“Did I ever tell you about your eyes when you were a baby?”
I shook my head. “No.”
“I used to wake up in the middle of the night to feed you, and your eyes were so dark as a baby, I thought for sure the devil was looking at me.”
I flinched and looked over at her, my heart breaking in my chest. “You thought I was the devil?”
She smiled slightly. “It was just the light, but there was also something eerie in those moments, like I knew that you would grow up to be strong. You had fierce eyes and I knew that you would grow up to be a force to be reckoned with.”
I didn’t understand. Did she know what I was doing? How was that possible? And what did all this mean? Was she trying to tell me that she knew I would grow up to kill her one day?
She sipped her tea, and the more she drank, the more I wanted to knock it out of her hands. But this needed to be done. Slowly, her hand slackened around the cup and her eyes drifted closed. I took the cup from her and pulled the shawl closed in front of her, hoping it would bring her comfort. I leaned my head back on her shoulder and held her hand as she took her last breaths. I didn’t cry when she was gone. I just sat there, holding her hand and thinking of better times. And when my dad saw that she was gone, I knew the sadness on his face would soon turn to anger. And it would turn on me.
I clutched my mom’s shawl in my hands, pressing it to my face. It didn’t smell like her anymore, but if I closed my eyes, sometimes I felt like her scent was still there. I took a deep breath and packed it away with all the rest of my belongings. I left anything that Arlen bought me. None of that mattered. The only things that mattered to him were material possessions. The things that mattered to me were in my heart, and now in my small bag.
Looking around the room one last time, I flicked off the light and headed downstairs, ready to start my new life.
Sitting on my new front porch, five hundred miles from my previous estate, I drank my morning tea with a blanket wrapped around me. The wicker furniture that had been left here from the previous owners needed to be painted, but other than that, it was in pretty good shape. Well, after I dug the dead mouse out of the cushions. I would definitely have to get new cushions now.
I had arrived last night with every intention of getting right to work on the house, but after seeing how bad the damage was to the house, I knew I couldn’t do it on my own. There were certain things I could do, but so much that was out of my scope of knowledge.
A truck rolled down the driveway a little earlier than I had planned. I was still in my pajamas. Wasn’t the contractor supposed to be here at eight? I waved to him as he pulled up and quickly ran inside to change. The master bedroom for now was on the lower level. I skidded to a stop by my bed and quickly pulled on some leggings and a long sleeved t-shirt. With the morning chill, I needed a sweatshirt also.
As I ran back to the front of the house, I pulled my hair up in a ponytail and swung the door open. “Sorry about that,” I grinned. “I didn’t expect you so soon.”
“Sorry, I tend to be early for everything,” the man grinned. “My name is Eric Cortell.”
I shook his outstretched hand and smiled back. “Lorelei Henning. Please come in.”
“I have two more guys coming. They’ll take a deeper look at the house, and while they do that, you can show me around and tell me about any changes you want to make.”
“Perfect,” I grinned. We got started on our tour of the house, and I pointed out all the changes I wanted in the kitchen, which was basically to rip out the old and put in new. I also wanted a kitchen island that was huge. I loved to cook, so this would be a room that needed to be perfect.
“If possible, I’d like the kitchen to be completed as soon as possible, and then the living room.”
“As long as there are no structural issues, that shouldn’t be a problem. Do you have any ideas for what kind of style you want?”
“I want it to feel very country throughout the whole house. I don’t want anything too modern. And that reminds me, can you extend the porch so it wraps around the house?”
“It shouldn’t be a problem, but have you thought about the exterior?”
I nodded, sighing slightly. This job was going to take a long time. “Yeah, I know it needs to be redone.”
He scratched the back of his head slightly. “This is a big job. Are you sure you can afford all this? It’ll get expensive.”
I smiled tightly. “Yes, I’m waiting on my trust to clear, but I have enough to cover most of the costs.”
He glanced down at my finger, his eyes taking in the faint outline on my ring finger.
“My husband passed away.”
“I’m sorry.” He cleared his throat and turned away from me, staring back at the house. “Well, I’ll talk with a designer for the kitchen and have some samples ready for our next meeting.”
“Perfect,” I grinned, looking back at the house. I saw great things ahead for me, and once this whole business with
