The seven rings, p.20
The Seven Rings, page 20
When the time came, she spread on the blue-and-white-checked cloths, cut flowers for the old blue mason jars. As she folded napkins, Trey came by.
“Looks nice. You, too.”
“She gave me fifteen minutes to get my party on. I think she could out-Bree Bree.”
She’d done her hair in a short, single braid, tossed on a yellow summer dress about the same shade at the black-eyed Susans on the table.
“Remind me of this next time I think, much less say, let’s have a cookout.”
“Actually.” As he looked around, Trey skimmed a hand down her arm. “It feels right.”
“It does?”
“Sure, a few clicks up from what I expected, but it suits the manor, and both of you. It’s friendly, and it shows a lot of care. I think we’ve hit the end of our list, so I can give you a hand.”
“Well, according to Cleo’s illustration, which belongs in an art gallery, cocktail napkins on the bar table, dinner napkins—the extras—on the other tables.”
“I can handle that.”
“Later, I want to tell you a couple stories. Good ones.”
“Okay.”
“And you know what?” Sonya took her own look around. “You’re not wrong. This does feel right.”
When Anna and Seth arrived, Anna handed Cleo a large covered cake dish. “I know you said bring nothing, but who says no to mini cream puffs?”
“Not me. Go on out. Drinks are all set. There’s wine, beer, and this evening’s specialty, Bellinis. Lemonade, soft drinks, and water for you and the baby.”
“Sounds…” Anna stopped as she looked outside. “Well, wow, that looks fabulous. Oh, there’s Owen. I got a look at the new seats out front, and I want one.”
“You’ll talk him into it.”
“If not,” Seth said, “I’ll bribe him.”
“Sounds like the rest of the family’s here. They were driving up together,” Anna added.
“Perfect. Go sweet-talk Owen, and tell him to start the grill.”
Outside, Sonya put herself in charge of the bar, poured lemonade for Anna, red wine for Seth. She made a Bellini for Corrine, another lemonade for Deuce—who was behind the wheel.
“A Bellini, my own darling?” Ace asked Paula.
“Who would say no? Sonya, everything’s just lovely.”
So was she, Sonya thought. Trey’s grandmother exuded easy elegance like breath in her summery floral dress.
If she did a poster on handsome couples, the senior Doyles would be her first pick.
“What’s your pleasure, Ace?”
She smiled at him, finding him so dashing with his steel mane, his bold blue eyes behind the silver-framed glasses.
“I have so many pleasures, including being right here, right now. But to drink? I see that one says hard lemonade.”
“Cleo’s grand-mère’s brew.”
“I’d trust Imogene, so I’ll try it. This reminds me of being here a long time ago. Remember, Paula, coming to the manor after Collin had done some of his remodeling, but before he added the apartment? He had us over, just like this. The family.”
“I do. Another lovely day. And I remember thinking he’d brought the manor back to life. Just as you have, Sonya. You and Cleo.”
“Sometimes, like now? I think we were waiting for each other.”
“Collin chose well in you.” Ace took the glass she handed him, had a sip. His eyebrows wiggled. “Now, that’s what I call lemonade.”
Chapter Fourteen
Sonya thought of the summer gathering as an evening with family. The Doyles had become hers. Cleo’s laser focus on food, drink, and presentation made it an exceptional evening with family.
Food ranked as top conversation topic at the start of the meal.
“Flank steak happens to be my specialty.” Ace took his rare and nodded at Cleo. “I’ve met my match.”
“It’s hard to believe you didn’t cook before you came to Poole’s Bay,” Corrine commented.
“I can verify that.” With her wineglass, Winter gestured at Cleo, then Sonya. “Neither of them had the slightest interest. Oh, they’d pitch in.”
“I’m an excellent chopper/stirrer,” Sonya claimed. “And that’s what I did a lot of for this spread, as that’s what Cleo assigned to me. There’s a lot of my knife work in that potato salad.”
“Which is excellent. Zippy,” Paula said as she took another bite.
