“Purple.”
“Hmm. Maybe a beige or tan? Purple for your room?”
“Okay. I guess.”
They went to the kitchen and Stephanie pointed out all her plans to make it modern and bright. She went through all the ways it would become the heart of their home.
“What do you guys think of that?”
Shrugs and heavy sighs were the responses.
“Don’t you want to help make the decisions? You’re going to live here, too. I want you to be happy with it.”
Even though Stephanie badly needed a new start, she couldn’t help but compare the place to where they lived back in Chicago. The houses there were twice the price for half the size. Moving to Moorestown, of course, hadn’t been a big dream of any sorts for Stephanie, but the pros certainly outweighed the cons.
Things were changing in Chicago in comparison to when she and her husband first settled there. However, living in Moorestown, her children’s grandparents would just be a few miles away. She hoped that Timothy, Jane, and Jonathan would get excited about that fact. So far, their excitement about living near their grandparents had been mild.
From their looks on their faces after seeing their bedrooms and the attic before heading back downstairs, the fresh start Stephanie envisioned was turning out to be a harder sale than she originally thought. There was still time for them to warm up to this little Georgia town. Time to fall in love with the house, too.
“Mom, are you sure about this?” Timothy asked, interrupting her thoughts. They’d just come to the landing. He had looked up and down the tall hallway. The old doors and peeling paint was daunting. The old wallpaper that would need to be removed screamed hard work and elbow grease. “How did you find this house, Mom?”
Stephanie smiled and tried to be as positive as she could. “What do you mean, how did I find it, Timothy?” she responded. “You remember I told you about the real estate agent showing me some houses around here. I chose this one because I thought out of all the ones in our price range in this area, this would be the one you all would like.”
Before Timothy could say anything else, his two younger siblings came walking down the hall. They’d just gotten another look at the bedroom their mother said would be theirs. It didn’t take Stephanie long to notice their facial expressions.
“Jane?” she said. “Jonathan? What’s on your minds? You think you’ll like the house? Did you notice when we passed that bakery near Grandma and Grandpa’s or were you asleep? Now we won’t have to go so far to see them anymore.”
“Yeah,” Jane said, clearly not enthused. She then pulled a closet door open and peeked inside. “I was kind of asleep, but I saw it. Mom, this house is kinda scary.”
Stephanie laughed, nervously wiping dust off of the banister at the top of the steps. “No, it’s not,” she said. “It’s just scary because it needs our stuff in it and we have to clean it and, you know, make it our own. Paint a little. You won’t be saying that once you have your own room.” She playfully tapped her daughter’s shoulder. “And get this... You get to paint your room whatever color you want, Jane.” She then sighed playfully once again. “And I’ll even let you paint it pink.”
Jonathan spoke up, finally voicing his concern. “What school are we going to?”
“Well, in a few weeks we’ll get you enrolled into Moorestown Elementary. It’s close and I can take you guys to school every day. School starts in August around here so you’ll have a just over a month to settle in.”
“What about the kids. Will we like them?”
“Of course, you will! I’m sure you’ll make friends around here before school even starts.”
That seemed to satisfy Jonathan at least for the moment. Jane and Timothy had been listening, too, and she was pleased to see that both of them were nodding, as well. And then, their doubts came through again.
“I don’t know about this place, Mom,” Jane said.
“Yeah, Mom,” Jonathan said. “I don’t know about this place, either. Why couldn’t we just stay in Chicago with all of our friends and everything?”
Stephanie sighed, imagining how difficult this transition must be for her youngest children. “We all needed a fresh start,” she said. “Chicago was... was... well, it was just too much for me. It’s just too much with your dad gone. But don’t you worry. We’ll still go back to visit Chicago, so don’t worry, guys.”
Timothy noticed the way his mother turned away from the twins. She stepped into another bedroom at the end of the hall, so she could admire the large windows and the way the room was shaped.
“I want Dad back,” Jane said.
Jonathan nodded his head. “Yeah, that’s just what I was thinking.”
~~~~~
Out of the corner of his eye, Timothy saw his mother turn and look back out into the hallway. The look on her face was sad. She was almost ready to cry.
He felt his heart sink in his chest and knew he needed to say something.
“Jane… Jonathan,” he said, stepping up to them. “You know Dad is not coming back. I want him back too, but you know he can’t come back. I know how you feel about this house. I kind of feel the same way. And like Mom said, I think it’s just scary because we just got here and it’s big and kinda dark and we need to put our stuff in it. Actually, I think it’ll be fun to live here. Yeah. It will. You know we always wanted a bigger house. You know Dad wanted that for us, but we couldn’t find one in Chicago. Just give it a chance, if nothing else. Plus, you know Dad would want us to be a little adventurous and open to new things. He used to always say those kinds of things.”
Jane and Jonathan took their older brother’s kind words to heart. They knew he was right. Jonathan went back to stepping into the bedrooms and bathrooms, looking at them again with his imagination. Jane walked up behind her mother, hugging her leg because she’d seen the sad expression on her face, and said, “Mom, don’t forget you said that if we finally got a nice-sized house, we could have a dog.”
