Honeysuckle Hollow

by Jennifer Moorman

  “Where did these come from?” she asked as she knelt in front of them.

  “They’ve been stored up here for years,” Crazy Kate said. “Matthias didn’t want them hung in the house. I think he worried something would happen to them, but now they’ve grown old and worn.”

  “Like us,” Mrs. Steele said.

  Tessa touched one of the frames. “They can be restored. Jules at Walnut Street Art & Frame can fix them. She’s a magician with restoration. Who are they?” She glanced over her shoulder at the women.

  “The Hamilton brothers,” Crazy Kate said.

  The brothers. Tessa had felt the answer before she’d been given it. The boys looked too much alike to not be brothers, with the same dark hair and strong jawlines. She heard the clomp clomp clomp of Trudy’s cane against the floor.

  “That’s Benjamin,” Mrs. Steele said, pointing with her cane. “The oldest and wildest. Then Richard, the follower. He did anything Benjamin asked him to.” She looked over at Crazy Kate. “Do you remember when Benjamin dared Richard to spend the night on Red River Hill?”

  “But it’s haunted,” Tessa blurted.

  Mrs. Steele laughed—a brittle, raspy sound that shook her frail body—and Tessa’s mouth fell agape. Laughter changed the old woman’s face, and Tessa saw how she once had been beautiful before she’d become bitter.

  “And Richard jumped at shadows for weeks,” Crazy Kate said, shaking her head. “He swore there were men living in those woods.”

  Mrs. Steele’s smile pushed wrinkles across her cheeks. “Those last two are Matthias and Geoffrey.”

  Tessa exhaled. Without a doubt, the two most handsome brothers. “I can have these restored and then rehang them in the house.” She stood.

  Mrs. Steele leaned on her cane. “I hope you know what you’re doing, trying to restore this whole place,” she said, shuffling across the floor toward the chair.

  “I don’t, but knowing the house is saved gives me hope that the good guy can win sometimes.”

  Mrs. Steele sat and glanced up at Tessa. “Should I assume that I’m the bad guy?”

  “Well, no, I mean, not now, but maybe for a few minutes, well, that’s rude. I shouldn’t—”

  Mrs. Steele’s laugh cut off the rest of Tessa’s words, and she glanced at her feet before clearing her throat. “Paul went to get lunch, if anyone’s hungry. We could eat downstairs in the dining room. Maybe you both could tell us how the house used to look, back when it was taken care of. Share a few stories.”

  Mrs. Steele leaned forward and cut her eyes over at Crazy Kate. “Oh, we have more than a few stories about this place and about the Hamiltons. Never a dull moment with those boys.”

  Crazy Kate leaned her head back against the rocker, closed her eyes, and shook her head. “Never.”

  By the time Paul had returned with bags of warm food, two drink trays full of cups of coffee and lemon balm tea, disposable plates, napkins, and utensils, Tessa had the dining room ready for lunch. After hearing about the rocky reunion, Cecilia had taken lemon balm from her garden and brewed a batch of tea. She said her nonna always swore that the herb could bring peace to even the most unsettled heart, and Tessa believed her. She thought about the garden as she finished her tea. The atmosphere in the room was one of happiness and renewal. It was almost as if Mrs. Steele and Crazy Kate had been friends for all the years they’d spent disliking one another.

  Paul scribbled notes on a notepad and stacked sketches around him. Mrs. Steele and Crazy Kate had given them so much detail about the house that Paul had pages worth of ledger-lined notes. Tessa pulled apart a cinnamon roll and pushed one half toward Paul. He reached out for it without lifting his pencil from the pad. He popped it into his mouth and chewed, and then he looked up.

  “When we’re all finished, you’ll have to come back,” Paul said to Mrs. Steele. “Bring your family so they can see where the magic happened.”

  Tessa flinched, thinking Mrs. Steele’s experience with losing Geoffrey in the house outweighed the fact that she’d fallen in love with him in the same house and that her children had played there every summer and spent holidays there. But Mrs. Steele nodded her head.

  “I’ll expect a formal invitation and not to be disappointed by the renovations. I can’t have my family thinking their daddy and his family lived in a dump,” she said.