“Creole. I had to order the Creole mustard, as you Yankees don’t stock it locally.”
“And what makes it Creole mustard?” Deuce wondered.
Cleo winked at him. “The zip.”
He laughed. “Works. And your chopping, Sonya, really polishes it off.”
“You have a flair for it,” her mother said. “And you, to your credit—or mine, since I raised you—never failed to clean up after a meal.”
“Now we have Molly.”
“Oh boy.” Seth hunched his shoulders at the mention of ghosts.
Anna patted his arm. “I’ll keep you safe.”
“Molly’s a jewel.” Sonya smiled over at Seth. “And as benign as they come.”
“She is,” Winter agreed. “I can’t say I’m used to all of it, but there’s something about coming out of the shower in the morning, finding your bed made. And your clothes laid out.”
“Something creepy” was Seth’s opinion.
“She takes good care of the wood.” Owen glanced toward the house as he sipped his beer. “She might have some help with it, who knows, but the furniture, the millwork, the floors? You’ve got to have some love in you to take that kind of care.”
“There’s one who waters the pots. Eleanor, right?”
“Right, Mom. Jerome—he stacks wood, I think he weeds, as we never have to. And we would. There’s Rita—”
“You actually give them names?”
“Those are their names,” Sonya told Seth.
“How do you know?”
“Clover told us.”
“And it just gets creepier.”
“Her musical stylings.” Never one to pass up teasing his brother-in-law, Trey took out his phone, set it beside his plate. “Give Seth a tune, Clover.”
Willing to play, Clover went with Blue Öyster Cult. “(Don’t Fear) The Reaper” sang out.
“That’s just … I don’t know what that is.”
“Communication,” Owen told him. “Like the Creole mustard, it’s got a zip that works.”
“There’s a kid,” Trey pushed on. “Jack. He plays with the dogs, and the cat. Draws pictures. They’ve got one on the fridge.”
“You’ve got a ghost drawing on your refrigerator?”
“He’d have been an artist if he’d lived.” Cleo bit into a slice of Winter’s bread. “He has talent.”
“Was he a Poole?” Corrine wondered.
“Yes,” Sonya told her. “He died when he was nine. A fever took him. When I first got here, he played tricks on me. I’d come into the kitchen, and all the cabinet doors would be open, the stools lying on the floor. And yes,” she said to Seth, “it did creep me out.”
“Finally!”
“But then I got Yoda, and, well, a boy and a dog. Most days when I’m working, I can hear them playing fetch down in the hall.”
“We got used to each other,” Cleo put in. “And built up trust. Sonya bought him an art kit.”
“Nobody finds that weird?” Seth looked around the table. “Nobody?”
“It’s life at the manor,” Sonya said. “And the trust is important. He let Cleo and me see him in the yard with Yoda. Just a little boy in those short pants with the…” She gestured.
“Suspenders,” Deuce murmured.
“Yes. I caught a glimpse once before, but he ran from me. This time, he turned, grinned, waved. It…” She pressed a hand to her heart.
“Misty moment,” Cleo finished.
“I’ll say again, Collin chose well.” Ace lifted his glass. “Here’s to the ladies of Lost Bride Manor.”
“I’ll drink to that.” Seth lifted his, then looked at his wife. “But I’ll tell you, honey, we’re never moving from our unhaunted house.”
“You’ll be dealing with cries in the night soon enough.” Ace added a wink. “From my great-granddaughter.”
“Oh, that reminds me.” Paula shifted. “I saw the mural in the nursery. Cleo, Sonya, it’s just magical.”
“That was the goal. But Cleo’s got the lion’s share there, too. I’m the designated assistant. It’s like chopping.”
“Sonya minimizes her artistic talents.”
“My fine art talents.”
“Which she has.”
“She’s got a painting she did of the tree out front in the, what is it?” Trey had to think. “The gift-wrapping room.”
“Where once again we hauled furniture in and out,” Owen remembered. “We’re the designated muscle around here.”
“You have a gift-wrapping room?” Anna looked back at the manor with delight. “I have to see it.”
