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Chapter 10
It was after eight when Becca headed up the hill to Morgan’s place. She was starting to think of it as his, instead of the usual reference to the Maiden place. Before long the Maiden family would be consigned to obscurity, recalled only in a few place names and the dusty tomes of the local historical society. Most people from out of town assumed Maiden’s Landing was something to do with a woman. No-one in living memory knew why the original explorers had named the watercourse Redemption Creek.
She entered through the back door where a light was on, pausing in the small anteroom to suck in a deep breath. She put up her hand to knock, only to have the kitchen door open wide.
Morgan stood there, holding the door. He wore a pair of jeans, still unfashionably loose from his weight loss, and an oversized grey V-neck pullover that showed the vulnerable hollows of his throat. He still had a long way to go to full health and a twinge in her chest confirmed she’d never stopped caring about him.
She stepped past him into the spacious kitchen, noting the half empty cup of coffee and scattered papers on the table in the centre of the room. ‘Am I disturbing you?’
He shook his head. ‘I was catching up on a few things while I waited. I’m not on call tonight.’
Half expecting him to return to the table, she moved over to a chair opposite the spot where he’d been working.
‘I want to show you something.’
He went into the hallway and she followed, wondering at the way he’d blurted out the request.
She’d briefly seen the hallway and rooms last weekend, but he took her into each of them, turning on the lights. The bathroom was quite spacious, considering it held only a basin and a large clawfoot bath with an old-fashioned shower overhead. The separate toilet she recalled being tacked on at the back, off the small anteroom.
The three unfurnished bedrooms were all a good size and there were what must have been dressing rooms or storerooms attached to each, piled with boxes. In the surprisingly large dressing room off the master suite at the front of the house, there were a couple of old silky oak wardrobes matching the double bedroom suite in the main bedroom with its bare mattress and large bevelled mirror. It was a beautiful old house, only needing some TLC to bring it back to life.
Morgan halted in the large formal lounge room opposite the master bedroom. Like the bedroom it had a window seat set in a bay window that protruded onto the wide verandah. ‘What do you think?’
‘It’s lovely. When it’s all done up, it’s going to be fabulous.’
‘I had an idea after we were talking to the solicitor. About this house.’
He led her back to the side hall and showed her three more bedrooms, including his, the big sunroom that opened onto the closed in eastern verandah, and several smaller rooms. The place was massive. She suspected some of the smaller rooms nearest the kitchen had been servant’s quarters early last century.
Finally they were back in the kitchen and she studied him curiously. Sweat beaded his forehead and he kept wiping his palms on his thighs. He was nervous?
‘Are you all right?’
His smile was almost a grimace. ‘I guess I’m anxious.’
With a jerky gesture of one hand, he indicated the chairs at the table and she sat directly opposite to the one he’d chosen.
He rested his forearms on the table, hands loosely clasped. ‘I have a proposition to put to you.’
Becca wondered why he was making a meal of it. She wasn’t stupid. He’d made his position clear. Even if she’d wanted it.Who are you trying to kid?
‘Okay.’
‘The house is too vast for one person. It’s oversized for an average family.’ He glanced up from his fingers and then away again. ‘I wondered about splitting it into two residences.’
‘I guess you could rent one out.’
‘Not rent. I wondered if you’d like one part for you and Edward and Gabby. The main section at the front. I could have the section where I’m living at the moment.’
She opened her mouth to reject the idea but he held up his hand, palm out, quelling her.
‘Please, let me finish.’
Clamping her lips together, she buried her fingers under her thighs to prevent herself from showing her reaction. She couldn’t live so closely to Morgan. Not like this.
‘I want to have the children as part of my daily life. You know the sort of hours I need to work. This way I’d see them naturally, without having to organise visitation rights and custody agreements.’
‘I already have a place to live.’
