Forever Vows, page 6
Those were the thoughts I had as my wheels touched down at the airport back in Pittsburgh.
Bella and I hadn’t set a time for me to go by to look at her desk.
Since we hadn’t set a time, I figured I could go by anytime.
I also figured that the sooner I got there, the more time I would have to spend with her.
Since my ultimate goal was to get her to go to dinner with me, I didn’t want to wait too long.
Going home to shower and change would waste precious time, so I decided against it.
I’d showered before my flight, so I should be okay there.
I’d go straight to her house and save myself at least two hours with all the driving. Maybe more depending on traffic.
No, I decided. It was definitely better to go straight there.
After securing the airplane, I went through the post flight checklist, wrapping things up fairly quickly. It was three thirty by the time I made it to my car.
According to the GPS I would be at Bella’s house at four o’clock. Perfect timing. We’d have a couple of hours to fool around with the desk, then I’d segue right into dinner.
I’d let Bella slip out of my hands one time already. I didn’t plan on doing it again.
It was funny and kind of sad. I had known what I wanted at nine years old. When I was nine, I had known I wanted to marry Bella Ashton.
Then I had just run from that, going the exact opposite direction.
I’d dated. A lot. But none of them had been Bella.
Not one of them had held a candle to her.
I’d spent all these years searching for the one thing I’d already found.
The very thing I’d had when I was nine-years-old.
I was twenty-seven now and I no longer had an excuse for being young and dumb.
What I wanted had not changed with time.
I just had to figure out how to make it happen.
How did a man court the girl he’d been in love with since he was nine-years-old but hadn’t seen in years?
Chapter Seventeen
Isabella
I prowled around the house most of the day.
Daniel hadn’t said what time he was coming today to look at my desk. It was an ingenuous, if flimsy, reason for him to come by. I expected him to see right through it. Instead he seemed like it was something he was actually interested in.
After yesterday’s winds, the clouds had settled in, making the day a perfectly overcast day.
The fireplace in my third floor studio was gas, but the one downstairs that used wood filled the house with the pleasant cozy scent of fall.
The smell of fresh apple pies our cook was baking today added even more to the cozy feel of the house.
Normally on a day like today, I would have settled in. Gotten a little work done. Maybe settled in with a book for the afternoon.
But instead, I prowled. And I changed clothes three times. I’d started off with casual jeans and an oversized sweater.
Then after lunch, I’d changed into a flowy skirt. I’d rationalized myself into thinking that since Daniel would be coming into my office space, I needed to look somewhat professional.
A couple of hours later, I’d started to feel overdressed for a cloudy Saturday at home, so I’d changed again. I’d put my jeans back on, but this time I put on a black cashmere sweater set.
With it nearing three thirty, I took my book downstairs and curled up on the big comfortable sectional.
Everyone else was doing their own thing, so I had it to myself.
I read a paragraph. Then read it again.
Maybe Daniel had changed his mind. Maybe since we hadn’t set a time he hadn’t thought he was really supposed to come. Maybe he had a date.
With a frustrated sigh, I forced myself to read all the way through a chapter.
He was probably tied up with his grandmother. According to what he told Liam, he was doing some major work on her house.
If Daniel didn’t come, it was okay.
I would have dinner with whoever in my family didn’t go out. I’d go to bed early. Get some much needed rest. Then tomorrow I would get up early and finish up the changes on Melissa’s office cottage.
It was a good plan, I decided.
Then I heard a car pull up and stop in front of the house.
My heart pounding much too quickly, I got up and went to the front window.
It was Daniel.
I straightened my sweater. Ran a hand through my hair.
Then squared my shoulders and tried to look easy and casual. I needed to answer the door with a friendly, welcoming smile.
Friendly and welcoming. And casual.
Nearly forgot he was coming by today.
Standing back, I waited for him to knock on the door.
The tall grandfather clock in the foyer chimed four times.
When I opened the door I was pretty sure my friendly and casual changed into something a bit more intense.
He was wearing his pilot’s uniform. Dark pants and matching blazer. A white button down shirt and a red tie. Same uniform my brother who worked for Skye Travels wore.
But Daniel wore his uniform a whole lot differently than my brother. Better. Sooo much better.
He removed the sun glasses he didn’t need on such a cloudy day and smiled.
“Hi,” he said.
“Hi.” I stepped back to let him inside.
“I hope it’s not too late,” he said. “I just got back from a flight to Philadelphia.”
So not a date and not his grandmother. It hadn’t even occurred to me that he might be working.
“It’s not too late,” I said. “I was just doing some reading.” I shoved my hands in my back pockets. “How was your flight?”
“It was uneventful.”
“The best kind, right?”
“You know it.” He grinned. “It smells good in here.”
“Cook made an apple pie.”
