While Hank was quiet plenty of the time, he was rarely rendered completely speechless.This was one of those times.
Tessa said, “I’m right, aren’t I, Sunny?This is the best house in town.”
“I can’t tell what the interiors of the other Edwardian homes in town look like from the outside.But I can say the historic bones of this house are exceptional.It’s as fine a piece of Edwardian architecture and construction as I’ve ever seen.Whoever built it knew exactly what he was doing, and nobody since has laid a hand on the key structural elements.Its half-wrecked,originalstate is the best thing that could have happened to it.The ground floor alone, brought back to period could be absolutely stun—” She broke off.Looked at him sheepishly.“It’s your house.”
And there it was.The real catch.He could see the whole of it now, laid out plain as an X-ray.Sunny and him redoing this place.Making it a gracious and inviting home for Madison.
For three weeks, his daughter had lived anxiously out of boxes she refused to unpack.Then Sunny talked a little interior décor with her, and Madi laughed for the first time.She would surely come out of her room more to see what was going on if the house got renovated.He knew, in his heart of hearts, that she would like having Sunny around more.And she would laugh again.
“Could Madi be part of the process?”he asked, looking at Sunny, not Tessa.
“Of course!”Sunny exclaimed with what sounded like genuine enthusiasm.“It’s her home, too, after all.”
“When is the shoot?”he asked Tessa reluctantly.
“First week of August.Six weeks out.”
“Six weeks to re-do this house?That sounds impossible.Plus, Sunny’s already got a full desk to deal with, and four kids, and?—”
“I’ll manage it,” Sunny declared certainly.“The WoWS have been so good to me, and this is something I can give back to a couple of them.”
He looked at her doubtfully for a few seconds longer.But he couldn’t’ turn his back on the lure of drawing out Madi and helping this place become home to her.
“All right,” he said heavily.“But I’m not moving my porch chair.”
“The aluminum one?”Tessa blurted.
“It’s a good chair,” he replied a shade defensively.
Sunny abruptly covered her mouth and coughed.Tessa snorted, declaring, “It’s the single worst chair in the Stillwater Valley, and I’m going to point it out to the magazine people personally so they understand the man they’re dealing with.”
Tessa stood up and slung the garment bag over her shoulder.She paused at the door and aimed the rolled magazine at him like a benediction.“This is your last chance to back out, Doc.Once I make the call and accept the offer of the shoot, half the town’s going to be tromping through your dining room before you know it.You’re aware of that, right?”
“I’m aware.”
“You’ll hate it,” Tessa warned.
“Aware of that too.”
She grinned and was gone, the screen slamming behind her.Hank stood in the wreckage of his quiet morning and listened to Sunny already murmuring about where to begin under her breath.He felt the floor of his settled life tip a few degrees toward something he hadn’t planned for.
His brothers stopped by at suppertime, uninvited and unannounced.
He knew it was them the second he heard two trucks in the drive simultaneously.And he knew why they were here because the news had plainly traveled from Tessa’s mouth to Dillon’s ear to Reno’s gleeful little heart.They were here to tease him over what he’d just committed to doing.
“There he is,” Reno announced, barging in to the kitchen via the back door.“The cover model himself.”
“They’re photographing a wedding gown.Not me.”
“You’re going to be inMountain Bride,” Dillon chimed in.
“Thehouseis going to be in Mountain Bride,” Hank corrected.
“Like a two-page spread or something?”Dillon asked.
“Four to six pages depending on how many of Charlotte’s other gowns they decide to include,” Hank said a little tightly.
“Dillon,” Reno said, turning to their middle brother in pure delight, “He knows the page count!He’s obviouslythrilledabout this.”
