Page 57 of Sweet Little Thing

Stone pulled around to park right in front of the steps leading to the impressive doors where two marble lions sat on either side as if standing guard. I parked behind him still trying to take it in. Did someone actually build this to look like a castle? That had to be the case. It was a replica of something from a storybook.

Stone stepped in front of my car blocking my view, and I shifted my eyes to meet his. He was waiting on me, and I was too busy gawking. I turned the car off and grabbed my keys beforegetting out.

“What in the world?” I asked. My words were laden with awe. I couldn’t act as if I wasn’t completely fascinated.

“She’s a bit eccentric. Her husband indulged her when he was alive. This house was one of those indulgences.”

“Uh, this is more than an indulgence,” I replied, walking to meet him on the stairs.

“Not to Victor Mayweather.”

I started to ask more when one of the doors opened, and a tiny lady with snow-white hair pulled up in piggy tails appeared. “Stone! I thought the milkman was here. He’s late,” she said, throwing her hands up.

“The milkman won’t be coming today, Gerry love. He retired about sixty-five years ago.”

She frowned and placed a finger on her puckered lips. “That’s right. I’d forgotten about that. Bill was a fine man. Always brought the best milk. It was cold, too. That wasn’t always the case you know.”

Stone bent down to press a kiss to her weathered cheek. “Good morning.”

She beamed up at him in a way that made my chest feel warm. “Good morning to you, too, dear. Did you decide to get married after all? She’s lovely. I can see why you changed your mind,” Geraldine said as she smiled at me. “I had no idea she was such a beauty.”

“I didn’t change my mind. I’m still not getting married. This is Beulah, the girl I told you about. The one that I think you would enjoy having here to help you with things during the day. Like your hairstyle choices.” He added the last bit with a smile. My breath momentarily halted. Stuck in my throat, as I stared at him. That was a smile I’d never seen on his chiseled face. It was completely genuine and well on that man- insanely powerful.

He was making a joke I realized for me alone. She wouldn’tunderstand the comment. His eyes shifted to me and they sparkled with amusement. The affect had me sucking in air before my lungs exploded.

“Oh yes, yes! I remember. I was just thinking I’d like to color my hair red. Can she do hair color?”

He chuckled then. A deep, full laugh.

“I like your hair the beautiful shade of platinum it is. Let’s not change that.”

She sighed. “Very well. I’ll leave it like this just for you.”

“Thank you,” he replied with complete sincerity.

“Do you think you could find where my chickens went? I was going to scramble some eggs for breakfast,” she asked looking directly at me now as if I should have the answer for her.

“I—” had no idea what to say.

“There are no chickens here. That was at your cottage in Bath. You no longer live in England,” Stone said to her, stopping me before I agreed to find the chickens.

She waved her hand and laughed. “That’s right. Moved last week,” she replied. “Come on inside. We’ll all catch a cold out here.”

She hurried back inside, and I noticed one of her shoes was a red house slipper and the other was a white tennis shoe.

Working here would never get boring, and it would definitely be distracting. Something I needed desperately.

Geraldine led us into a sitting room with two sofas that looked like expensive antiques no one should be sitting on and two high-back chairs. There was a fireplace made entirely of marble. Over it hung a painting of a tall, handsome man with black hair and a square jaw.

“There are five guest bedrooms, each with an en suite. I have them named and you’ll need to memorize them. We will cover that today. The master suite has two en suites and two sitting rooms. The kitchen is down the hall to the left. The diningroom I use daily is across from it. The formal dining room for entertaining or parties is in the right wing further down. As you know, it’s not proper to have it too close to the kitchen. There is a library, office, bathroom, powder room, sunroom, and this room needs daily dusting, sweeping, and the like. I can’t keep up with it all anymore. I let the help go after Victor passed because they got in my way.” She paused and smiled. “I didn’t even offer you tea before I started the job description. I’m terribly sorry. I promise I’m not normally so rude.”

“We’d love a cup,” Stone replied.

She beamed at us both. “I’ll be right back.”

I watched as she walked gracefully from the room, baffled by her complete change in character.

“She has her moments. We arrived during one. For the most part, she pretty with it. But the spells, as she calls them, come along, and she gets lost, confused, forgets, and often thinks it’s the nineteen fifties and she’s living in England. You’ll learn to spot the switch.”

---