THE WATERS
By Jo
Part Forty-eight:
On Monday Judge Ambling called to say he'd had a telegram from Mr. Portman in Boston, who had expressed definite interest in the Stuart house, so much so that he would be taking the train out Friday to have a look at it. It was not even that Captain had to sell the house in order to have funding to buy another, but the imminent possibility of its selling that got him going on serious group house-hunting. He made arrangements to see a number of less hefty homes and
on a fine Tuesday
morning in early June, he and the others set off in the large carriage. The
first one they looked at was definitely lighter and had a tower, but, alas, the
tower had no windows and, as Captain pointed out, what good was a tower if
Rapunzel had no window through which to let down her hair?
They looked steadily all day Wednesday, too, and by Thursday morning had it
narrowed down to two houses, both on the same block with each other.
One was a stick-style with rather ornate trim. Its tower wasn't exactly a
tower-tower, but it was high and had windows. The yard was nice, if a bit
small.
The other was, in its way, similar but had not only a real tower, but a 2-story
one. It also had a second floor balcony, which everyone loved, and an enormous
yard which had at least four acres of land to its back. It was also set back
further from the street than the other and somewhat up, with a large rock wall
marking the front edge of the property.
After they had toured it thoroughly, Captain stood out in the street looking
back at it. "She's light and she's beautiful," he smiled, his arm around Letty's
waist, "and there she stands atop rock...like you, like the first time I saw you
there beside the lake."
"And she's got flowers," Letty added.
Indeed the house had an air about it, a lightness and charm that had entranced
them from the first moment they'd pulled up in front of it in the carriage. It
was large, though nowhere near as massive as the Stuart house, and would
accommodate them all quite nicely. Hans, Berta, Sam and Erin, had wandered again
into the big backyard, shortly rejoining them. Hans had a wide smile on his
face. "Plenty of room back there for a nice vegetable garden," he announced.
"And there are already five apple trees and some grape vines," Berta added.
"You think this is the one, then?" Captain asked. "You sincerely feel you could
be comfortable here?"
"It's homey," Letty said, "and has, um, friendly insides."
"It is a fine house, Captain," Hans agreed, "and well-made."
"It's beautiful," Berta sighed, "and not so...so...."
"Like a museum?" Captain chuckled.
"It's a real home," Sam nodded, "yet finer than I could imagine."
Captain bought it that very afternoon.
On Friday Mr. Portman arrived and Lawrence Ambling accompanied him to the Stuart
house. Portman had been an attorney some years ago in the same law firm where
Ambling had started practicing but had in the last decade become more of a
financier and was quite successful in the endeavor. He was looking for a big,
impressive home for his large family and could not have been more pleased with
the Stuart place. He was a good-natured, almost jovial man and immensely
likeable. The way Bronson went about his business had attracted Portman's
attention from the time he was greeted at the door and even before Captain could
broach the subject, he leaned toward him and asked, "Any way you'd leave your
man? Doubt I could find such a gem to replace him." And so it was that Portman
ended up with Michael Stuart's entire staff, much to Captain's relief.
The rest of June was spent deciding what to take to the new house in the way of
furnishings. Captain's bed was, of course, a given. By the end of the month, in
that very bed, Captain had made himself fully husband to Letty in every way.
Hans and Sam, given free rein in the yard, had gone back and forth daily, often
with Erin accompanying them, and put in a rather enormous vegetable garden as
well as a cutting garden for flowers for the house. There were three beehives,
numerous birdhouses, a perfect climbing tree in which they had already started
a tree house. Nearer to the house Captain had arranged the installation of a
small fountain with one swan.
There was a coach house in back which Hans and Sam remodeled inside so it could
hold both
the large and small carriages. Just beyond that was a small stable and past that they built a chicken coop and pen. Captain was delighted with all they did as he could see that they'd really entered into making the place a home for themselves. That was what he'd wanted all along. By the time they officially moved in in July, they were already used to being there, had put their mark on it and made it theirs. Letty wanted a wooden swing on the front porch and that had been taken care of as well. Berta was in heaven in the kitchen. It was not so large as the one at the Stuart house, but it had a fine stove, big sinks, and she'd brought nearly all the pots and
pans from the
other. Captain hired three people to come in twice a month to help with the
heavy cleaning as he didn't want that to weigh on anybody. The inside of the
house was, truly, nothing at all like a museum. And when they all gathered in
the nicely-sized dining room for their first supper there, Captain looked around
the oval, maple table, noting everybody had one fork, and he smiled at his
family.
With the move accomplished, Hans and Captain set about finding a good place for
his woodworking shop, buying a building in easy walking distance in an area
where a whole series of craftsmen had been setting up businesses over the last
decade. By August, Hans had every possible woodworking tool at his disposal.
Captain had advertised the shop in the newspapers
as well as putting
the word out to all of Michael and Emily's wealthy friends and before long
Hans had developed a reputation for fine work and the commissions were flowing
in.
In September Erin started school and Sam walked her to it every morning and was
there waiting for her in the afternoon. Often while she was there, he'd go help
Hans in his shop, especially the front section where as Hans built inventory,
smaller items were for sale. He also took care of the yard and the horses and
seemed quite content not to work in a steel mill again.
Captain had not yet gone back to the practice of law and didn't think he really
wished to. What he wanted....
"Sweetheart," he said as he and Letty sat on the porch swing one warm afternoon,
"do you remember the house in Tuscany that I mentioned?"
"I couldn't forget that, darling," she said. "You described it with such
feeling."
"Do you suppose that now we're settled, that Erin's in school and all, that we
could take that honeymoon of ours?"
"To Italy?"
"Umm hmm. Would that be too far, do you think? Maybe just for the rest of
September?"
"You want to find that house again?"
"I want to buy that house, have it so we can go there when we want, that is, if
you like it when you see it."
"It's for sale?"
"I must confess I had a friend in Florence check on it for me. Seems the owner
was an old woman who recently died. I think I could...if...?"
As morning began spreading itself over the smooth hills, Captain and Letty sat
on a low rise some distance back from their house, leaning into each other,
watching silently as the Tuscan mist rose then melted. Cypress trees dotted the
landscape, little dark exclamation points to remark the beauty of the land.
Beyond the house lay a saddleback mountain and above that the peach of dawn was
giving way to light blue. It was an uncluttered land, not Victorian at all, and
even the house was uncluttered, just as Captain had told her it would be. They'd
bought it lock, stock and barrel and were now in the third week of their
honeymoon. Captain's heart settled into such peace he could feel the slowing of
its beats. He'd taken Letty with him poking about
old Etruscan ruins
and she loved it, had a natural instinct for it.
"In the spring," he said contentedly, "we'll bring Erin with us, Sam if he wants
to come."
"Maybe not in the spring."
"Why not, sweetheart? I know Erin will be eager to see it."
She looked into his puzzled eyes, leaned in for a kiss, then with her face about
an inch from his said quietly, "Because we'll have a baby then, my love."
TO BE CONTINUED SHORTLY AS "THE ETRUSCAN TOMB"
ON TO SUPPLEMENTAL PAGE OF PICTURES FOR THE WATERS
THE LINK HERE WILL TAKE YOU TO 9 PHOTO ALBUMS I TOOK MYSELF
ON MAY 9, 2010 AT THE DAM, THE CLUBHOUSE, AND IN JOHNSTOWN
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