CHAPTER THIRTY
Candace let out a low whistle from where she stood scrambling eggs. “Jeans, girl? I can’t remember the last time I saw you in a pair.
“Daniel asked if I would go on a walk with him this morning, and he said he thought jeans would be better than a skirt.”
“You two didn’t talk as long as I thought you would last night.”
“Are you fishing for details?” Mandy poured herself a glass of milk.
“Definitely.” Candace moved the pan off the element.
“Then answer me this. Was last night a setup?”
Candace’s grin was answer enough. “One of the better ones I have ever tried, don’t you think? Poor Colin, having to back the car up into a tree. He did most of the work. I only had to get you to the store at the right time. Spill.”
“There isn’t much to spill. We dropped off groceries, had ice cream with the two of you, and agreed to talk more today. He explained things that happened in New York. I shouldn’t have paid so much attention to the tabloids. But you knew, didn’t you.”
Candace nodded. “Kissing?”
Mandy felt her face heat. “No kissing.”
“You are blushing.”
“What if I want to kiss him but I shouldn’t? It isn’t any fun being one of many. Even if I discount all his dates this year, there are still many others.” Mandy finished her milk. “I just need to say good-bye.”
“You realize he never looks at other women the way he does you? He is kind, but his eyes don’t go all soft. You can see it in the photos.”
They heard the truck in the driveway.
Candace tilted her head. “Should I be worried to send you out with him?”
Mandy grabbed a sweater. “No. I know what I am getting into this time.”
Daniel opened the door for Mandy to get into the truck. “Too bad you are still not wearing the boot.”
“What do you mean?” Mandy pulled on her seat belt.
“No excuse to hold you.” Daniel shut the door.
Drat. If he talked like that all morning, she was going to have a hard time saying good-bye. “So, you never told me where we are going.”
“Nope, it is a surprise. There are some clues in that folder on the dash.” Daniel backed out of the drive.
Mandy opened the folder. “Who is Noah Crawford?”
“My great-grandfather. In case you didn’t recognize it, Daniel Fowler is your great-grandfather.”
“So your great-grandfather gave my great-grandfather ten acres of land and a house?”
“That is how I read it.”
“Why?”
“Daniel Fowler saved Adam Crawford, Noah’s brother, during one of the battles of World War I. Then, after the war, he brought Adam home. Adam suffered from shell shock, or what we call PTSD. Noah was impressed by Daniel Fowler’s friendship and courage. In saving Adam, your great-grandfather lost his arm. Noah made him a manager of sorts over the farm and estate and gave him the land. I think there is more to the story. I have a researcher trying to find it, but Noah named his son Daniel. Technically as Daniel Noah Crawford the third, I am named for your great-grandfather.”
“Weird.” Mandy went back to reading. “I am terrible at legalese, but this says the property can never be sold.”
“Nope.”
“But my uncle—”
“Sold the house and land illegally and defrauded you of land that was yours. Your Grandma Mae put it in a trust for you since your father didn’t want it, and your uncle only wanted to sell the property because of the natural gas. I’m kind of glad he did.”
“What? Why?”
“Because if you had gotten the house, you would have been there the night of the tornado, and we both know the siren is hard to hear out here. You might not have woken up.” Daniel turned onto a familiar road. “I know I don’t deserve much of your trust, but will you close your eyes until I ask you to open them?”
Mandy closed her eyes. “Why are you driving back here?”
“Just a tiny bit of trust, please. I do drive better than Colin.”
“Did he confess the crash was deliberate last night?” Mandy had a hard time keeping her eyes closed.
“Of course, that is why Colin is taking the car to a repair shop today.” The truck slowed and turned. Gravel crunched under its tires as they came to a stop. “Stay right there and keep your eyes closed.”
Daniel came and opened her door and reached across her to undo the seat belt. “Come on.” He settled his hands on her waist and guided her down to the ground. His hands didn’t move.
“What are you doing?” Mandy was surprised at how breathless her question came out.
“I am making faces to make sure your eyes are closed.”
Mandy’s chin lifted.
“No, keep them closed for another minute.” His hands left her waist and took hers. “Come on. Don’t worry, I won’t run you into anything.”
The breeze tickled Mandy’s nose, and she could smell wild flowers with a hint of lilac. “It smells like Grandma Mae’s yard.”
Daniel moved behind her and placed his hands on her shoulders, then leaned in close, his breath fanning her cheek. “Okay, Amanda, open your eyes.”