  “I hardly think this could ever be called a dump,” Paul said. Then he tapped his fingers on the table. “Except for the graffiti in the kitchen and the boarded up windows.”

  “And don’t forget the bats and the raccoon and the mangy cat,” Tessa added.

  “Since when have you cared so much about a home?” Crazy Kate asked him, but her words were gentle.

  Paul looped his finger around one of Tessa’s. “Since I showed up in Mystic Water and Tessa tried to poison me with the worst pancakes ever.”

  Tessa snorted, but her chest felt warm and her stomach turned to dough. She squeezed his finger, thinking that everything—the house, her life, Paul—was falling into place, and she didn’t see how anything could go wrong.

  The next morning Tessa rolled over and grabbed her phone, turned off the alarm, and pushed herself up on her elbows. Sunlight trickled through the curtains and illuminated the bottom half of the bed. Paul stepped into the doorway. Tessa fumbled with her hair, raking her fingers through the mess.

  “That’s making it worse,” he said, walking in and hopping onto the end of the bed. “I’m not sure a comb would help.”

  Tessa frowned. “Why are you up so early?”

  “I had some ideas about the house last night, and I woke up early thinking about them. Let’s go downstairs, have breakfast, and get over to the house. Aren’t the workers going to be there at seven? I want to talk to Charlie.”

  “Whoa there, cowboy,” Tessa said. “I need a shower first.”

  “Yes, you do. But make it fast.”

  Tessa reached behind her and grabbed a pillow. Then she threw it at Paul. He caught it, laughed, and tossed it back at her faster than she could lift her hands in defense. The pillow smacked her in the face and dropped into her lap. She narrowed her eyes at him, and he jumped off the bed.

  As he backed out of the bedroom door, he said, “You have fifteen minutes to make yourself lovely, but you don’t need that much time. Even with that hair.” He winked.

  After Tessa brushed her teeth, showered, and dressed, she and Paul headed downstairs to Scrambled. The Monday morning crowd was already nestled into their usual spots, and Tessa sat in a booth while Paul slipped into the kitchen to speak to his parents.

  Tessa flipped over the coffee cups, and on her next pass, Laney filled their cups with coffee and raised her eyebrows at Tessa. “Interesting development,” she said as she dropped a handful of creamers onto the table.

  Tessa reached for two creamers and felt her cheeks warm. “Oh, well, for me too. I didn’t like Paul at first, but he’s so charming. He could charm the pants off anyone—not that he charmed the pants off me. I was being figurative, oh, man, that sounded awful. Pretend I didn’t say that. But yeah, I wasn’t expecting it, and,” she smiled up at Laney, “it’s nice.”

  Laney cocked her hip and fisted her hand on it. “I was talking about the rumor I heard about you buying Honeysuckle Hollow.”

  Tessa’s eyes widened. “Oh.”

  Laney laughed. “I didn’t know you’d actually put the moves on the Borellis’ son. Good for you. He’s handsome.”

  Paul exited the kitchen, causing Laney to scurry off. He slid in across from Tessa.

  “Mom’s going to make us buttermilk pancakes with bacon maple syrup. She said it’s one of your favorites.”

  “Everything here is one of my favorites,” Tessa said, pouring creamer into her coffee. Her phone rang inside her purse. “Excuse me for a minute. Let me see who that is ’cause it might be the condo buyer. He said he’d call today.” Tessa dug around until she found the phone, and she smiled. “Oh, it’s Anna, do you mind?”r />
  Paul shook his head and reached for his coffee.

  “Anna! Hey, what are you doing calling so early? Well, I guess you’ve already been up for hours, haven’t you?”

  “I just fell out of bed,” Anna said. “Not literally, but, yeah, I slept in this morning because I’m in town. In Mystic Water. Eli and I got home late last night after we’d closed down everything. One of our workers, Jenna, is covering for us for a couple of days. She’s great. Anyway, we stayed at Mama and Daddy’s. We want to see the house and see you, so tell me when you’re free. I promised Lily we’d call her too. She wants to come over.”

  Tessa frowned. “But…I thought y’all thought me buying Honeysuckle Hollow was a terrible idea.”

