by Callie Norse
Contents
FOR THE LOVE OF LISA
For the Love
Of Lisa
Callie Norse
iUniverse, Inc
New York Bloomington
For the Love of Lisa
Copyright © 2010 by Callie Norse
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews
This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, names, incidents, organizations, and dialogue in this novel are either the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
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ISBN: 978-1-4502-1784-2 (sc) ISBN: 978-1-4502-1785-9 (ebk)
Printed in the United States of America
iUniverse rev. date: 9/23/2010
Acknowledgments
I would like to thank those who have continually supported me in my writing. To each of my select few friends, whom I have allowed to read the book, I owe a huge thanks. The overwhelming enthusiasm you have shown for this book and my writing, has given me much encouragement to continue on with my writing and to publish. Many times, when I have doubted myself, your words have enabled me to continue. Thank-you Martha, Anna, and Wanda.
I also wish to thank my husband for his support and encouragement to publish this book.
One
On a dreary March day, Greg and Lisa Carrington and their six-year-old daughter, Maggie, sat snugly in the living room of their small apartment, watching television and listening to the rain. With each drop, the once beautiful snow melted, washing down the hillside and emptying into the city drainage system.
The small town of Galena, Illinois, was a tourist town known for its beautiful older hillside homes and for skiing at the nearby resort of Chestnut Mountain. For this reason, it was always sad to see the snow begin to melt. Greg and Lisa had grown up with the love of skiing. They had first taken Maggie to learn the art at the age of four. After many spills, she learned to stay on her feet with the red plastic skis Santa had given her for Christmas that year. She was doing quite well for such a young age, which was not unusual for children of Galena. Soon, she would be ready to move up from the beginner slope, where she had spent many hours.
The phone rang. Greg reached over to the table beside his recliner and picked up the handset. Lisa looked on, admiring how handsome he was in his red lambskin shirt, with a black turtleneck exposed at the neckline. Red was the perfect contrast to his dark brown hair, which he always kept neatly cut across the nape of his neck, with a loose-combed look on top. His deep brown eyes, which sparkled as he spoke, and his prominent dimples made him irresistible to Lisa from the start—not to mention his muscular physique. He lacked the height to be described as tall, dark, and handsome, for he stood only five foot nine. Lisa considered herself quite fortunate to have a husband so handsome, however, this wasn’t her top priority in a man. His personality always stood out to her. He put other people’s needs above his. He was always there to help those who needed help, no matter what it was.
With Lisa, it was love at first sight. The moment he spoke to her in geometry class, she knew he was the one. He sat directly across the aisle from her. She often caught him glancing over at her. Two weeks into the school year, he had invited her to a movie. They hit it off so well they began dating on a regular basis. After a few months, she became his steady girl. She felt proud to be Greg’s girl. He could have had any girl he wanted. He was the guy all the girls swooned over—he chose her. This made her feel quite special.
Greg was every bit as proud to be her guy. At first glance, he noticed her beautiful blue eyes that glistened as she spoke, her smile being equally as warm. She wore her shoulder length, ash brown hair flipped under slightly at the ends, with short wispy, swoop bangs. Lisa, a mere five foot three, weighed only one hundred ten pounds. She carried herself in a manner that made her clothes look expensive, even when they were not. Of course, it helped that all the curves were in the right places. Greg was continuously trying to catch a glimpse of her breasts, as she reached under her desk to lay her books on the rack under the chair seat. What guy wouldn’t? He loved it when she wore blouses that were slightly low cut—not so low they were sexy, only slightly revealing in certain positions. Occasionally, there would be a gap between her blouse and her breasts allowing him to see her cleavage and the firm rounded top of her breasts, which caused a desire he tried not to dwell on—especially not in geometry class. Their love for each other deepened with each passing day.
Lisa could hear only one side of the conversation as Greg spoke, “We did? Wonderful! Fine, thanks so much for calling.” She knew from his words that it was the realtor who had shown them the old, three-story, Victorian home at the edge of town. Greg placed the phone on the table, sprang up, placed his arms around Lisa’s waist, and twirled her in the air. “We got it!” he shouted. They had put a bid in for the marvelous old house they had fallen in love with, even before the realtor had taken them through it. Having been on the market for awhile, they had hoped the owners would accept their moderate bid, which they had. They now could move out of their tiny, cramped apartment in the center of town.
They married while Greg was attending college, studying to be an accountant. Lisa was studying interior design. Greg was hired part time at a local firm before graduating. It was a small company at the time. Now Barker and Ream was the largest firm in the area. Greg loved his work, and was a hard worker. He had moved up the corporate ladder quite quickly. By their late twenties, he and Lisa were doing much better financially than their peers.
Lisa’s interior design degree and excellent taste had assured her of many clients in the area, and now she was looking forward to designing their own dream home.