It wasn’t possible. The tornado had destroyed it. “Oh, Grandma Mae.” Mandy wasn’t sure if she’d said the words out loud or to herself as she took a step forward, half expecting the house to disappear. She reached the steps and tested them with her foot. “It is real. I don’t understand.”
“It is in the original contract—land and house. If ever the home needed repair, my great-grandfather would fix it. My grandfather did, and my father kept the bargain. Now it is my turn.”
“But, Daniel, this is more than repair.”
“I wasn’t going to show the house to you until it was finished, but I thought you might want to deal with the interior decorating yourself. There are also a few updates, such as central air and the appliances. Come and see. When they excavated the old cellar, they found some brick from the chimney. I had them use the bricks in the restoration.”
Mandy ran her hands over the fireplace, her mind screaming the question she didn’t dare ask. Was this a good-bye or a hello? She walked through the dining room, where the wainscoting was already primed and the windows still had stickers on them. She knelt to touch the floor. Real hardwood. The built-in hutch stood empty. “Did I tell you I have all of Grandma Mae’s china in storage?”
Daniel answered from the doorway, where he watched her. “No, you didn’t.”
“When I was little, I thought Grandma’s house was huge, but then as I got older and saw other houses, I realized how small it was. But it feels bigger to me. Is it because there is no furniture?”
“This house has about a thousand more square feet than the one you remember. The old cellar wouldn’t support a new house, I had them enlarge the entire thing. The ceilings are higher to keep everything in proportion. Go see the rest.”
Mandy wandered through the rooms and finally up the stairs to her old room. Daniel followed her. Mandy didn’t care if he was smiling like the Cheshire cat. She went over to the window. “The trees are taller, but I can still see your old room.”
“Really?” Daniel leaned against the doorframe.
Several scratches on the window frame drew her attention. She ran her fingers over them, recognizing the Morse code chart she had gotten into trouble for carving years ago.
Daniel came to stand behind her. His hand covered hers. “I thought you still might need the chart to remember all your letters.”
“But why?” Why the code? Why this house? Why are you staring at me that way? Kiss me, please. No, don’t.
“Because I still like Morse better than texting. Come on, we still have our hike.” He grabbed her hand and tugged her from the room, down the stairs, and out of the back door. Past the old garden spot, a new white-pole fence gaped wide where one of the rails had been removed. Daniel lead her through the hole.
What happened to the chain link one? “You need to mend that.” Mandy inspected the board lying on the ground for damage.
Daniel raised his brows. “I thought I did this morning when I moved those boards out of the way. Some fences work better this way.”
Mandy looked at the hole. Good fences make good neighbors but lousy lovers. What did a newly built and deliberately broken fence make?
At the top of the hill, Mandy stopped and grabbed Daniel’s arm. The mansion’s windows gleamed in the sunshine. “You repaired the roof and the shutters. Did someone repaint the exterior too? How did I not notice?”
“Most of the work has been done on the sides that can’t be seen from the road. Before the restoration can continue, I need your ideas on a couple of things.” And I need you to stop looking at me like that. I have been trying not to kiss you ever since I picked you up. Do you know how amazing you look in jeans?” He tugged on her hand again and led them to the front door.
“I thought you said you didn’t ever want to go in the mansion again. Isn’t that why you stay in the caretaker’s house?”
“Yes, but I have done a lot of thinking about that summer. Did you know you taught me to have fun? I don’t think I ever laughed as much as I did that year. Do you remember playing hide-and-go-seek?”
“Getting caught in the dumbwaiter.”
“Yes, that summer was difficult. My father marched me into my grandfather’s office and told me Mother was dying, and I was left there with a man I hardly knew. The man always sat behind the desk. He told me to go play. Do you have any idea how boring it got playing video games all alone? Then you came through the broken fence.” They walked into the office. “After I left your place last night, I came in here for the first time since I was nine. I didn’t see my grandfather waving his hand at a servant to take me away. I saw you in pigtails, blowing a bubble and asking him if he had any books on Morse code while I hid in the hallway. Then I went in the kitchen, and you were there making cookies with our old cook. I went upstairs and stood at my old window, waiting for your flashlight to blink N-Y.”
“I know this spring has probably been the worst of your life, starting with me scaring you into breaking your foot, then getting half of the women in New York to kiss me. I didn’t kiss any of them back.”
“What?” Mandy looked up from the dustcloth-covered chair she had been toying with.
“I didn’t kiss any of them back. In fact, two of them I had to beg to show some affection in front of the cameras. Had I known I was going to get licked, I would have never done that.”
