Beau, p.5
Beau, page 5
“It is our pleasure to make you happy.” He’d told Danielle that before. They lived to make the people that they worked for happy. “We think that you’ll both love the kitchen now that it’s finished.”
Walking into the large room, he nearly fell over when he got a look at the room. It was finished, and it looked like a cook’s dream. The countertops were beautifully laid and looked so nice with the new splashboard above them. There was a sink that was large enough to put pots in to be cleaned, and a faucet over the stove to fill pots when needed.
He could see himself cooking all kinds of meals in this room and never tiring of it. The way that it looked right now had him wanting to fill it up with scents from the garden and eat right on the beautiful small table when it was finished. He looked at Danielle to judge her take on the room.
“It’s beautiful and makes me want to learn to cook.” Beau laughed, and it felt good. He looked at the smaller appliances that were scattered around the countertops and went to see what they were. “Did you see the tea maker? We can have fresh tea made daily for us when we want. I love this room.”
They talked about the different things that the room had. There was a pantry just off the main area that would hold a plethora of things that they might need. Also, he noticed a washer and dryer had been put in the space for cleaning the kitchen things when they were dirty. The spaces for the fridge and stove were spotless and looked ready to be hooked up to the new ones coming tomorrow. He couldn’t believe how much room he had in the room that he was going to use as much as he could. The heavy-duty mixer was going to be perfect for making bread and pasta. There was a microwave that looked large enough to cook a turkey in. They marveled at the dishes that were in the cabinets for everyday use. He even loved the double dishwasher so that when his family came over to eat with them, there would be plenty of room to get the dishes cleaned up without someone having to hand-wash them all.
“You do like the room, do you not?” They both answered at the same time and said yes, they did. The room was spectacular. And just the way that they wanted it. “We have worked very hard in keeping it a secret from you two. I thought for sure you knew what we were doing when you said you might have us do the kitchen for you. We had a great deal of fun with it, too.”
“I can tell. It looks like you’ve spent a great deal of time in here getting it ready for us. This is the best surprise you could have given us. The room is going to be a big hit with my family, too.” Beau wanted to invite them over tonight, but knew that without a fridge in the room, they couldn’t keep anything cold. And without a stove, he’d have to microwave everything, and that wouldn’t be good. “I’m going to have my family over as soon as the house is finished up. I’m betting that any day now we’ll be thinking we’re done and can relax.”
“We are most rewarded by helping you two. You have made things very easy for us without overwhelming us.” He thought about the sugar cubes that he’d purchased that were being delivered tomorrow for them all. Plus, with the new flowers that were coming up in the garden, they’d have plenty to eat and have treats as well. “Thank you for not being upset about the kitchen. It was fun for all of us to have a hand in working on getting it fixed up for you two. You’re the best masters we’ve ever had.”
He didn’t particularly care for being called ‘master,’ but he’d talked to them about it before and hadn’t come up with anything better for them. When he suggested they just call them by their first name, they said that was too familiar and wouldn’t do it. He was going to have to think of something soon, or his brothers were going to have his head.
Chapter 4
Walking around the garden, Danielle couldn’t believe how lovely it was looking. There was very little in the way of flowers this time of year, but she could see where the stones were in the garden and the planters, all lined up around the fountain, were looking good as well. She couldn’t wait until spring, when the faeries promised her that things would start to come up and look beautiful. Then in the summer, things would be in full bloom all the way until fall, when the last of the flowers would be blooming.
“You like the garden? We still have plenty to do, but it is well on its way to being the showcase that it once was.” She told Honey that she loved how they’d made it all new-looking. “It was easy once we got all the grass taken out and the bulbs given enough room to heal and become flowers again. In the spring, they’ll push their stems out, and you won’t believe how beautiful it will be with the butterflies and birds coming around to feast on the blooms. Some of us will be here to make sure that things are watered and working well together. I’m excited as well.”
“I noticed that you’ve taken out the trees that seemed to be growing at a fast rate here. Were they planted or just coming up on their own?” He told her that they were once weeds that had grown almost too strong to be in a garden. “You must let me know if you need anything removed that is larger than you can handle, Honey. I’d gladly pay for the removal rather than any of you be hurt.”
“We were able to make it work this time, but I shall keep that in mind when we have to do the back garden. There are trees back there that have died and are now in the way of other flowers and bulbs.” She told him to tell her which ones, and she’d have them taken out with a professional. “I believe that if you were to ask any of the Sheppards to help you, that would be all that it takes. They’re strong men and will help you in any way that they can because you are their sister.”
She didn’t know about that, but she’d ask Beau about it. He’d know someone who could take them out if his brothers were too busy to help out. And from what she knew of them, they seemed to be busy all the time with one thing or another. She sort of envied them at their work. Danielle needed something to keep her from being at the house all the time. While she was glad that she was able to get the house in working order, it’s all she’d been doing for a month. Even Beau would go and help his brothers when he was needed.
