Wild Abandon

They left the dining room and went across the hall into the parlor. Lauralee stared disbelievingly around the elegant room. The walls were painted creamy white, embellished with hand-painted ivy motifs. More ivy circled the edges of the ceiling, creating a wonderful false domed effect.

Jewel hues—ruby, jade, green, topaz, and honey amber—were embodied in the silk stripes of the very traditional down-filled sofa and chairs. It looked like furniture you wanted to sink into and fall asleep in. An oversize leather ottoman topped with a lap rug was an inviting place to prop one’s feet.

Lauralee looked further around the room, at the soft, stuffed armchairs upholstered in silk brocade, and at an enormous gilt mirror that hung beside one of the tall windows that were ornamented by looped and corded drapes.

Other various chairs, and tables upon which sat beautiful figurines, were artfully arranged around the room.

Upon one wall hung two gilt, oval-framed portraits. One oil painting was of Nancy, when she was younger and very petite in build.

She studied the other portrait. She knew that it must be her uncle Abner and found him handsome and dignified, and surely much younger than now.

“We shall leave the kitchen till later,” Nancy said, sweeping Lauralee back out into the corridor. “I shall now show you your room.” She paused, then said, “And then you will meet your uncle Abner.”

Her own room, Lauralee thought excitedly as she climbed the stairs beside Nancy. At the orphanage she had always been forced to share a room with several other girls. Even when she had reached her teen years she had not had any privacy.

And now?

To have a room all her own?

Her heart thundered as she reached the second-floor landing. A hallway led to four doors. One of those would be the room that Nancy and Abner had chosen for her.

Nancy walked down the hall just a short distance and opened a door.

“Tell me how you like your room,” Nancy said softly. “Come on, Lauralee. I’ve prepared it just for you. I so enjoyed doing it. I have always wanted a daughter.”

Her knees weak, her eyes wide, Lauralee looked upon a room that could charm the cockles of any young woman’s heart. She slipped past Nancy into the room. Her breath was taken clean away. A huge white-lacquered four-poster bed centered the room, the spread trimmed in frilly lace to match the lacy drapes at the two long windows and a wall covering festooned with vines, birds, and butterflies and flight-of-fancy paint treatments. A carpet, as soft and plush as balls of freshly picked cotton sank with her weight as she walked across it.

She stepped into a small alcove off the bedroom and found herself standing in a small powder room. On the

walls, periwinkle-blue moire, backed with knit fabric, provided a rich backdrop for the furnishings. A porcelain basin sat on a commode, a gilded French mirror placed in the center echoing the beauty of the room beyond.

A dressing table, upon which sat a gilded mirror that reflected many bottles of perfume in it, as well as a gilt-trimmed hairbrush, made her gasp from utter delight.

She went to the bed and pressed her fingers into the plush feather mattress, and then the plump pillows. The Peterson House meant many things to her. Security, family, and now that she was there and saw its grandness, she could hardly think of anything else—eiderdowns, smooth, clear sheets, soft down pillows.

Lauralee turned to Nancy and gave her a soft smile, then gave her a gentle hug. “It’s more beautiful than I had ever dreamed,” she said. “Thank you. Thank you.”

Nancy patted Lauralee’s back. “Thank you for coming to be a part of our lives,” she said, her voice breaking. “I gave up long ago thinking about children. I had to accept what God gave me. A good husband. A beautiful home. I learned to accept my lot in life without regrets. Then came the wire from your father. That changed everything for me and Abner. You are a blessing, child. A blessing.”

Knowing that she would soon disappoint Nancy, Lauralee swallowed hard. She was a lovely woman. And ill?

Lauralee blocked the worry from her mind. She wanted to savor this moment, when she had finally become a part of a family. She would live every second of it as though it were the last. Then when the time truly came to leave, it would surely not be as hard.

“Shall we now go and introduce you to your uncle Abner?” Nancy asked as she swung herself away from Lauralee. She took Lauralee’s hand. “Just across the hall. When we had this house built, Abner made sure he had a large study. It also serves as our library.”

They left the bedroom and stepped out into the hallway. Nancy led Lauralee to another door. There they stopped long enough for Nancy to tap lightly on the closed door. When a voice said to enter, Nancy opened the door slowly, then stepped aside so that Lauralee could enter ahead of her.

Again Lauralee was amazed at what she saw. The mahogany and green damask study had walls lined with shelves filled with books and photographs and memories. It was surely a place to go and feel good about one’s family and one’s life.

A needlepoint rug filled the center of the room in Chinese lacquer red with a floral pattern in creams, beiges, and greens. The strong red lent a masculine feel even with the flowery motif. Both the crown molding in Chinese red and the yellow tone-on-tone wallpaper tied in with the colors of the rug, as did the richly upholstered seating pieces.

To soften the windows but not cover them completely, floral glazed chintz were swagged over black lacquer rods with an undercurtain of white lace edged with red ribbon.

A grand old mahogany desk sat at the far end of the room where she found her uncle sitting behind it in a sumptuous chair. He was edging middle age but his muscled body gave the impression of competence. His clean-shaven face was broad and long. His features were heavy in a cushioned, boneless way. He had a mild expression and wore a half smile as he stared back at her.

When he rose from behind the desk and spoke to her, his voice was soft with courtesy. He was dressed in well-fitted dark trousers and a frock coat where a cravat displayed a diamond stickpin in its folds.

“And you are Lauralee?” Abner said, taking long, wide strides as he walked toward her. “If I didn’t know better I’d think I was in the presence of your mother. You are the very mirroring of Carolyn.”