Fallen

Deputy West paused, looking as though he was considering saying something to Mr. Grady, but then, apparently having changed his mind, muttered, “Yeah,” and walked toward the door without a second look at Scarlett. Okay then. He and the woman left, the store growing dim once more as it shut out the momentary blast of sunlight.

“Come on back to my office and you can tell me about your project,” Mr. Grady said.

Scarlett focused back in on him. “Thank you, Mr. Grady—”

“Mason, please. Mr. Grady’s the man who raised me. And we look nothing alike.” He grinned, his smile wide, teeth white and straight.

Haddie had turned away with the kitten, and her shoulders were hunched as she cradled the small creature to her chest. “Haddie, sweetheart, put the kitten down and come with me.”

“She’s welcome to stay out here and visit with the kittens while you attend to business,” Sheila said. “I have a granddaughter just about her age so I’m used to kids.”

“Oh,” Scarlett murmured. “Well . . .” She went around to Haddie and leaned over her shoulder, a smile tugging her lips at the sight of the sweet little face of the kitten.

She wasn’t sure about leaving Haddie with Sheila, even if she was just in another room, because just a short time before, Haddie had been in tears over how Ruth had chastised her. And although Haddie was such a resilient little girl, and looked completely at ease in Sheila’s presence, she was still Scarlett’s baby. “How about if you come with me and we’ll visit the kittens again on our way out?”

Haddie glanced at Sheila and gave her a small smile. “I’m okay staying here,” she said.

Scarlett paused again. “Well, all right. I’ll be back shortly, and if you want to come join me, you just tell Sheila, okay?”

Haddie nodded, completely engrossed with the kitten.

Scarlett thanked Sheila and then followed Mason to the back of the store where he showed her into a small, tidy office.

When she emerged twenty minutes later, it was with a smile and an appointment for Mason to come to the house the next day and work up a more precise bid. But he’d seemed enthusiastic about the project, and his ideas were both on par with her own, and offered exciting possibilities she hadn’t considered. “Thank you so much for allowing me to interrupt you without an appointment. I can’t wait to walk you through the place,” Scarlett said, reaching her hand out.

He shook, smiling brightly. “I appreciate the opportunity. Lilith House has sat empty for far too long. I’d love the chance to be a part of bringing her back to her former glory.”

“See you tomorrow then,” Scarlett said, turning and heading back to the front to tear her kitten-obsessed daughter away.

“Sheila said in two or three weeks they’ll be ready to go to new homes, Mommy,” Haddie said when they’d pulled out of the lot and were heading back toward the road that led out of town and toward Lilith House.

Scarlett glanced in her rearview mirror and gave her daughter an amused eyebrow lift. “New homes?” she asked. “Wow, I hope someone will want at least one.”

“Can we take one, Mommy” Haddie breathed. “Please?”

They hadn’t been able to have pets in their small apartment in LA, but now that they lived on so many acres of land, what trouble would it be to adopt a kitten, or even two? They’d probably be helpful in keeping the field mice population low too, which certainly wouldn’t be a bad thing. “Maybe,” she said secretively. “I’ll think about it.” The idea of surprising her daughter with two kittens of her very own in two or three weeks sent a jolt of happiness through Scarlett. And Lord knew, every little bit helped toward the effort of making their new house feel like home.

The gravel crunched under her tires as she came to a stop in front of the house, getting out and taking Haddie’s hand as they walked toward the front door.

She gazed up at the massive structure, the ideas Mason had discussed filling her with excitement as she saw the house, not as it currently was, but as it could be. And not just because she saw its potential, but because someone else did too. His ideas had rolled so effortlessly off his tongue, it was almost as though he’d already had them formed long before she showed up. They were that natural, and that good.

Scarlett startled when Haddie let out a loud yelp, turning to her daughter and instinctively reaching for her. Before she even had a chance to ask Haddie what had scared her, she saw the bony, plucked-looking body of a baby bird sitting on the first step. “Oh no,” she breathed, pulling Haddie in to her side. “Oh poor thing.” Scarlett looked up and around at the tops of the trees that sat at the periphery of the house. They all seemed too far away for the helpless creature to have dropped from, but she supposed it could have attempted to fly . . .