  Anna sighed. “I’m sorry it came across that way. We were surprised is all. It’s such a big undertaking, but we don’t want you to think we don’t believe you can do it. You’re smart and capable, and we’re excited. You’ll be down the street from Lily, almost neighbors. We want to support you.”

  Tessa looked across the table at Paul. He lifted his eyebrows in question.

  “Paul and I are having breakfast right now, but afterward, maybe in an hour or so, we’ll be going to the house. Y’all can meet us over there anytime.”

  “Paul?” Anna said, and Tessa heard the smile in Anna’s voice. “Can’t wait to meet him. We’ll see you at nine. I’ll call Lily.”

  “Perfect. See you then!” Tessa disconnected and dropped her phone into her purse. “My two best friends want to meet us at the house this morning.”

  Paul lowered the coffee cup to its saucer. “That’s unexpected pressure.”

  Tessa’s brow wrinkled. “What do you mean?”

  “Meeting your two best friends is more challenging than meeting your parents. They’re going to judge me.”

  Tessa snorted. “You’ve got nothing to worry about. They’re gonna love you. I was just telling Laney that you can charm the pants off anyone.”

  Paul smirked. “You were? I’d like to test this hypothesis. Are you available at,” he glanced down at his watch, “eight a.m.? What do you say?”

  Tessa’s cheeks warmed, and she pressed her lips together as she stared at her coffee cup. “You’re a scoundrel,” she mumbled, lifting the cup to her lips.

  “No one has used the word scoundrel in the last fifty years.”

  She smiled against the cup. “I’m bringing it back just for you.”

  Paul chuckled. “You like me because I’m a scoundrel. You don’t have enough scoundrels in your life. The question is whether or not I’m an irresistible one.”

  Yes! Absolutely, one hundred percent, yes. “Possibly,” she said, matching his smirk with her own.

  By the time Tessa and Paul finished breakfast and arrived at Honeysuckle Hollow, busy workers filled the house. Much of the plywood had been removed from the antique windows in the front rooms, and workers strengthened the window frames and added new molding where the old had rotted. One man used a professional wallpaper steamer to remove the peeling wallpaper on the wall leading up the staircase. A paint-splattered drop cloth covered the entire staircase, and chunks of sticky, goopy wallpaper fell away in patches as he pulled.

  Charlie leaned over the dining room table with paperwork spread out around her. She looked up and smiled when she saw Tessa and Paul.

  “Good morning Charlie,” Tessa said. “This is Paul Borelli…a friend. He’s in town for a while, and he’ll be the acting architect on this job.”

  Charlie’s cheek twitched as she smirked. “Is this the handsome Italian traveler who cooks like a chef?”

  Paul grinned. “Is that how I’ve been described?”

  Charlie chuckled. “I can see why the one-bedroom offer was dangerous.”

  Tessa couldn’t meet Paul’s gaze, so she cleared her throat and said, “Paul, this is Charlie Parker.”

  Paul reached out his hand to Charlie and grinned wider. “Hello there, Yardbird,” he said. “Nice to meet you.”

  Tessa gaped at him. “Paul,” she blurted, “why would you say that?” She looked at Charlie and said, “I apologize for him. His manners are sometimes lacking.”

  Paul looked affronted. “Charlie Parker was a famous jazz musician nicknamed Yardbird. It wasn’t meant to be offensive.”

  Charlie smiled at Paul and leaned her hip against the table. “No one, and I mean, no one ever knows that,” she said. “My parents were huge fans of his. Supposedly I was created during one of his more famous tunes.”

  “They have good taste,” Paul said, stepping toward the table. “One time when I was in Paris, I visited a nightclub called The Caméléon. I knew there was someone special playing in the vaulted, downstairs room because at least a hundred people were trying to squeeze through the door. We were packed in so tightly that we could hardly breathe, which wasn’t so horrible because the club reeked of stale sweat and cigarettes. But in that cramped, dark, damp space, a group of musicians transported the crowd to the 1930s with Charlie Parker’s greatest tunes, and we lit the space with our luminous cocktails and the fiery glow of cigarettes.”

  Charlie smoothed her hand down her ponytail, and her expression softened. “Wish I could have been there,” she said in a voice that sounded much too dreamy for Tessa’s liking.

