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She had a car full of luggage, a briefcase stuffed with notes and sketches, a very unhappy dog who&039;d already expressed his opinion of thebitterly in the back
She&039;d already pulled over to deal with the dog and the seat, and despite the January chill had the ide open Parker, their Boston terrier, sprawled on the floor looking pathetic
She didn&039;t knohat the boys were arguing about, and since it hadn&039;t coo at it They were, she knew, as nervous as Parker about yet another move
She&039;d uprooted the, it was still a shock to the system Now all of them were about to be transplanted She believed they would thrive She had to believe it or she&039;d be as sick as the faht-year-old Gavin declared
"I hate your big, stupid butt," six-year-old Luke retorted
"I hate your ugly elephant ears"
"I hate your whole ugly face"
Stella sighed and turned up the radio
She waited until she&039;d reached the brick pillars that flanked the drive to the Harper estate She nosed in, out of the road, then stopped the car For a ed in the backseat Parker sent her a cautious look, then hopped up to sniff at the air through the
She turned the radio off, sat The voices behind her began to trail off, and after a last, harshly whispered, "And I hate your entire body," there was silence
"So, here&039;s what I&039;," she said in a norht to pull a trick on Ms Harper"
Gavin strained forward against his seat belt "What kind of trick?"
"A tricky trick I&039;m not sure we can pull it off She&039;s pretty smart; I could tell So we&039;d have to be really sneaky"
"I can be sneaky," Luke assured her And her glance in the rearviewfrom his cheeks
"Okay, then, here&039;s the plan" She swiveled around so she could face both her boys It struck her, as it often did, what an interesting meld of herself and Kevin they were Her blue eyes in Luke&039;s face, Kevin&039;s gray-green ones in Gavin&039;s Her- poor baby - to Luke, and Kevin&039;s sunny blond to Gavin
She paused, draerly focused
"No, I don&039;t know" She shook her head regretfully "It&039;s probably not a good idea"
There was a chorus of pleas, protests, and a great deal of seat bouncing that sent Parker into a spate of enthusiastic barking
"Okay, okay" She held up her hands "What we do is, we drive up to the house, and we go up to the door And e&039;re inside and youto have to be really sneaky, really clever"
"We can do it!" Gavin shouted
"Well, when that happens, you have to pretend to bethis is tough, but I think you can do it You have to pretend to be polite, well-behaved, well-mannered boys"
"We can do it! We" Luke&039;s face scrunched up "Hey!"
"And I have to pretend not to be a bit surprised by finding myself with tell-behaved, well-mannered boys Think we can pull it off?"
"Maybe on&039;t like it there," Gavin muttered
Guilt roiled up to churn with nerves "Maybe on&039;t Maybe ill We&039;ll have to see"
"I&039;d rather live with Granddad and Nana Jo in their house" Luke&039;s little mouth trembled, and wrenched at Stella&039;s heart "Can&039;t we?"
"We really can&039;t We can visit, lots And they can visit us, too Now that we&039;re going to live down here, we can see them all the time This is supposed to be an adventure, remember? If we try it, really try it, and we&039;re not happy, we&039;ll try so else"
"People talk funny here," Gavin complained
"No, just different"
"And there&039;s no sno are we supposed to build snow if it&039;s too stupid to snow?"
"You&039;ve got s to do" Had she seen her last white Christmas? Why hadn&039;t she considered that before?
He jutted his chin out "If she&039;s "
"That&039;s a deal" Stella started the car, took a steadying breath, and continued down the drive
Mo!"
No question about that, Stella mused, and wondered how her children saw it Was it the sheer size of the three-storied structure that overwhelmed them? Or would they notice the details? The pale, pale yellow stone, the majestic columns, the charm of the entrance that was covered by the double stairway leading to the second floor and its pretty wraparound terrace?
Or would they just see the bulk of it - triple the size of their sweet house in Southfield?