“That sounds good.”
“Do you want some?” I asked.
“Sure. I’ll eat some with you.”
I raised an eyebrow at him. “You trying to score me an extra mile on the treadmill?”
He laughed.
“How about if we split it?”
“Okay,” I said. “We can split it.”
Was it possible that he was just here to hang out?
It occurred to me then that he might be here to see my brother.
“James isn’t home,” I said as we walked past the parlor into the kitchen.
“Okay. He’s married, right?”
“Yes.”
“Good for him.”
Two pies were sitting in the middle of the kitchen island. Cook was nowhere to be seen.
“Have a seat,” I said, going to the cabinet to get a couple of plates and a knife.
“Is this going to get us in trouble?” he asked.
“Trouble how?” I asked, sitting down and holding up the knife over one of the pies.
“Maybe Cook made these for a someone. You know. An occasion.”
“This is an occasion,” I said, slicing the knife into the still hot apple pie.
He smiled and watched as I slid a piece of pie onto a plate. Handed him a fork.
He cut off a piece and held it out.
I looked at him questioningly.
“We’re splitting it, right?”
I smiled and let him feed me the bite of pie.
The pie was good, but I barely tasted it.
I was in so much trouble and not from the pie.
It was Daniel. My heart was definitely in trouble with Daniel.
Chapter Eighteen
Daniel
Bella had a nice view from her third floor studio. A big lawn that ended at the edge of the forest. The lawn was scattered with maple trees, aglow with bright red leaves, and blue spruce trees that had grown up since I’d been here last.
It was nice. Nothing like the view from my twenty-first floor apartment. It was just a small one bedroom, but what could I say? I liked being in the air. It was a pilot thing.
“You’ve got a nice studio set up here,” I said. “I like the way your drafting table is in front of the window to catch the natural light.”
“I like it,” she said. “So much better than working in a cubicle.”
“I can’t even imagine having to do that.” I turned around. “Is this the desk we talked about?”
The old desk was obviously heavy from back when furniture had weight—built out of real wood.
It was old, but well taken care of. Big. With lots of drawers and, I soon discovered, it was a roll top desk.
The vase of fresh daffodils sitting on the top of the desk filled the room with a sweet, fresh scent.
“I have a feeling this isn’t going to be easy,” I said.
“Trust me,” she said. “It’s not. I’ve been all over it.”
“And no one has found it yet? How do you know it has a secret compartment?”
I ran a hand over the light oak wood.
“My grandmother told me. I got the desk from her.”
“A lady’s desk,” I said. “Of course it has secrets.”
“Funny,” she said. “But probably true. I emptied it. Moved everything out of the drawers.”
“Where do you suggest we start?”
“I don’t know.” She pulled down the roll top, then slid it back up. “It’s all in good shape.”
“It’s in excellent shape. Obviously well cared for.”
“You know about antiques?”
“Not really.” I opened up one of the drawers. “When my parents moved to Florida, they didn’t want to take anything with them. So I kept a couple of pieces. Sentimental reasons. My grandmother has the rest.”
A dog barked outside. I glanced out the window, saw a black lab racing around the yard.
“My sister-in-law’s dog,” she said. “That must be so strange to have your family scattered like that.”
“I guess I’ve gotten used to it.”
“So what do you think?” she asked. “Do you think you can find the secret compartment?”
I rubbed my hands together. “Only one way to find out.”
She sat down in her office chair.
“Oh no,” I said. “We’re doing this together.”
“I’ve looked everywhere,” she said.
“But you haven’t looked with me.”
I locked my gaze onto her green siren eyes and smiled.
This was going to be fun.
Besides, there was a magic that happened when two people looked together.
I wouldn’t tell her that, though. Not yet anyway.
Chapter Nineteen
Isabella
Having Daniel in my studio felt surreal.
He made the space seem smaller somehow.
I’d put all my pencils and rulers and other supplies in a box so that he wouldn’t have to worry about going through my things.
Biscuit was barking out back. Probably saw a deer at the edge of the woods. He wouldn’t go into the woods by himself. Not sure who taught him that or if he was just a super smart dog, but bears had been sighted out there in the woods.
Bears and pets did not mix well.
Daniel wanted me to help him look through the desk, but I’d already been through the whole thing.
“I don’t think I’m going to be any help,” I said. “I really have looked through the whole thing.”
“It’s different when two people look together,” he said.
“Okay.”
I went to kneel next to him in front of the desk.
“Most people start at the top,” I said.
He looked at me sideways with those deep blue eyes of his that reminded me of a clear summer day.
“Exactly,” he said and pulled out the bottom drawer. He ran his hands over it, turned it over and examined the bottom, then handed it over to me.
“You’re very thorough.”