  “Me too,” Paul said. “I could have shown you—”

  “Paul,” Tessa interrupted, shaking off the enchantment he had cast. She felt surprised by the pricks of jealousy in her stomach. She didn’t want to think of Paul showing Charlie anything. “Can we focus on the house for a minute?”

  Even though Charlie looked mildly disappointed that the conversation was shifting, she refocused her gaze on the drawings Paul spread out on the table.

  “Here’s what I’ve been thinking,” Paul said, and he explained each drawing in detail before unrolling the blueprints. He gathered a few tools and weighted down the corners of the paper.

  Tessa turned her attention to the front door when she heard someone knocking. The door opened and Lily, Anna, and Eli stepped into the foyer. Tessa squealed, startling both Paul and Charlie, and she hurried over to her friends.

  “You’re here!” She bounced on her toes. Then she hugged Lily and Anna and then wrapped her arms around Eli’s waist as she leaned back her head and looked up at him.

  He smiled down at her. “Long time no see. This is some place you got here, Tess.”

  “Wow,” Anna said as she drifted toward the staircase. “Look at the craftsmanship. It has all the original woodwork and molding? Look at the millwork. The running trim spandrels.”

  Tessa raised her eyebrows in question.

  Anna shrugged. “What? I’ve listened to you talk about them enough through the years. I was listening. Most of the time.”

  Lily looped her arm through Tessa’s. “You forgive us for being negative when you told us about the house? We weren’t trying to make you feel bad. We were surprised, but this house, well, it needs work. But I can see you’ve already started and cleaning up the front yard has made a ton of difference already, and, whoa, is that Paul? Ain’t he all easy on the eyes?”

  Anna stepped away from the staircase and peered into the dining room. Paul leaned against the dining room table with his arms crossed over his chest. He lifted one hand and waved.

  “Holy smokes,” Anna whispered.

  Eli cleared his throat. “I’m standing right here.”

  Anna grinned at Eli over her shoulder. “You’re my number one, but Tessa picked a looker.”

  Tessa’s stomach fluttered. “Come meet him, and then I’ll give y’all a tour.”

  Tessa led them into the dining room and introduced Paul to her friends, and he shook their hands.

  “We’ve heard so much about you,” Lily said, eyes twinkling like someone with a secret to share.

  “Yeah?” Paul asked, glancing at Tessa. “Like what?”

  Tessa shook her head, but Lily continued, “Tess verified that you’re not a serial killer, which is a bon
us.”

  Paul laughed.

  Lily added, “But other than that, she’s been pretty tight lipped about her new friend other than your sleeping arrangements. So, if you’d care to enlighten us—”

  “Why don’t I show y’all around?” Tessa interrupted before Lily embarrassed her further. She put her hands on Lily’s lower back and shoved her out of the room.

  In the kitchen, workers chipped the tiles from the island while one man lay on his back beneath the kitchen sink. The French doors were open so another worker could carry in a stack of two by fours.

  “The kitchen needs a bit of work, but it has good bones and good space,” Anna said. She pointed at the graffiti marring the kitchen wall and cabinets. “Can they sand down the cabinets and re-stain them?”

  Tessa nodded. She led them around the ground floor and told them about the guest books she’d found and how the house had helped so many people. Neither one of her friends had known how much Dr. Hamilton had used Honeysuckle Hollow as temporary housing.

  “This house is special, Tess,” Anna said. “You’re doing a good thing here, saving an historic haven.”

  Tessa’s chest warmed and she nodded. Before they toured the upstairs, Tessa led them out into the backyard.

  “The Potts will be back tomorrow to finish the work they started,” Tessa said, “but they’ve already cleaned it out a lot. You should have seen how wild it was back here. Once they’re all done, we’ll get a few koi and replenish the river.”

  “We’ll?” Lily asked. “Who’s the we in that sentence?”

  Tessa tucked her hair behind her ears. “Just a general statement.”

  Lily raised one eyebrow. “Uh huh.” She glanced sideways at Anna. “You believe that?”

  Anna smiled. “Not really.”

  Tessa sighed. “Paul is the acting architect. He has a lot of great ideas and has experience with historic homes,” Tessa said. “It’s a team effort. Sometimes I automatically say we when referencing what the team is doing with the house.” But I want to say we when referencing everything else in my life too.