Filling out applications for the few jobs that were around town hadn’t gotten her anything yet. But she also knew that she was new to this town, and they might not want to hire someone they didn’t know. Being all right with that was fine, but she was no closer to getting a job than she had been before. Frankly, she was bored with housework.
Every day for a month now, she’d been working on the house. It looked like it was coming along, but there was still so much to do. When she thought about it, she realized that she had a lot more finished up than she’d thought. All of the third floor was finished and ready for furniture. The second floor only had the master suite to go. Now that there were bathrooms in every bedroom, too, she knew that cleaning them was going to be a chore. But having a single bathroom on each floor had to go. There were just too many bedrooms for a bathroom to handle them all.
The master needed to have the floors redone. She wanted to ask the faeries to do it; they did such a wonderful job in the living room, but they were working so hard that she didn’t want to add to their workload. As it was now, she thought they were overworked and didn’t know how to pay them. When Beau said he’d take care of it, she depended on him to do it. But so far, she’d not seen any kind of exchange of money for them to keep them going. A few blooms and sugar cubes didn’t seem like nearly enough for what they were doing.
Going back into the house after her tour of the gardens, she still couldn’t believe how lovely the kitchen looked. With the appliances in place, Beau had been cooking them some fantastic meals. He was even leaving her something for lunch when he had to work with his family. That was the nicest thing he could have done for her because she was sick to death of sandwiches from the sub shop.
She’d finished the office just this morning. She’d not been joking when she told Beau that if it was paper, she would shred it. There was no point in leaving things to chance if she didn’t have to. Knowing that someone could get all kinds of information from old mail, there was no way she was going to allow herself to be caught in that trap. It was something that she’d learned in college when she’d been there for business management classes. She missed those days of going to classes every day.
Danielle needed to get out of the house. And not think about working on it for at least twenty-four hours. Gathering up what she’d need to leave, she was at the door when she thought of something else. Calling for Honey, he came to her right away. It might have been her frantic tone, but he looked nervous when he flittered around the room in front of her.
“I’m going to go and find me something to do that has nothing to do with this house.” He nodded. “While I’m gone, I want you to finish the house up. I know that I said I wanted to do it all by myself, but those days are over. Finish it up the way you think it needs to be done, and I’ll be happy that I don’t have to mess with it anymore.”
“Yes, my lady. Does that mean the things that need to be repaired as well? There is still the matter of the leak in the basement that you said was too big for us to do.” He looked like he thought that she’d been wrong on that as well. She told him everything. “Very good, my lady. You’ve made us very happy to serve you. It will be finished in no time at all.”
Just as she was stepping out the door, she could hear the hum of wings. She didn’t know what sort of mess she was going to be coming back to, but at this point, she didn’t care. There were things that needed to be done, and she was sick of doing them. Thinking that she should have allowed them to do this at the very beginning, Danielle smiled when she thought of the look on Beau’s face when he returned home to find things different than when he left.
The first thing she was going to do was get herself something to eat. She’d had breakfast hours ago, and now she wanted something for lunch. Someplace that had cloth napkins instead of paper ones that were in a holder. She also wanted a coffee. Something that she didn’t need to read the directions on to make. Excitement ran over her skin as she made herself a mental note of what else she was going to get into today.
While waiting in line at the coffee truck that just happened to be in town, she thought of lunches that she’d been having with the other women of the leap. It had been fun, but she wanted to eat alone and enjoy herself by ordering what she wanted. She wouldn’t admit this to just anyone, but she was intimidated by the other women because they seemed to have their lives so put together. She was barely holding onto her own sanity most of the time, and she was afraid to show them the real her when they went out. Today was for her.
“I have a question for you.” She nearly screamed when someone spoke to her. “Are you all right? I didn’t mean to startle you. It’s Carrie. I’m Archie’s wife.”
“I was just getting out of the house for the day and was making plans to have lunch.” She said she’d love to join her. “All right, but I’m going to be myself today. I’m sick of trying to handle the house and my emotions.”
“I wouldn’t have it any other way. I’ll meet you at…where are we going?” She told her what she was doing right now. “Oh, I love their hot cocoa. I would love one if you don’t mind. I’m nearly there anyway.”
Danielle didn’t know if she was disappointed or not about the company, but she wasn’t going to change her mind now about her plans. Carrie would either like her or not. Today, she didn’t care one bit. Tomorrow was a different story, but since she’d left the house this morning, she was going to have a good day no matter whose feelings she had to hurt to have one.
Carrie met her at the tables as she had gotten her the hot cocoa along with her coffee. After getting it and taking a sip, she wasn’t sure that she liked it, but was going to drink the thing no matter what. She’d never been a big fan of coffee, and with all the things that were in this one, she was sure that she should have gotten one that was just plain instead of the one that she had.