He took out his phone, turned on the flashlight, and looked into the space where the drawer was.
“Do you see anything?” I asked.
“Not yet.” He sat back on his heels. “I think we should take the whole thing apart. All the drawers out. And go from there.”
“Okay,” I said. “I didn’t do that.”
“We have a plan then.”
One by one, he pulled out each drawer, examined it, then handed it over to me.
I lined them up, keeping them in order.
He and I were a lot alike, I realized. Both very methodical.
As a pilot, he would have to be. Same for me as an architect.
Both of us had to be precise in what we did.
With the desk apart, he sat back and examined it.
He looked over at me, a satisfied look in his eyes.
“I think I know where it is.”
“No way. There’s no way you could know already.”
“Look.” He pointed to a drawer space in the middle on the left side.
“This one doesn’t go as far back as the other ones.”
I leaned over close to him.
He smelled good. Like pine needles and jet fuel.
I’d never known that jet fuel was an attractive scent. Maybe someone should capture the scent and make a man’s cologne out of it.
I forced myself to focus on what he was showing me.
“You’re right.”
I leaned forward, looked into the space, then looked back at him.
“You’re good.”
“Let’s not count our chickens,” he said.
“How do we get back there?”
“I don’t quite know yet. I don’t want to break anything.”
“If it’s a secret compartment, there has to be a way in without breaking it.”
“Good point.”
He ducked beneath center of the desk and ran his hands along the wood.
“We need to look behind it,” he said, standing up.
“You can’t move… it—” I stopped in mid-sentence as he slid the desk out. “It’s too heavy.”
Back on his knees again, he checked the back wall of the desk.
“Doesn’t look like anyone’s cut into it,” I said, looking over his shoulder.
“Like you said. There has to be a way without all that.”
With the desk back in place, we knelt side by side and considered the space.
Then he looked at me.
“I can see you thinking,” I said.
He looked at me and laughing, nudged my arm with his. “I win the bet.”
“I concede that point,” I said. “We need to take a break away from it. We’ll figure it out.”
“Good idea,” I said.
He stood up and held out a hand. I put my hand in his and let him pull me to my feet.
“Just need a shower,” I said to myself.
“Oh.” He sniffed his sleeve. “I need a shower?”
“No,” I said. “I just meant.” I put a hand over my mouth to keep from laughing, but it didn’t help. I couldn’t keep from laughing.
“What?”
“I’m sorry,” I said, biting my lip and trying to look serious. “It’s just.” I couldn’t even talk, I was trying so hard not to laugh.
“Do I need to run home? Shower?”
I cleared my throat.
“I just meant that I do my best thinking in the shower.” I had to say it quickly because I was laughing again.
He simply watched me with amusement.
“Actually I’m the same way,” he said. “If you think we should go shower, I’m on board.”
I stopped laughing and just looked at him.
Had Daniel Benton just suggested that we shower? Together?
It was like being slapped in the face with a rude reminder that Daniel was a player. No one had specifically called him that, but I just had a feeling.
Chapter Twenty
Daniel
After watching Bella laugh like a loon, which I found perfectly enchanting by the way, she suddenly grew serious and withdrawn.
I’d only been teasing her about taking a shower. She’d been the one to bring it up.
Not that I would complain.
We went back down to the kitchen for a drink.
“Where is everybody?” I asked.
“I don’t really know,” she said. “It’s a big house. My grandparents and parents are out of town. I don’t know about everyone else.”
“How many of your siblings still live here?”
“All of them. And both Henry and James are married now. So we have two more people living here.”
“Wow. That’s a lot.”
“As you can see,” she said. “It’s not a big deal. I get to live in a nice big house. No rent. And it often feels like I have it to myself.”
I nodded. “That is different.”
“And then there are times when it seems like there are a hundred people here. Do you want a beer?” she asked.
“Whatever you have.”
“I have everything.”
“Then I’ll have whatever you’re having.”
“Wine then,” she said, going over to the wine cooler and selecting a bottle of wine.
Another way that our worlds were different. She not only lived in a big house with her big family, but she had a ready selection of wine to choose from.
If I were in her shoes, I’d probably never leave home either.
After opening the wine, she handed me a glass and kept one for herself.
“This is good wine,” I said, following her to the parlor.
There was a fire going. A fire with wood that was burning low.
“Hold my glass,” I said, not knowing where to set it. “And I’ll get this fire going.”
Minutes later, I had the fire going again using the wood stacked neatly next to the fireplace.
“You’re handy,” she said, handing me my glass of wine as I sat next to her on the big oversized sectional sofa. The sofa fit the room and I could see where it could be a gathering place for the family.
“Is this yours?” I asked, picking up a book on the sofa.
“Yes,” she said.
“I’ve read some of her others, but I haven’t read this one.”