Mandy took a step forward. “You had to ask Miss Long-Tongued-Really-Bad-Singer to lick you?”
“I asked for a kiss on the cheek.”
“Why?”
“Because of Miss—”
Mandy held up her hand. “No, why didn’t you tell me? I would have understood.”
Daniel stepped around the desk and took her hand. “When our date hit the social media without the arrangements and nondisclosures, legal decided to not manipulate things. They didn’t think they could trust you with the truth and get you to sign the papers. I also had signed papers, and I was reminded almost daily that I couldn’t say a word to you. At first, when you started to ignore me, I thought it might be for the best.”
“What changed your mind?”
“I got an apartment in Manhattan, and I came back to the most hideous pink-and-purple and orange-and-yellow furniture, and I couldn’t laugh.”
Mandy put her hand over her mouth. “Pink? Please tell me you have a photo.”
Daniel handed her his phone. Mandy started to laugh.
“It gets worse.” He flipped to the photo of the bear.
“No!” Mandy stopped laughing, her eyes wide, and she dashed out of the room.
It was Daniel’s turn to laugh. He hoped she made it to the bathroom in time. He had thought she would have grown out of the need to run for a bathroom every time she laughed too hard.
“So, what did you want to show me?” Mandy decided not to reference her hasty exit. At least she didn’t need to change her pants.
Daniel motioned for her to follow. “In the parlor—or is it “drawing room”? I never got all those names straight.”
They entered a dark-paneled room where a dustcover hid a full grand. “I believe this is the music room.”
On one side of the room, six easels were set up. “I need to know what you would have me do with the house.”
“Me?”
Daniel only nodded.
Mandy pointed to the third one. “Please, not that.”
“Agreed. The bordello is out. I also veto the private school. Too many snobs sending their children away.”
“Agreed.”
That left the family home, art museum, sanitarium, and country club.
“I don’t know that I want to see golf balls in the duck pond. After all, I did promise not to hurt the pond. I don’t know if they do mental health units that way or if we might find a buyer. I am not getting into health care—too many government regulations.”
“Well, that brings us down to two.”
“It is too big for a family home.” Mandy’s voice cracked as she said it.
“Probably right. But I think there is another option.”
Mandy turned to face him.
Daniel gestured to the cleanest of the buildings. “This place would be a wonderful multi-purpose community building with a museum and community classrooms. The caretaker’s house is much more suited to a family home, as is the back half of this house. Did you ever think of dividing it? Of course, your house would make a very nice family home.”
What was he insinuating? Mandy needed more air. “No, I didn’t think much of what was inside.”
“You did on a couple of them. See? You put a crib in this window of the family home. And look what you put in the windows of this one.”
“I’d rather not.”
Daniel laughed. “You must have been very mad to create this one, judging by your blush. I still want to see the original.”
When unicorns land on your lawn. Mandy backed up a step as the heat in her face grew. “I don’t think you do.”
Surprisingly, Daniel didn’t advance. “It must have been very, very bad.”
Mandy felt the blush to her toes.
Daniel moved on to a new subject. “We have time to decide. There are 630 acres here, and I have thought of several uses. For some of the land.”
Not sure what to do with the “we,” she ignored it. “Aren’t you selling?”
“I have thought of selling the north section that used to be the cornfields to the Amish. I hear they are looking for more land in the area. Maybe put the mansion in some sort of charitable trust.” He looked at his watch. “I think it’s time for lunch. Shall we go see what Hank’s posterity has to say about that?” They left the house through the kitchen, where Daniel grabbed a picnic basket. Mandy was impressed. He hadn’t had long to plan.
He entwined his fingers with hers, and they headed to the pond. As they drew near, the ducks started quacking.
“Do you hear what they are saying?” asked Daniel.
“Quack-quack-quack?”
“No, I hear ‘quack-quack, quack-honk-quack-quack, honk-quack-honk-quack.”
“I-L-C—I love cookies?” Mandy’s heart sped up. She was pretty sure she knew what he was trying to say, but she needed to hear it.
“Oops, that last one should have been a honk for Y.” Daniel set the basket down.
“The ducks love me?”
Daniel shook his head and settled his hands on her waist. “Not the ducks. Me.” He stepped closer and started to lower his head, his eyes tracking hers, then lowering to her mouth.
Mandy stood on her tiptoes and did what every girl was dying to do. She kissed Daniel Crawford hello. Then she wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him some more.
He kissed her back.
And while they embraced, Hank’s great-grandson stuck his head in the basket and ran off with a sandwich.