“Oh, I’m so sorry. I didn’t realize you’d lost your wife.” Jane truly looked distressed, and he figured that she must have thought he was a divorced dad, since he showed up without a wife beside him.
He supposed that would have been the most logical assumption, but it wasn’t true in his case.
If Desire had lived, it might have been. Although… He wouldn’t have wanted to divorce her. When he said for better or for worse, he meant it. But she didn’t forsake all others, apparently.
He shook himself and listened as Jane said, “The place is profitable, from what I understand. She just had so much back debt, and then she had one big vet bill this year that threw everything into chaos. It’s sad, but that’s the way life is.”
“I heard it was in her family for a long time.”
“It has been. They can trace it back to the late 1700s. Of course, it didn’t look like it does today, and the original house is not still standing, but part of the house we’re about to tour was built in theearly 1800s, and everything else was added a little bit at a time, the way Southern homes often are. It’s a hodgepodge of different architectural types and has a uniqueness all its own. Lots of character,” Jane said, and he refrained from rolling his eyes. That sounded like something she would have to say. After all, she was trying to sell the place.
It was code for the place is a mess.
Although, when they walked into the foyer, Gilbert thought he might have to change that line of thought. It was wide open, bright, and airy. The floor was a light blue sandstone tile, and the stairs were a beautiful honey-colored hardwood. The banister looked like it was hand carved a hundred and fifty years ago when people still did that kind of thing, and the hall was wide and spacious.
“Obviously, a really big foyer,” Jane said, deciding to go for understatement, apparently. “Over here is a formal living room, there is also a sitting room, an office, a den, a massive kitchen, and a laundry room as well as a full bath downstairs. Let’s see if we can find them,” she said, giggling a bit like she loved this kind of thing. Which would make sense, since she was a real estate agent and it was her job.
He walked into the formal living room which looked like it hadn’t been used in months, if not years. The drapes were drawn, and while the windows looked big, there wasn’t much light coming through. The chairs were formal and uncomfortable looking, there for show more than for comfort or for a sanctuary from the world.
It was a room he wouldn’t use much if he bought the house, unless they completely redecorated it into…something that looked a little bit more livable.
The den looked cozy, although there wasn’t much light, and there was a library of sorts, which Jane had failed to mention. It had shelves of books, which were full, along with a fireplace. He could see himself getting very comfortable in this room. While his job didn’t demand much reading from him, he had always enjoyed a good thriller or adventure story.
He stepped into the kitchen, and he understood exactly what his mother had meant.
“Wow,” he said, causing Jane to turn and smile at him.
“You can see why they were so far in debt they couldn’t afford the payment on the farm. There was no expense spared in the remodeling of this area. Trust me, I’ve done a few remodeling projects, and those countertops are marble and the high-end kind. The cupboards are handcrafted, and I’ve heard that the pantry is the best pantry that Frederick, the listing agent, has ever seen.”
She walked over to a small door and opened it.
Inside was a room almost as large as the kitchen, with shelves that reached from the ceiling to the floor. Most of them were empty, although he saw a package of paper plates, a crockpot, and several other large, bulky items that a person might need to use in the kitchen but would want to store somewhere else.
“My mom would love this,” he murmured. She hadn’t mentioned the pantry. Maybe she hadn’t seen it.
The kitchen was airy and bright, and Summer had several plants growing. She must have a green thumb as well as being good with horses and children.
Poor kid, losing her home and everything she’d known. He felt a spark of pity for her, and it settled right beside the gratefulness that he felt for what she had done for his children. That, along with the knowledge that he had just found out the day before that she had not charged for her services for his children, made him feel a little guilty for walking around her house contemplating buying it out from underneath her.
But if he didn’t, somebody else would.
But it didn’t have to be him. It seemed like there were two factions inside his head that were warring against each other. One that thought that if he didn’t buy the house, he was somehow doing Summer a favor. And the other trying to convince him that he might as well be the one to purchase it versus someone else.
“Let’s go see what’s upstairs. Shall we?” Jane tilted her head and waited for his assent.
The stairs were wide enough for both of them to easily walk side by side.
“They don’t make staircases like this anymore.”
“I can tell that the house was kind of cobbled together, but the way it was redesigned really makes it flow almost seamlessly.” He wasn’t quite sure how the designer was able to keep the idea that there were separate areas that flowed, but they did.
“I have to say, her designer was very talented. But since the woman spared no expense, I bet it was a big name from Richmond or even DC. I can only imagine it was the very, very best.”
Gilbert nodded as he ascended the staircase.
The bedrooms were wide and well lit, with at least two windows in each. There was one that looked like it was being used, and he assumed it was Summer’s bedroom. It wasn’t the biggest room, and he guessed that it might have been the room that she’d had growing up, and maybe she had never moved into her parents’ room once they had passed.
“Do you know what happened to her parents?” he asked, feeling a little bit bad for digging for information, but if it was common knowledge, she might as well tell him. All his mother knew was that they had died a while ago, and she thought the husband had died in a farming accident.
