Page 200 of The Seven Rings
Sonya considered the occasional door slams, window slams, doorbell bonging, bell ringing as Dobb’s pique, and found she didn’t mind it at all.
In fact, she decided on amusement.
She prepared herself for whatever came next from that quarter, but refused to dwell on it.
Instead, she worked through those last days that blended summer with fall. She carved out time to finalize her plans for the game room. Through Corrine, she found an upholsterer.
Maddy Black turned out to be a cousin of Lucy Cabot, who’d fostered Mookie, Jones, Yoda, and Pye.
A woman on the far side of fifty, she had deep brown eyes behind red-framed glasses. She wore her gray-streaked brown hair in a single thick braid down her back.
Her Birkenstock boots showed considerable wear, as did her Levi’s. A collection of colorful braided bracelets decorated her right wrist, and dangles of moons and stars—and a curve of three red studs—her ears.
She had a trio of chains around her neck, each bearing a crystal.
When Sonya greeted her at the door, Yoda immediately fell in love.
“Well, look at you! Do you remember me?” Maddy hunkered down to rub and stroke. “I met you for about five minutes one day at Lucy’s. She said you’d found a good home.”
Maddy looked up at Sonya. “I don’t remember what his name is.”
“He’s Yoda.”
“Of course he is.”
“I really appreciate you coming to take a look at the furniture.”
“That’s what I do. And I start off repeating what I told you on the phone. It’s usually cheaper to buy new. I’m all for restoring, but I want the customer to know.”
“I do. But these pieces have been in the manor for generations. I want to give them a fresh look and purpose.”
“That’s what I like to hear.” Maddy straightened up, looked around.“I’ve never actually been in here before. It’s all I’ve heard and a bushel of apples. Nothing like a good old house, is there? All that character, all that history, all those lives lived.”
“That’s exactly how I feel.”
“I didn’t really know your uncle very well, but Corrine set store by him, and she’s a good judge. Sets store by you, too.”
“I hope so, because she’s wonderful.”
“She’s that, and no one to trifle with. Look what you’ve got here.”
Hands on hips, Maddy looked into the main parlor. “Beautiful pieces, and well tended to. These aren’t what you want redone.”
“No, those pieces are downstairs. They’ve been in storage for… I don’t know how long.”
“Let’s take a look.”
“We’ll go up to go down. Through the servants’ door.”
As they started up, Maddy continued to look around with approval, and stopped, hands on hips, when Sonya opened the servants’ door.
“There’s something you don’t see every day.”
“There’s a whole world down here. Collin remodeled some of it—put in a home gym, a home theater,” she continued as they went down. “I want to keep that going. I’m doing a game room in what was the servants’ hall.”
“My, my. It just keeps going, doesn’t it?”
“It does. We pulled out the three pieces so they’re not as tricky to get to. The sofa and the two chairs.”