Stephanie giggled, running her hands through her daughter’s hair. “I know,” she said, rolling her eyes. “And we can. Once we get settled in and learn our way around town and all that, I promise you, we will get a dog.”
~~~~~
Stephanie rounded her three children up then they headed back downstairs. She walked them through the living room, where they admired the huge fireplace, and then into the dining room. “I’m going to love this room,” she said to herself, looking at the three windows along the west wall. “In the afternoon, I can just see myself sitting in here and enjoying some of the afternoon sun.” She smiled at her children, seeing they were in a better mood.
The family then walked into the large kitchen. Still, Stephanie was surprised by the size of it, especially for it being an older house. She loved the quaint stained-glass cabinet doors.
Jonathan yanked the French doors open onto the back porch, allowing a strong breeze to whip into the house. Timothy, not caring at all about a kitchen, decided to check out the den and open the basement door. Together, with Timothy, leading the way, they headed into the basement. Jane and Jonathon stayed behind their mother, especially in the darker areas. After a few minutes looking around the cold, damp space, they headed back up to the kitchen. Stephanie’s mind raced with ideas as to what she’d do with the basement, but she knew that would be years down the road.
With the children talking amongst themselves and looking into closets and the downstairs bathroom, Stephanie opened the cabinets. She imagined what it would be like cooking a dinner in this kitchen. Naturally, the widow envisioned Brett, coming home from work and leaning against the kitchen island as she finished getting dinner ready. “You would’ve loved this house,” she said whispered. “You really would’ve, Brett.”
After daydreaming for a few minutes too long, Stephanie noticed the time and realized the moving truck would probably be pulling up at any moment. “Kids!” she announced. “Let’s get our bags out of the doorway so the moving guys can g
et the stuff into the house!”
Footsteps echoed throughout the house as the four of them made their way toward the foyer. Stephanie had been coming from behind the staircase, having just peeped inside the small closet beneath the steps, when her children came rushing out of the living room doorway.
Her smile suddenly faded when she noticed something that made her stop in her tracks. Their suitcases were several feet, at least ten feet and probably more, away from where she thought they had set them down when they came inside.
She was certain they would have noticed the suitcases when they came back downstairs if they’d been where they were now. Perhaps the children had somehow made their way around to the foyer while she’d been daydreaming in the kitchen. That was probably it. The kids moved them around.
“Hey, didn’t we leave those by the door?” Timothy asked aloud.
Jane and Jonathan paused for a moment, but their shorter attention spans caused them to not think much of the question. “I don’t know!” yelled Jonathan as he grabbed the handle of his bag and started pulling it loudly up the stairs to his room.
Stephanie quickly became busy with instructing them to get their bags up to their rooms, rambling a bit about the moving men arriving as she looked out of the window and saw the big truck pull up. Timothy went ahead and grabbed his own suitcase, but not without pausing for a moment and looking around. The boy finally grabbed his bag, shrugged, and went up the stairs.
Chapter 2
The next week was what Stephanie could only describe as a labor of love. With the help of the moving men, she was able to get her heavy furniture upstairs and into their general places. Thanks to Timothy being somewhat tall, like his father, he was able to help with the rest.
The next few days, Stephanie saw to it that the entire place was scrubbed down. The house had obviously been cleaned long before the real estate agent even showed it to her, but Stephanie wanted to be sure she and her family were starting off with a clean house.
A week later, and nearly tired enough to where she wouldn’t mind a vacation on a beach somewhere, Stephanie sat in the dining room just as she planned. She enjoyed the afternoon sun beaming in through the windows as she sipped some cranberry juice.
The built-in bookcase was probably the room’s best feature. Not much of a reader, Stephanie filled the first few shelves with books, then placed family pictures and keepsakes on the upper shelves. She took a deep breath as she twisted her wedding ring. For a brief moment, her eyes swelled. She could only imagine how enthused her deceased husband would be to move into a house with this kind of character.
Time slipped away, like sand in an hourglass, as she reminisced about the way the couple, before they had children, would ride around cities they visited just to get a feel for the architecture. As sad as all of this was, Stephanie knew she needed to be strong so she could be there for her children in helping them transition into their new life—new house, new friends, new school, new neighborhood. She turned away from the window, where she’d been looking out at the steeples rising above rooftops across Moorestown, and headed toward the kitchen.
Tonight was the first time in the new house that they would be having company. Her parents, Eloise and Judd, had been chomping at the bits to come and see the house. They were coming over at six o’clock for dinner.
Stephanie finished cooking and then made sure to straighten up a bit, not so much for herself but for her nitpicky mother. As dinnertime approached, Stephanie made sure her children were cleaning their rooms, just in case her mother wanted to look into them. The doorbell rang—something she hadn’t even thought to check when they first toured the house because she’d been so busy. She went and opened the door, hugging her mother and father and bringing them inside.
“Mom... Dad,” Stephanie said, “Come in, come in. Dinner is just about ready.”
Eloise took in the grand foyer, then she ran her fingers along the thick wooden post of the staircase. Her husband, Judd, knocked on the walls. The retired craftsman thought it was important to have walls that a fist couldn’t punch a hole through.