“You said you were going to be yourself today. I wondered if you were playing along with us when we had lunch. Why are you holding back?” She told her. “I like you just fine, and I think that you’re funny when you let go. From now on, be yourself. I know that I’d think you were fitting in rather than not.”
“I don’t fit in with you guys.” She asked her why she’d think that. “I don’t have anything in common with you guys. You’re used to having money. I’m squeezing my money so tightly that it feels like it’s not going to work for me anymore.” She took another sip of the coffee and shoved it away. “That made more sense in my head than when I said it. I don’t know how to spend money on things. This coffee is a prime example. I got it because it was expensive. I hate it. I should have stuck with something that I like rather than bother with the amount of money it cost me.”
“Spending money is difficult for me as well.” She said that she didn’t act like it. “Oh, but I do. When I go out to lunch with the women, I check the prices first before I order. I don’t have to. Archie has assured me that we have plenty of money that we can be free with. I can’t get over that.”
“I’ve been making the faeries not help me with the projects around the house for fear of them wanting all my money. I don’t know how that would work as they’re just little people, but that’s my fear. And since Beau is taking care that they get paid, now I worry that he’ll be out of money too, and where will we be? How do they get paid anyway?” Carrie didn’t laugh at her but told her that she did know the answer to that one. And she told her. “I can’t believe that they like being paid by helping us. There has to be more to it than that.”
“Sugar cubes and juice. I usually lay out some fresh fruit for them, and they love to nibble on flowers. But they feel helpful when you have them working for you, and that’s all they live for is to serve.” She laughed a little. “They also like to find things that they can barter with, like soda caps and cork. I had a lot of those left over from a project that I’d done, and they used them for a lot of things. Seats in their homes, I believe. And they love scraps of material of all kinds. They sew it into curtains and things again for their homes.”
“I found some tiny safety pins in one of the drawers I was cleaning out, and one of them asked if they could have them. I had no idea what they’d use them for; they were still as big as they were, but I told them they could have them. I just remembered there were a lot of things like that. Things that they asked for, and I gave them to them. Is that all they want?”
“You have to make sure that they rest, too. Sometimes, if they have a large project to do, they’ll do it until they’re exhausted. I heard you have a lot of them at your home.” She told her there were a couple of thousand still working in the house and that many more were in the gardens. “You more than likely have the happiest of all the pips that are in our homes. They love to work in gardens too. And they’ll have your house in tip-top shape in no time.”
“I told Honey when I left to finish the house. I hope that I didn’t give him too much to do.” She told her that since there are so many of them, they’d divide up the rooms between them and do them like that. “I just wanted it finished so that I can get on with my life. I think that Beau has been waiting for me to get sick of cleaning before he said anything to me about the faeries just getting it done. I can’t believe I’ve spent this much time on the house and getting it ready when I could have been enjoying life instead.”
“It sounds to me like you really need to get your life together, Danielle. And having the faeries do the house is the best idea that you’ve come up with.” She said now she was having second thoughts. “I understand that. Let’s go have some lunch somewhere so that you can forget you even have a house for a little while.”
“I’d like that.” As they made their way to the little diner that served the best burgers in town, she knew that she was going to feel guilty for a long time after giving the faeries such a large job to do. “I just hope they don’t overdo it. They’ve been so kind to me so far.”
~*~
Beau hated to go home tonight. He’d had such a long day that he just wanted to go home and relax for a little while. But until they got the house situated, there was no way that he was going to be able to sit on the new couch they had and put his feet up. The house needed to be finished soon, or he was going to suggest that the faeries do it all and upset Danielle.
He believed that she had the right idea about the faeries overdoing it with the house. But they were sad too that she was holding them back from getting it finished to please her. And they wanted her to be happy in the worst sort of way. Honey had spoken to him just this morning about the house being unfinished.
“She doesn’t want to overwhelm you.” He said that they were very underwhelmed right now. “I understand, but she has it in her head that the lot of you will hate her if she just tells you to finish the rooms. Danielle doesn’t want any of you hurt or overworked by doing everything that you can to the house.”
“She doesn’t understand about the magic either. Not even her own.” He’d noticed that as well over the past week. She was using her magic to bring her things, and she’d not noticed it as yet. He pointed it out to her, and she said that she just hadn’t looked for whatever it was very well and found it. “She believes that we’re just too small to handle any of the big jobs. That’s why she is still thinking that the furnace will need to be replaced by someone her size. Also, did you know that she checks on us daily? To make sure that we’re taking a break. It’s difficult to do anything with her forever making us stop to rest every little bit.”
Beau had laughed, but Honey hadn’t thought it was funny. “I’m sorry. You do know that she means well, don’t you? She just loves having you all around her. You might want to know that she thinks that you’re not being paid. And that she believes that you will wish human money to work for her. I believe that is the biggest reason for the house not being done the way you can make it finished up.”