“We’ll show you. And Cleo’s using Collin’s office, so a few changes there. We’ve found so many treasures, big ones, small ones, in storage. We’re making use of them where it makes sense.”
“Which involves hauling furniture.”
“Strong and strapping,” Cleo purred so Owen just shook his head.
“What’s this I hear about a Poole family gallery? Corrine brought me and my own darling a few pictures to identify when she and Deuce couldn’t.”
“Poole Family and Friends Gallery. We’re going to— Not to scare Seth again.”
“No.” He looked at Sonya with a plea. “Let’s not scare Seth again.”
“So I’ll just say, when we have control of the Gold Room again on the third floor, we’ll make it a kind of Poole history gallery. And since we’re finding so many of those treasures stored away—hair combs, a kid glove, an old yo-yo, invitations, and more—we’re going to display them.”
Deuce looked down at his plate a moment, then lifted those blue eyes to Sonya.
“I didn’t know what to expect or hope for that day I knocked on your door in Boston. A part of me still grieved the loss of my oldest and closest friend. I wanted, so much, to honor his wishes, and wanted to persuade you to at least consider coming here.”
“You were honest, and that was persuasive.”
“You gave Sonya, and me,” Winter added, “family we didn’t know we had.”
“That was Collin’s wish, or one of them. What I didn’t know that day was you would honor not only his wishes but the dreams he had before he lost Johanna.”
“They’re my dreams now, too.”
“Tell us about some of them,” Corrine prompted. “What you plan.”
“Oh, well. Top goal has to be finding seven wedding rings and how they’ll move someone who won’t be named at the moment out of the manor. In the meantime, we’ll keep going through everything in storage, making use. Taking ownership, one room at a time.”
“I now have a gorgeous vanity in the room I use when I’m here.”
“It was Catherine’s, and that was her room. We put it back. And we found a desk that was Lisbeth’s, and it’s in the room she had. Eventually, I’m hoping to tackle the servants’ quarters, find a use for them, furnish them, and hopefully that lightens up the ballroom so we can open it again.”
“We’d throw some blow-up-your skirt holiday parties with a ballroom.”
Sonya grinned at Cleo. “Wouldn’t we? And there’s a space up there where we’re talking about displaying some of the amazing clothes stored in trunks. A kind of fashion history. If Poole’s Bay had a museum, or there was a way to help fund one, we could donate or lend—whatever it would be—at least some of them. They’ve been beautifully kept.”
“A museum.” Ace pursed his lips. “Hmm.”
“Seed planted,” Paula said.
“Let me give that some thought.”
“Those are very fine dreams.” Corrine’s wistful smile matched her tone. “Collin and Johanna shared some of them. I may not be strong and strapping like some at the table, but I hope if you need an extra hand, you’ll call on me. I’m a hell of an organizer.”
“I can attest,” Trey said.
* * *
When the meal ended, and Sonya got up to clear, everyone stood.
“No, please sit, relax.”
“Absolutely not.” Corrine continued stacking plates. “We all ate, we all help. Then, I’m with Anna. We want to see that gift-wrapping room.”
“We can take a little break before dessert.” Cleo led the way into the house.
“I heard a rumor about cream puffs.”
“That’s a fact,” Cleo told Ace. “And they’ll go perfectly with the peach ice cream we made last night.”
“Homemade peach ice cream.” Deuce pressed a hand to his belly. “Somebody should’ve told me.”
“Just stack everything up for now,” Sonya said. “A walk through the house, and upstairs, will help work up a dessert appetite.”
It took time to bring it all in before Sonya could lead the way.
“I see changes already. Good ones,” Corrine decided. “And you’ve framed some of the photos you found, too.”
“With names and approximate dates on the back. You all really helped us there,” Sonya told her. “You and Deuce, Ace and Paula. And Clarice Poole.”
“I remembered this one.” After giving Mookie a quick pat, Ace tapped a photo. “At a party when I was strong and strapping—and younger than these two. Michael and Patricia were already married, and living on the other side of the village.”