The Carringtons were ecstatic over this enchanting Victorian. They knew as soon as they stepped in the front door that the exterior hadn’t misled them. This was the house they had been looking for.
The house was built in the 1870’s, then remodeled and redecorated in the early 1900’s. It was apparent there had been other changes made since then, making the home no longer a true Victorian. Lisa and Greg approved of these changes, as they made the house homier. They loved the large rooms with thirteen foot high ceilings. There was still much of the Victorian era remaining to make the house special.
Since touring the home, they had talked and planned as if they knew it would soon be theirs. Now they could put their ideas into effect. The first floor had a sitting room off the kitchen, which had a window seat. Lisa would convert this into her sewing/craft room. The cast iron fireplace in this room was typical of the era. This would be the perfect room for her mom’s old wooden rocker. She had persuaded her mom to give it to her after she became pregnant with Maggie. Here she sat and rocked Maggie as a baby. It seemed the perfect chair in which to nurse her new baby and to spend time reading to her. Lisa loved reading to Maggie. She began reading to her when she was only six months old. Maybe this could partially account for Maggie’s sharpness, as th
ey had heard reading to a young baby helps develop a baby’s learning abilities. Maggie had begun reading some words at the age of four.
*****
The thirty-day wait before they could take possession passed quickly, while Lisa and Greg made preparations for renovating the house. Today the house would be theirs.
Maggie had waited impatiently for this day to come. Greg had no more than taken the key out of the ignition, when Maggie opened the door of the car and jumped out onto the sidewalk, stopping at the gate of the wrought iron fence enclosing the yard. As soon as Greg opened the gate, she ran up the steps to the front porch, her little legs running as fast as they could—her long, blonde, curly hair bouncing and blowing in the breeze. Here, she waited for Greg and Lisa, her little round face bursting with happiness. She looked so cute, her dimples so apparent, as she grinned from ear to ear.
Greg was so excited himself that he began to wonder if he had the right key. After much fumbling, the key turned in the lock, and they were in. Maggie was at the top of the open spiral staircase before Greg and Lisa had the door shut behind them. She had been anxious to see her room again. The large flowers on the wallpaper seemed to have grown larger since she first saw them. Lisa and Greg knew there would be no peace until the wallpaper was removed. Maggie had pondered for days over the wallpaper books Lisa had brought home. It seemed each day she had a new favorite, until finally she chose one. She loved pink—as most little girls do. Lisa had convinced her that pink tie back curtains would compliment the wallpaper, which had a light background with a pink design of hearts and flowers intermingled. They had chosen pink velvet fabric for the window seat cushion.
Greg had built a window seat in his brother-in-law’s home workshop, since this room had none. The large bay window was in three sections. The smaller side windows angled in toward the main window. The window seat followed the same line as the window. The carpet had been ordered—of course it was pink!
First, the wiring must be replaced. An electrician had been hired. The bathroom fixtures all had to be replaced with new—a very quaint, Victorian style to match the theme of the house. The kitchen cabinets were to be torn out. The previous owners had been kind enough to allow the cabinetmaker in to measure for the new cabinets, which were now completed and ready to be installed.
The downstairs would all be redecorated. The decorators were to come as soon as the wiring was replaced. Meanwhile there were plenty of other things to do. They loved the entire house. Lisa couldn’t decide if her favorite was the grand drawing room, which was fifteen by thirty feet, the parlor with the rare pink marble fireplace, or the sitting room off the kitchen, which would be her sewing/craft room. Greg had some repairs to do on the window seat in the sewing room. The top board had split and warped with age. The original hardwood floor would remain in this room. Lisa found the perfect braided rug. On this, would sit her mom’s old wooden rocker.
Lisa loved the old treadle sewing machines. Hers had to succumb to a new one, as her sewing was more complex than the old machines were capable of. She had inherited her grandmother’s machine—now an antique. It was being stored in her sister’s attic and would be cleaned up and moved into the family dining room. She knew the old treadle would add to the charm of the room.
The third floor would stay as it was for now until the other two floors were finished—possibly until there was a need for them. There were six bedrooms upstairs. It would take some time to fill these, two of which would be spare bedrooms for now. That would leave one for the baby they hoped to have as soon as life settled back to normalcy. They were considering using one of the others as an office for Greg. Someday the third floor could be turned into guest quarters, after they filled all the bedrooms with the children they planned to have—first things first. They had waited so long for a home like this one. Lisa wanted to be sure everything was finished to her perfection before she was slowed down with morning sickness. Maggie had been a difficult pregnancy in the first months. Lisa remembered how she envied women whose morning sickness was just that, as hers with Maggie continued all day.
Things were much different back then. Her mom was still living at that time. She had been a big help to her. Now there was no mom to help. She would manage fine—although the loss had left a void never to be replaced by anyone. It had been two years since her passing. Lisa felt she had been cheated. Twenty-five was much too young to lose a mom.
