Page 62 of Luna

“Lunch and dinner are definite, and a mid-morning and mid-afternoon snack are optional but always appreciated,” Hunter answered before Dally could respond.

“Okay. I’ll think up some menu ideas and get them to you, Dally.”

“I don’t care what you make. Corni and I will help you, mostly Corni, and our bunkhouse cook can also lend a hand as needed. He’ll be in charge of feeding the men breakfast. I would have turned the whole thing over to him, but it’s more than he can handle on his own, and I think the men would revolt if he fed them his famous ham and beans twice a day all week.”

“Revolt and never come back,” Hunter said, smiling at Luna as they finished the dishes. “Before I take you home, I want to take you to see my new place.”

“I’d like that,” Luna said, drying her hands and hanging the towel on a hook above the sink. “I’ll just get my things from upstairs and change out of Dally’s skirt.”

“You keep it. That color suits you far better than it fits me,” Dally said, giving Luna another hug. “I’m so glad you came today. Thank you for everything.”

“Thank you, Dally. I’m grateful for the skirt, and your friendship.” Luna hugged her back, then dashed upstairs to get her bag. Hunter met her at the base of the stairs, and together, they made their way outside and out to his waiting automobile.

Rather than take her back to town, he drove on a road she had no idea even existed. He turned onto a dirt lane and smiled at her.

“You are officially on my land now,” he said, a hint of pride evident in his voice.

Luna gazed around at the newly planted poplar trees, the tilled fields ready for planting, and the fences that looked new. “It’s wonderful, Hunter. Are the fields where you’ll plant the apple trees?”

He nodded and pointed to where he planned to plant various types of apples, the names of which she was completely unfamiliar. She could see a dozen head of cattle grazing in a pasture, unlike any bovines she’d seen in Pendleton.

“What are they?” she asked, motioning to the herd.

“Angus. I bought them from a rancher in Holiday. It’s a few hours from here. They originally came from Scotland—the breed, I mean. I think they’ll be good beef producers.”

“Oh,” she said, more interested in a town named Holiday than the finer points of raising beef cattle.

Hunter stopped outside a house that was in need of work. As he’d mentioned, the windows would all have to be replaced along with much of the siding and the porch, but it was a grand house that included a turret that stretched up two stories.

Luna closed her eyes and pictured the house painted a light shade of gray with white and deep purple trim. It would look magnificent.

She opened her eyes and found Hunter staring at her with a thoughtful look on his face.

“Want to look inside?” he asked as he got out of the automobile and hustled around to her side.

“Of course!” she took the hand he held out to her as she stepped from the auto and didn’t offer a word of complaint when he held onto her fingers as they walked across the overgrown yard and up the warped steps of the porch.

He unlocked the door and pushed it open. Half the windows were broken out and boarded up, but even so, plenty of light spilled inside the house, allowing her to see the beautiful hardwood floors and the curved newel post carved with acanthus scrolls.

Despite the dust and grime and the run-down state of the home, Luna could picture it as it had once looked. How it would look again.

She loved it. She stood in the entry hall that actually had two entrances: the one they came in, and another to the side.

“This is the parlor,” Hunter said, stepping into a room with a corner fireplace and a bank of bay windows in the turret. The wallpaper was half-peeled off the wall and in a ghastly shade of grass green, but the room could be made lovely with a good cleaning and a coat of paint.

She followed as he led the way into the next room. “This will be my office and the library.”

The word library made her perk up. She loved books, although she didn’t have as much time for reading as she liked. She anticipated the winter would bring more hours for reading when the cold kept her inside. The room also had a fireplace, and she could envision curling up in a big leather chair by a crackling fire, reading as the snow blew outside.

They walked through the dining room into what Hunter called a butler’s pantry, and entered the kitchen.

“I want to add a bedroom for a housekeeper, a laundry room, and a bathroom back here, connected to the kitchen.” He pointed to a section of the exterior wall. “I want to put a small hallway here and build the rooms out this way.”

Luna nodded, then accepted his hand as he led her up the narrow back stairs. There were four roomy bedrooms, with the largest located at the front corner of the house with the turret.

“You need a window seat here,” she said, stepping over to the bay windows. What a delight it would be to sit there and look out over Hunter’s property, especially when the apple trees were in bloom.

“That’s a great idea, Luna.” Hunter nodded in agreement and followed as she gazed into the small nursery attached to the room. It would be a wonderful convenience for new parents to have the baby so close until it was old enough to move into one of the other bedrooms.

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