"With those heavy, wooden blinds open, I can see this is a nice house," Rob said. "And look at the tchotchkes, Danny. There's some neat stuff here."
Danny was already showing all the various things to his wooden elk. The bronze statue of some general on horseback held his attention then he moved on to a pair of vases painted with colorful birds.
"Looks like he's having fun," Rob said as he and Julian strolled to the windows and he took in the view.
While Danny made friends with the knickknacks, Rob noticed him try to pick up a pewter lion. "I don't know if you're allowed to play with that," Rob told him and looked over at Julian.
"As long as he can't hurt himself, he can play with anything he wants," Julian said, but Danny only petted the lion.
Rob was surprised to hear that. "Really? At least some of this stuff has to be valuable."
"Probably, but to me everything here is just a reminder that my grandfather valued things more than people," Julian said as they went over to the last window and he leaned into the corner.
"Sorry. Then I guess you don't mind if Danny breaks everything in sight," Rob said archly but kept his voice low so Danny wouldn't get any ideas.
Julian chuckled, but he couldn't see Danny being so destructive. He was such a gentle kid. "He won't do that. But if there's any accidental breakage, I won't be heartbroken."
They went on to the dining room with its huge oval table in an oversized room that was obviously meant for hosting formal dinner parties. Julian only remembered a few of them and only vaguely. He had always been told to stay in his room and be quiet.
"Big table," Danny said. At first he just peered into the big room though Rob had opened the shutters. Danny hung back until Julian flipped the light switch and the huge, sparkling chandelier came on. Now Danny went in and started jumping the wooden elk from one chair to the other all around the big table.
"I knew this room was good for something," Julian said and smiled watching Danny circle the table.
"I guess this house is like a playground to him," Rob said then looked over at Julian. "It should have been that way for you too when you were little."
Looking at Rob and the serious cast to his green eyes, Julian could tell that he had already figured out it wasn't that way for him. It was restrictive and punishing. Don't touch. Don't speak. Stay in your room until I say you can come out. And sometimes total darkness.
Wrapped up in gloomy thoughts, Julian hardly noticed that they had moved on. A set of open doors had drawn them the other way instead of continuing toward the kitchen.
"A library, wow," Rob said impressed with the large room with its walls of bookshelves.
All Julian could think about was how he was told he had to ask for each book he wanted to read and how often his grandfather said, "No. This is pure nonsense. You don't need to fill your head with trash like this." Usually the book in question would disappear from the library. History books were the only ones his grandfather approved of, preferably military history.
"It's a much bigger house than I expected," Rob said breaking him out of his reminiscing. He had opened the shutters in here too, and now Danny was making the most of the new territory he got to explore.
"Too big maybe," Julian said thinking of all these darkened rooms sitting empty for years. "There's nothing cozy or welcoming about this place."
"So far Danny hasn't noticed that," Rob pointed out with a wry smile.
Seeing how Danny was happily running back and forth in front of a wall of books, Julian had to agree. "I guess not. I just need to stop moping." But to him it was like they weren't all walking through the same house.
They were on their way to the kitchen when there was a knock on the door. It startled Danny and he ran to Julian.
"I'm expecting someone," Julian told him. Then he spoke to Rob as well. "I wanted a handyman to do a few things in here."
"I'll get the door," Rob volunteered so Julian could stay back with Danny. Julian appreciated that, and he took Danny's hand to lead him to the front hall. They got within sight of the front door but stayed back while Rob opened the door.
Standing in the doorway was a man with an impressive physique, dark hair and blue eyes. "I'm Mitch McEvers," he said and looked at Rob then over at Julian.
"You're here to see Julian. I'm Julian's assistant, Rob." They shook hands and Julian felt a pang of unreasonable jealousy. He and Rob had never shaken hands.
"Julian Brenner," he said to Mitch as he came in. As he shook hands with Mitch as well, Julian noticed that he looked like he had a crushing grip but shook hands like a man who had nothing to prove.
While holding onto Julian's free hand and hiding behind him, Danny looked up at the newcomer curiously.
"This is my little brother, Danny," Julian said and watched Danny duck his head shyly.
"Nice to meet you, and welcome to Peach Tree," Mitch told him.