"It&039;s really old," she told them "Over a hundred and fifty years old And Ms Harper&039;s family&039;s lived here always"
"Is she a hundred and fifty?" Luke wanted to know and earned a snort and an elbow jab from his brother
"Dummy Then she&039;d be dead And there&039;d be wor all over her - "
"I have to remind you, polite, well-mannered, well-behaved boys don&039;t call their brothers du taken for walks out here? And there&039;s so ardens and flower beds, just like at hoan," she corrected herself "And we&039;ll have to ask Ms Harper where you&039;re allowed to go"
"There&039;s really big trees," Luke "
"That one there? That&039;s a sycamore, and I bet it&039;s even older than the house"
She pulled around the parking circle, adoldenwith azaleas in the island
She clipped on Parker&039;s leash with hands that were a lot more steady than her heart rate "Gavin, you take Parker We&039;ll coo in and see Ms Harper"
"Does she get to boss us?" he demanded
"Yes The sad and horrible fate of children is to be bossed by adults And as she&039;s paying ets to boss me, too We&039;re all in the same boat"
Gavin took Parker&039;s leash when they got out "I don&039;t like her"
"That&039;s what I love about you, Gavin" Stella ruffled his wavy blond hair "Always thinking positive Okay, here we go" She took his hand, and Luke&039;s, gave each a gentle squeeze The four of them started toward the covered entry
The doors, a double set painted the salossy white as the tri out his arer outnumbered around here"
"Gavin, Luke, this is Mr - I&039;m sorry, David, I don&039;t know your last name"
"Wentworth But let&039;s keep it David" He crouched down, looked the rapidly barking Parker in the eye "What&039;s your problem, buddy?"
In response, Parker planted his front paws on David&039;s knee and lapped, with great excitement, at his face
"That&039;sShe&039;s upstairs on the phone, skinning some supplier over a delivery"
They stepped into the wide foyer, where the boys siled
"Pretty ritzy, huh?"
"Is it like a church?"
"Nah" David grinned at Luke "It&039;s got fancy parts, but it&039;s just a house We&039;ll get a tour in, but maybe you need so journey"
"David raceful stairs that divided the foyer She was dressed in work clothes, as she&039;d been the day before "With lots of whipped cream"
"Ms Harper, my boys Gavin and Luke"
"I&039;m very pleased to meet you Gavin" She offered a hand to hi He&039;s one and a half"
"And very handso a friendly pat
"I&039;rade I can write my name"
"He cannot either" Gavin sneered in brotherly disgust "He can only print it"
"Have to start somewhere, don&039;t you? It&039;s very nice toto be comfortable here"
"You don&039;t look really old," Luke coh
"Why, thank you I don&039;t feel really old either, htly ill, Stella forced a smile "I told the boys how old the house was, and that your family&039;s always lived here He&039;s a little confused"
"I haven&039;t been here as long as the house Why don&039;t we have that hot chocolate, David? We&039;ll sit in the kitchen, get acquainted"
"Is he your husband?" Gavin asked "How come you have different last names?"
"She won&039;t marry me," David told him, as he herded the heart"
"He&039;s teasing you David takes care of the house, andelse He lives here"
"Is she the boss of you, too?" Luke tugged David&039;s hand "Mom says she&039;s the boss of all of us"
"I let her think so" He led the way into the kitchen with its granite counters and wared under a
Herbs thrived in blue pots along the work counter Copper pots gleamed
"This is my domain," David told the order You like to cook, Stella?"
"I don&039;t know if &039;like&039;s&039; the word, but I do know I can&039;tthat would earn a kitchen like this"
Two Sub-Zero refrigerators, what looked to be a restaurant-style stove, double ovens, acres of counter
And the little details that made a serious work space homey, she noted with relief The brick hearth with a pretty fire silassware, forced bulbs of tulips and hyacinths bloo on a butcher block table
"I live to cook I can tell you it&039;s pretty frustrating to waste my considerable talents on Roz She&039;d just as soon eat cold cereal And Harper rarely makes an appearance"
"Harper&039;s uest house You&039;ll see him soot out a pot and chunks of chocolate
"Does he make monsters? Like Frankenstein?" As he asked, Luke snuck his hand into his ain
"Frankenstein&039;s just pretend," Stella reminded him "Ms Harper&039;s son works with plants"
"Maybe one day he&039;ll hted, Gavin sidled over toward David "Nuh-uh"
"There arethat stool over,friend, and you can watch the master make the world&039;s best hot chocolate"
"I know you probably want to get to work shortly," Stella said to Roz "I have soht I&039;d like to show you at solanced over as Luke let go of her hand and went over to join his brother on the stool "I have an appoint with the principal at the school The boys should be able to start toht I could ask at the school office for recommendations for before- and after-school care, then - "
"Hey!" David whipped chocolate and ured they&039;d hang out withme with companionship as well as slave labor, when they&039;re not in school"
"I couldn&039;t ask you to - "
"We could stay with David," Gavin piped up "That&039;d be okay"
"I don&039;t - "
"Of course, it all depends" David spoke easily as he added sugar to the pot "If they don&039;t like PlayStation, the deal&039;s off I have my standards"
"I like PlayStation," Luke said
"Actually, they have to love PlayStation"
"I do! I do!" They bounced in unison on the stool "I love PlayStation"