Page 5 of My Heart Will Find You

“This is beautiful.” Etta was so in awe, she was whispering.

To the right was another table, but this one was lower, with white chairs around it. You could cook and serve in one room.

She ran her hand over the tall table. It made a true cook’s island. “This is perfect.”

“Ben and I liked it. After he got married, he and I did the cooking.”

“Caroline’s domesticity is like Martha’s?”

“Softer, but in a lot of ways, yes.” He nodded down the hall toward the big staircase. “You’ll be staying upstairs, but I’m afraid...” He didn’t finish, but she understood. No stairs for him.

She went up the stairs. There were four bedrooms, each with a private bath. It was easy to see that at one time there’d been more bedrooms, and probably just one bath to be shared by both the family and the live-in servants.

One of the bedrooms was a nursery with a bassinet draped in white gauze. The sight made Etta think how sad Henry must be that his son and daughter-in-law and grandchild wouldn’t be living there.

She knew too well the emptiness of when people you loved left your daily life.

There was a bedroom that she liked best. It was at the back of the house in what probably used to be the servants’ quarters. There were windows in three walls, with a door to the bathroom in the fourth.

It was a moment before she saw the narrow door between the windows. It led out to a small, flat portion of the roof. An iron railing ran around the edges. The floor had been tiled, and Etta could imagine some old-fashioned teak furniture there. Like on a 1920s cruise ship.

Smiling, she went back into the room. The bed wasn’t very big, but it was old and mahogany. There was a vintage trunk at the foot. The wallpaper was green-and-white stripes. The pictures on the walls were prints: David Roberts’s sketches of Egypt, a black-and-white photo of Captain Sir Richard Francis Burton.

Between the windows on the far side were built-in shelves that were jammed full of books. David Attenborough’s wildlife adventures were there, as well as books by Gerald Durrell.Wonder if he’s been to Corfu?she thought as that’s where the Durrells lived.

The room was quite male so she assumed it was Ben’s. She’d ask Henry’s permission, of course, and he could text Ben, but this was the room she wanted to stay in.

When Etta heard voices, she hurried downstairs. Henry was by the front door talking to a young woman holding a big box full of vegetables. She was very pretty, with auburn hair and a body that was big on top and bottom, and small in the middle. It was the kind of body women spent years in a gym trying to create. She wore tight jeans and a shirt with several buttons undone.

“This is Freddy,” Henry said with obvious affection. “She feeds me.”

“Just the raw ingredients.” Freddy held out the box. “Kitchen?” It was as though she saw Etta as the mistress of the house.

“Sure. How did you get all that? I heard that the grocery stores are nearly empty.”

Freddy put the box on the island. “I have a big garden, but it’s too early for much so I go to the back of...well, to a few stores and ask the boys with the delivery trucks.” As she said that, she leaned forward. It was obvious that she meant that her formfitting clothes helped her get first dibs on what came off the trucks.

“Whatever it takes.”

Etta looked in the box. Berries, oranges, eggplant, onions, a bag of green beans and more. “This is wonderful. Thank you.”

Freddy turned to Henry. “Everybody okay?”

“Yes. Caroline’s just waiting to go into labor.”

“Bet she’s still working, though.”

Henry smiled. “Of course. She’ll be in the labor room and drawing between pushes.”

“And Ben will be holding her drawing pad,” Freddy said.

“Anything for her,” Henry replied.

Freddy turned her back to him and gave Etta a serious look that let her know of Henry’s sadness, his loneliness. “I gotta go. I have three other clients waiting for me. I’ll see you next week.”

Again, she looked at Etta, who nodded. Yes, she’d take care of Henry.

Freddy looked at her watch. “It’s getting late if you plan to get it all done by six. Tell Sophie hi for me.” With that Freddy left out the side door.

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