He angled his head in thought. “Michael came, as I recall. Patricia, of course, didn’t. A Poole cousin visited from New York or Boston, maybe Chicago. I danced with her a time or two. Julia—one of the Haverton line. Pretty girl. But not as pretty as my own darling.”
He gave her a kiss on the cheek. “I do like dancing with pretty girls.”
“I’d worry if you didn’t.”
“In any case, it wasn’t long after this, if my memory serves, that Michael inherited the manor, and Patricia had it closed up.”
When they moved to the music room, Anna let out a breath. “The portraits. Trey told us you’d found more, but seeing them’s different than just hearing about them.”
“Pretty girls,” Paula said. “Well, this one.”
“Agatha,” Sonya supplied.
“More handsome than pretty.”
“Sonya found her wedding invitation,” Trey told them.
“I’m hoping we find others. It would be nice to display as many as we can.”
“I still have Collin and Johanna’s. You can have it.”
“Oh, Corrine, I don’t want to take—”
“You should have it. I knew Johanna’s heart very well. She’d love what you’re doing.”
Clover spoke through Simon and Garfunkel’s “Bridge over Troubled Water.”
“We were that to each other, whenever we needed to be. So I’ll be her bridge now.”
Because she understood the bittersweet of memories and loss, Winter slipped an arm around Corrine’s waist as they continued.
By the time they’d reached the third floor, Ace gave a whew. “You can forget how big this house is. I’d say I’ve worked up that appetite.”
“My quad muscles have muscles,” Cleo claimed.
“Let’s show off your studio first.” With relief, Sonya noted the Gold Room remained quiet and still.
“I haven’t been up here in too many years to count,” Paula said. “That magnificent view, and I love how you’ve made it yours, Cleo. It’s just—”
She turned, saw the mermaid painting.
“Oh my goodness. Oh my! I’ve heard, but as Anna said, seeing … It’s magnificent. She’s magnificent.”
“Mine,” Owen said. “When can I take her?”
“Actually, now. She dried well. I’ll get her ready for the trip tomorrow.”
“About damn time.” He draped an arm over Paula’s shoulders. “You can come see her whenever you want.”
Sonya itched to check the closet, but thought of Seth. She hung back when Cleo took the group across the hall.
Only paint supplies. “Not yet.”
Trey waited in the doorway. “It hasn’t been that long since you found Marianne.”
“I know. I’m just impatient.” Taking his hand, she walked into the gift-wrapping room.
“This is brilliant.” And one hand on her baby mound, Anna turned a circle. “Absolutely brilliant. I want one.”
“I knew it.”
She laughed at Seth, squeezed his hands. “Don’t worry. Mom will help me figure it out.”
“After TBD Kate Miller.”
“Definitely.”
“This is your work.” Deuce gestured toward Sonya’s paintings. “Cleo’s right. You do minimize it.”
“I appreciate that, but—”
“No buts.” Trey spoke firmly.
“She’s her father’s child in that she inherited his talent. Just not his passion for this kind of art. You painted that one in college. I remember.”
“Cleo dug it out.”
“They’re all wonderful. That tree—you both painted it. It’s got such presence,” Corrine said, “such character. How old is that tree?”
“I’m not that old, youngster.” But Ace studied the painting. “Planted before my time. She’s a beauty.”
“Cleo’s doing the tree in each season.”
“I love that idea, but, Mom, look at this! Look how they’re using this armoire. The closet rod as a paper roll, the storage for wrapping supplies.”
“You know we don’t have one of those.”
“We could get one, Seth. Or someone could build one.”
Owen caught the look. “You know I build boats, right?”
Anna circled a hand over her baby mound. Maybe as habit, maybe as ploy.
“You can build anything. And Trey would help, wouldn’t you, Trey?”
“He doesn’t give me a choice.”
When they started down for dessert, Sonya took a last look back at the Gold Room. Still and quiet.
By the time they returned to the kitchen, the dishwasher hummed and the counters sparkled.
