Page 27 of Two Hearts' Christmas Homecoming

Amy made a right once they reached the landing, leading Lex through the hallway toward a door at the very end on the left.

Opening the door, she motioned for Lex to go inside ahead of her.

Lex blinked.

Amy couldn’t gauge his reaction. The room was huge with some built in bookshelves and even had a large fireplace on the exterior wall. The wide window overlooked the winery and Amy could see that, apparently finished with unloading supplies, Zane and Caleb were outside with Izzy, throwing sticks for all three of the dogs.

“You have a view of all the roads. You’ll always know what’s going on around here. Somehow, I think that’s kind of important to you,” she said quietly. “Since it’s a corner room, it gets a little chillier at this end of the house. We use these fireplaces in all the rooms to heat them.”

“This is an awful lot of space just for me,” Lex said, still looking dazed as he glanced around.

Of course, there wasn’t much furniture inside.

“That’s because Dad wants you to know that this will always be your home. He doesn’t want you to leave until you’re ready to leave. I heard him say that to Mom. If that means years of tutoring, so be it.”

Amy saw tears in his eyes before he turned away, pretending to look outside through the window.

“What do you think of the paint color I picked out for you? Mom and Izzy are going to help Zane paint his room first, then we’ll all do yours. She said that Zane should be settled in his room as quickly as possible because he’s probably going to go along with Eve on tour this fall.”

Lex grinned. “I think the room looks good the way it is.”

“It’s too boring,” Amy said, showing him a paint samples chart.

“What color did you have in mind?”

Teasing, she pointed at a dark shade of purple.

Lex looked at her uncertainly. “Seriously?”

She giggled.

He grinned, punching her lightly in the shoulder. “I noticed that purple seems to be your favorite color.”

She nodded her agreement, pointing at one of the colors. “This was the one I thought you might like.”

He nodded approvingly. “It’s kind of a lighter bluish gray, isn’t it? I like it.”

Sheepish, she answered, “Good. Cause Mom already ordered it.”

Lex barked out a laugh.

“I found some furniture for you too,” she said.

“Of course, you did,” he murmured.

“I think we’ve got time to go take a look before lunch.”

“Okay. Lead on,” Lex replied.

Amy had him follow her upstairs into the fourth-floor attic storage room first. “If you see anything in here that you might want in your room once we have the big stuff inside, you can come and grab it. I do that all the time. I’ve been bringing my kids’ stuff up here, but now I can give some of my things to Caleb.”

She started walking through the room and pointed at a large roll top desk.

“This would be nice for you to have in your room, I think. It’s too big for most of the other rooms, which is why it’s still upstairs since Mom and Dad remodeled. Izzy said it used to be downstairs in Dad’s study before Dad bought the house.”

“Yes, it would be nice to have somewhere to do school work besides Gabe’s study, since it’s the only place that’s really quiet. So, what’s the deal with this house, Amy? It’s huge. Did it used to be a hotel or something?”

“I guess it’s been all kinds of stuff through the years,” Amy said. “Izzy knows everything about it, but Mom’s relatives built the house hundreds of years ago. You know how we’re bordered by the lake on one side and the river on the other? The river here branches off Lake Superior way up north, and there used to be a huge trading post where a place called the Riverbend Lodge is now, so our house was filled with lodgers. After that, it was used as some kind of hospital during the civil war, and then a rest home for a lot of years. And then Mom’s great-great-grandparents turned it into an inn.”

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