"You know… make that ninety-five percent," she said and peeked over her shoulder where she saw Caleb's questioning look. Then, very carefully, Hanna removed the mirror from the wall with both hands and set it down on the floor before stepping back to allow Caleb to see what she had discovered.
Carved into the raw surface of an exposed piece of the wood frame construction, there was an old-fashioned shape of a heart with two letters in it: C + H.
to be continued…
Thanks Katey for touching up my grammar. Thanks to everyone who still reads my stories. I feel really blessed. Let me know what you would like to read in future chapters or where you think the story should end. XOXO, Zip!