“Well, this place is interesting,” Judd said. “I never actually looked inside, but I could always see this house from... from, um,” He looked to his wife. “What’s that road, Eloise? The next one over from where you get your hair done?”
“Turner, Judd,” Eloise said. “That’s Turner.”
Stephanie took her parents’ jackets and then guided them around to the dining room, promising them that after dinner she would give them a proper tour of the house. They admitted that they’d like that as they sat down at the dining room table. Footsteps soon followed, coming down the steps like an avalanche. Eloise and Judd jumped up to hug their precious grandchildren just as Stephanie shuffled the food into the dining room.
“Come on, you guys,” Stephanie said. “It’s time for dinner. Did you wash your hands? Go on and sit down so we can get started.”
Stephanie sat next to her twins as Timothy, as if he were the man of the house, took the end chair. Eloise and Judd sat next to one another, their backs to the built-in bookcase. Over dinner, Eloise gossiped about what was going on in Moorestown, telling her daughter whom she could be friends with and whom she needed to wave at and keep going. All Judd could do was chuckle and shake his head, knowing better than to cut his wife off while she was talking, for doing such would only prompt the woman to talk more after dishing out a stern stare.
Shortly after the Timothy, Jane, and Jonathan talked for what seemed an eternity about what they’d done to their bedrooms, there was a brief silence. Then Eloise looked around and studied the room.
“Stephanie, I’m not sure about this. I’m not sure if this is a good house for you and the children. How did you even find this place?”
Stephanie looked up from her plate and glanced at her children before looking back at her mother. She sincerely hoped this woman wasn’t about to say anything that would ruin the kids’ mood. She felt like she’d come so far in just a week, in terms of getting the kids warmed up to the idea of living in this house.
“What do you mean, Mom?” she asked. “Why do you say that?”
Eloise sighed. “Well, Stephanie,” she began, hesitantly, “this is a lot of house. The house is just so big, honey. And well, it’s old. It obviously needs some work. A lot of work, actually. Now I hate to rain on the parade, but it’s my duty as your mother to speak up and shed light on a few matters.”
“I know it needs some work, Mom,” Stephanie said. “That’s actually part of the reason I decided to get this house instead of the others I looked at.” She smiled at her children. “I just thought it might be nice to have a house where me and the kids could, you know, really make it ours. We’re going to paint and decorate everything like we want it. And once I really get back on my feet, I want to redo the kitchen. Mom, wait till you see it. You’ll love the stained-glass cabinet doors. But it does need to be more modern, I guess you could say.”
“Yes, it has potential,” Eloise said. “I didn’t say it doesn’t, Stephanie. I’m just saying that with Brett gone and you having to take care of three children on your own, even with our help, it just seems like a lot. I know I haven’t seen all of the house yet... all of its rooms. But, still, Stephanie, from outside this looked like a pretty big house. At first, I thought it might look bigger because the garage was attached, but I see that isn’t the case. I just don’t know if this is a good fit for you all at this point in your life. I just don’t know.”
“Yeah, I can see why you would think that,” Stephanie said, watching her words carefully. She knew there were three pairs of ears listening intently. “But you know how I like these old, historic homes. And there are so many of them in Moorestown. I was, actually, happy to be able to find this one and buy it. The moment I saw it, I knew I loved it. And the price was low for the size, well within my budget.”
Eloise looked over Judd. They locked eyes for a moment, and then he turned to his daughter an
d patted her hand, nodding in a supportive way. “Stephanie, I see what your mother is saying,” he said. “But, I just want you to know that if you need help with anything, don’t hesitate to let us know. You know we live just on the other side of town and it takes no time to get here, really.”
Stephanie smiled at her father, clasping hands with him for a moment as she looked into his eyes. Even as a little girl, her father was always more supportive than her mother, more loving. However, as she pulled her hand away from his to continue eating, a strange feeling came over her. No sooner than she’d lifted another forkful of beef stew up to her mouth did she notice the way her father looked at her mother. Stephanie had been married to Brett long enough to know when a husband and wife were silently communicating with one another.
She started to ask her father what his true thoughts were but decided to back off of the subject. Nonetheless, something felt odd. It was as if her father and mother weren’t telling her something. Keeping something important from her. What that something could be, she had not the least bit of an idea.
The rest of dinner was pleasant. At times, it seemed like the table roared with back and forth conversation. Jane talked about a little girl who lived two doors down she’d seen out on the street and at the dollar store. Timothy pushed the idea of turning the attic into his own rec room, but Stephanie shot it down quickly, as the attic had just too much space. And she was more than sure he’d be climbing out of the window and onto the protruding roof at the back of the house, using it as a sort of private balcony. Jonathan joked about taking his grandmother down into the basement, which the sixty-year-old woman insisted wasn’t happening. She hated basements with a passion.
Around nine o’clock, Stephanie saw her parents off after showing them around the house. The entire family had chatted out on the front porch for several minutes, enjoying the somewhat chilly breeze before Stephanie, with the assistance of Timothy, walked them down to their car. Stephanie couldn’t help but notice how her parents looked back at the house, on more than one occasion, then looked at each another.
Haunting and Scares Collection Page 42
