The rain was still falling light and slow, dancing in the puddles of the path that led us back to the house. Nathan excused himself to the library to finish some work, and I started to go up the grand staircase. Instead, I paused on the bottom step, and reflected on the disaster that happened in this spot last night. That made me think of Mother and my fight with her.

I turned around and went looking for Mother. It was time she realized Doormat Darby was gone. I found her in the morning room after a brief search, drinking tea and reading the local newspaper.

"Mother, we need to talk.” I stood in front of her, my jaw set.

Mother scoffed, and removed her reading glasses, rolling her eyes at me.

"What are you talking about, Miss Turner? Are you finally packing your bags to leave?"

"First, my name is not Miss Turner. You can call me Darby, Mrs. Randolph, or Queen Darby, for all I care. I will answer to nothing else from this time forward."

Mother's mouth fell open a little. Damn, this felt satisfying. Tell me again why I didn't do this before now?

“It is finally time I made some significant changes at Peacock Alley."

Mother opened her mouth to respond, but I kept talking.

"We won't be eating soup for lunch during hot weather. I will speak to Cook about the menus from now on. I will decide on the menus for each day."

Mother started to protest, but I held her off with one hand, and my raised eyebrow.

"I also know that you have been spraying Savannah's perfume all over the damn place, trying to gaslight me into thinking the estate is haunted. That will stop; if for no other reason than her perfume will be thrown away.” I spoke with total confidence to cover that I was bluffing.

Her guilty flinch told me I had hit the mark with my wild guess. Take that!

“I will be sorting through all her things in the garden house, and what is salvageable will be donated to a local charity. The rest will hit the trash, where it belongs." My tone was level and even, and I refused to back down.

I was doing well. Mother was flabbergasted, and for the first time in my life, I think I had rendered someone speechless, instead of it being the other way around. I was proud of myself. My only regret was I hadn't found my strength earlier to put Mother in her place. This speech of mine had turned out to be easier to deliver than I thought.

I took a step closer. Then I put my hand on my hip, and looked down at her. "You will be moving out of the main house, Mother. I think the garden house will be your new home. In addition, while we are on the subject of the garden house, I'm renaming it. We will call it the Orchard House from now on. It needs a fresh start."

Mother found her voice, and stood up.

"Nathan will NEVER allow you to move me out of the house, or to throw Savannah's things away. NEVER!"

Her raised voice and red face didn’t back me down one bit, but Nathan's masculine tones surprised us both. I thought he was going back to work. We turned as one to look at him standing in the doorway.

"Don't be so sure of that, Mother. I think Darby is on to something. I just want to make one little change."

He walked all the way into the room, and stood beside me.

Mother looked doubtfully at him, her eyebrows raised in question. We were both anticipating his next words.

"I've been standing in the hall listening to your conversation. Darby is in charge now, and what she says is the law.” He paused and clenched his jaw. “You’ve been spraying Savannah’s perfume around?”

Mother didn’t reply, so he continued. “You aren't only moving out of the main house, you are moving off the estate permanently. I don't want you interfering with Darby's plans for Peacock Alley moving forward."

Mother screamed in anger. It was cartoonish, and I had a hard time biting back a laugh, so I didn't. I laughed out loud. She threw her newspaper at her son and stormed out of the room.

Nathan turned to face me. "Don't worry. I will get Maxwell to find Mother a nice house in town, and he will move her into a hotel today so there won't be a delay."

I hugged him. “Thank you for backing me up with her.”

"Of course. I will always support you and your decisions.” He shifted his stance, and worry lines appeared on his forehead. “If I am arrested...”

I opened my mouth, but he continued anyway. “No, listen, Darby."

He took my hand.

"If I'm arrested, you will be in charge of running the house, and you will be handling some of my business dealings for me. Don't be frightened. Maxwell will assist you, but I know you are more than capable of keeping everything running smoothly."

"I'm not afraid to handle the tasks you need me to handle. I am ready for anything. Anything but you being taken from me. Please, please stop talking about being arrested." I clutched his hands in desperation.

I lowered my voice on that last part because I knew it was imperative we keep our concerns quiet.

"We will deal with this situation one step at a time, together." I stood on my tiptoes to kiss his worry lines away.

"At one time you said you wanted to make the garden house, I mean, Orchard House, your art studio. Are you still interested?"

I threw back my head and laughed, and clapped my hands together like a child.

"Yes, I think it is the perfect place for painting. It gets the best light of the whole estate. It really is a lovely little building, despite its sordid history. I will get it cleaned out and repainted and then set up my studio. Thanks, Nate."

"Order a new bed, while you are at it. I think it will make a great love nest for the two of us." He laughed a little. “Just tell Maxwell what you need. He will take care of everything for you.”

I loved seeing Nathan looking so relaxed and happy. If only this feeling could last forever, but like I had said, we would take each day as it came, and try to tamp down our growing concerns.

For today at least, I had scored a victory. It looked like the garden house would be completely transformed. That seemed like a happy omen for our future.