*****
The big day finally came, the day when the house would become a home for the Carringtons. Maggie was up at first dawn begging for Greg to load her precious things into the van. “Daddy,” she insisted, “I want to take my dollies in the car with us. They will be lonely in the big truck with the men.”
“Okay, we will keep your dollies with us,” he agreed, “We want them to be happy.” He knew she would be persistent about this matter. After all, it was such a small thing to ask.
Maggie was at the door waiting for Greg, as he swallowed the last bite of his whole wheat bagel and washed it down with coffee. Earlier, Maggie had nibbled on toast and peanut butter. Breakfast was light and simple today, as were the appetites on this long awaited day.
“Can you believe it? This is really ours!” Greg glanced over to see Lisa’s response, as he pulled into the driveway of the old carriage house, which had been converted into a garage years before. It had previously been a stable for the horses, a tack room, and a carriage room. The second floor was storage for hay for the horses, which they would throw down through a trap door. Greg was making plans for converting part of the carriage house into a workshop. He loved woodworking.
Maggie hopped out of the car and headed for the old servants’ entrance at the rear of the house. She was dragging a cloth bag of toys behind her, while she sang, “Hi ho, Hi ho, it’s off to work we go,” from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.
This entrance led to the back servants’ hallway, which allowed access to two stairways. The one going up led to the second floor where there was another servants’ hallway. This led to the third floor, containing four bedrooms and a large sitting room that in early years were used for the female servants. This third floor mansard wasn’t an attic, as the ceilings were ten feet high. The servants’ hallway on the ground floor gave access to the kitchen. In this hallway, there was a washstand for the servants use. At the end of the hall, there was a door with a particularly beautiful stained glass panel.
With his arms loaded, Greg waited as Lisa unlocked the door. He carried two cardboard boxes of Maggie’s dolls and other precious cargo in through the kitchen, where Lisa stopped to admire the new cabinets that replicated the original ones. They had been installed only a few days earlier. Greg chose to go up the front stairway, as the back servants’ steps were steep and narrow. It would be easier to carry the boxes in through the kitchen. Besides, he was anxious to walk through the first floor rooms to take another look at all the beautiful renovations.
After placing the boxes in Maggie’s room, he left her to unpack her toys. She busied herself filling the window seat with many of her toys. Then, one by one, she placed her little dollies on the window seat, just moments before movers arrived. Her dollhouse, pink of course, and her little pink rocker were arranged to compliment the room—so she thought. “Mommy said for you to put it over there,” she instructed the movers with the point of a finger, as they carried in her white poster canopy bed. Once the bed was in place and her dollies were seated at the small table and chairs for a tea party, she danced down the spiral staircase to watch the movers.
Maggie’s second most favorite room, the first being her bedroom, seemed to be Mommy’s sewing/craft room, which also would serve as her storybook room. Numerous children’s books would line the bookshelf against one wall. The window seat in this room would be filled with fabric, old and new. There were many scraps from little outfits Lisa had made for Maggie, most of which she had now outgrown. Lisa usually managed to use most remnants for one thing or another, since she enjoyed making c
raft items and doll clothes for Maggie’s dolls—and there was always mending. Lisa felt this room had a particular air of comfort. She wasn’t sure what it was that made it so special. Maybe it was the cast iron fireplace, or visions of the room once all other furnishings were placed in the room. Lisa was sure they would quickly feel very much at home in this room.
For now, there was much to be done. There were beds to make and a large number of boxes to unpack. Each room now contained multiple boxes, all neatly labeled with the contents. Each was marked with the room in which the movers were to place it. Lisa had done all she could to make this move an easier transition.
By nightfall, the three of them were exhausted. The furniture had all been arranged and rearranged at least once. The boxes, one by one, were unpacked until there now were many less than earlier in the day. Maggie moved from one room to another, excited and giggling, while she watched with constant smiles. It was easy to tell how much she already loved this big house.
Greg started a fire in the fireplace in the parlor. Lisa arranged some large pillows on the floor in front of the fire. They all sprawled out cozily on the floor, their stomachs warm with the chili Lisa had prepared at the apartment the day before. She had known this was to be a hectic day with little time for meal preparation. What a beautiful picture this would make—the three of them in front of the elegant pink marble fireplace. No wonder Maggie loved this house, as there were touches of pink marble throughout.
“This is the bestest house in the whole world,” Maggie yawned. Within minutes she was fast asleep, snuggled in-between Greg and Lisa.
Greg picked her up and carried her upstairs to her bed. He couldn’t help notice, as he placed her in bed, how all of her little dolls were laid in a row on the pink velvet window seat. They were covered with various little blankets, with the clothes they had been wearing placed on the seat beside them. He didn’t peek under the blankets—he knew they were all wearing either nightgowns or pajamas, which Lisa had made.
