American Heroes Series - 03 - Purgatory (14 page)

Her mouth opened in outrage.
“There are people on my property?” she repeated. “They better get their asses
off it or I’ll prosecute every one of them. I’ll…!”

Nash came to a halt and grasped
her firmly by the arms. “I already took care of that,” he told her, interrupted
her tirade. “I’ve got private security on the property with twenty-four hour
patrol.  Plus, my brother’s there and he’s more than likely going to spend the
night because of the contractors coming so early in the morning. There are also
police all over the place, so nothing is going to happen to the house or your
possessions, I promise. But I am very concerned about you and Penelope going
back there tonight. I’d feel so much better if you’d just go to a hotel for the
night. Will you please do this for me?”

She stared up at him. “You did
all of that?”

“What?”

“Private security?” she seemed to
have calmed down dramatically. “Why in the world would you do that for a woman
you barely know?”

He smiled and kissed her on the
cheek. “Because I like her,” he murmured. “And I want to get to know her a
whole lot better.”

“You’re not doing this just to
get your house back, are you?”

She was grinning and he started
laughing, resuming their walk back to Alec and Penelope.

“No,” he assured her.  “It’s
yours and it’s going to stay yours. But will you please go to the hotel for the
night as a personal favor to me?”

She gave him a reluctant nod.
“Okay,” she said. “But all of my stuff is back at the house.”

“There’s a Wal-Mart across the
street. You can pick up what you need for the night.”

It sounded like a good enough
plan and the truth was that she was dying for a hot bath. She could pick up
some pajamas for her and Penelope and then retire to a good bed with cable
television.  It all sounded pretty wonderful.

“But what about Alec?” she wanted
to know.

“When he’s done at the police
station, I’ll take him back to my house.  I’ve got four bedrooms and only one
of them is used, so he can have his pick of beds and a bathroom that he can
actually fit in to.  We’ll see you and Penelope in the morning.”

There didn’t seem to be any holes
in his plans as far as she was concerned, so she nodded once more, just to seal
the deal, as they reached Alec and Penelope.

As Elliot told Alec about his
fate for the next few hours, Nash got on the phone and called the manager at
the Hampton Inn. When Elliot and Penelope checked in an hour later, two junior
suites were waiting for her and Penelope, one next to the other.  They both had
their own king-sized bed, giant bathtub, and free toiletries. Elliot soaked in
the tub until her skin was wrinkled and still, she stayed in until the water
was cold and she was forced to get out.

When she finally slept, she
dreamed of a handsome guardian angel with hazel eyes.

CHAPTER SEVEN

When Elliot, Penelope and Alec
returned to Purgatory the next day, the crime scene was cleaned up and there
were a host of contractor’s trucks lining the driveway.  Penelope had to park
her little Nissan far down the driveway and the three of them walked up to the
house, seeing that a massive undertaking was already underway.

Truthfully, it was a shock.
Elliot stood in front of the house, watching the scaffolding going up on all
sides, noting that the front window had already been replaced.

More than a little concerned that
work was going on without her consent or knowledge, she walked into the main
hall to find strippers and painters in nearly every room. They were stripping
off the old paint in the central hallway and carefully repairing the plaster
already. Increasingly concerned, Elliot went in search of Beau and found the
man in the ballroom, speaking with a dark-haired woman in a suit.

Beau saw her as soon as she
entered the room and waved enthusiastically. “Hi,” he greeted. “Sorry we
started the party without you.”

Elliot was a little taken aback.
“I can see that,” she tried not to sound perturbed. “What’s going on?”

Beau grabbed her by the wrist and
pulled her over to the dark-haired woman. “This is Hallie Munn,” he introduced
her. “Hallie is from Tulane University’s department of historic preservation. 
Based on the conversation you and I had yesterday when you told me that you
wanted to restore Purgatory’s original colors and finishes, I called Hallie and
she drove up this morning with a bunch of information on the original plantation,
Sophie.”

Hallie was a lovely mixed race
woman who extended her hand amiably to Elliot.

“Hi there,” she said. “It’s so
nice to meet you. I’m really thrilled to be called in on this. It’s such a
great opportunity for me because there aren’t many of these great old houses
left that haven’t been either restored, remodeled, or torn down.”

Elliot forced a smile at the
woman. “I’m very happy you’re here,” she told her. “I really want to be true to
the original design of the house, so thank you for coming.”

Hallie just grinned and Elliot
turned to Beau. “Uh…,” she crooked her finger at him. “Can I please talk to you
for a moment?”

Beau followed her back out into
the central hallway where Elliot drew him out of earshot of her children and of
the workers.  She turned to him.

“What’s going on here?” she
whispered. “I thought you were just going to give me estimates today?”

Beau shook his head. “Nash and I
talked about this last night,” he said. “We need to make this place livable for
you and your kids, so we’re going to go like gangbusters to restore it. With
all of the people I have at my disposal, this place should be looking like it
did the day they built it in about four weeks. By tonight, you should have
propane for hot water and the stove. I’ve got a designer coming in later this
morning so you can pick out your appliances.”

Elliot stared at him in confusion
and doubt. “
Nash
and you talked about it?” she repeated. “But this is my
house. I don’t have all the money in the world to pay for an army of contractors. 
All of this is going to cost me a fortune, Beau. You really shouldn’t have done
anything without talking to me first.”

He could see why she was upset
and he hastened to reassure her. “I wouldn’t worry too much about it,” he said.
“What’s your budget for the restoration?”

She blinked thoughtfully.
“Well…,” she looked around, at the floors, the walls. “My guess is that it’s
probably going to cost well over a hundred thousand dollars to restore this
place but I only have eighty thousand set aside. I have to be really selective
about what I pay for now because I don’t…”

He cut her off. “We’ll get this
house fully restored, including furniture, windows, new fixtures and appliances
for eighty thousand and not a penny more.”

She looked at him as if he was
crazy. “How in the world can you do that?” she demanded. “Everything in this
house has to be gutted and redone; the floors, the plumbing, the electrical…
everything.
”

He smiled at her. “I know,” he
patted her on the arm. “Don’t worry about it. You’re only paying for materials.
Nash and I are taking care of the labor.”

Her jaw dropped. “You’re
what
?”

He laughed at her. “Talk to my
brother. It was his idea.”

She grabbed him by the arm. “No,
I’m talking to you.  What do you mean that you and Nash are taking care of the
labor? That’s got to be at least forty grand!”

Beau waved her off. “You forget
who you’re talking to,” he reminded her, his light demeanor turning serious. “I
do this for a living.  The State of Louisiana offers grants for the restoration
of historic homes and I have feeling I can get enough to cover the labor and
then some.  Besides, Nash and I always wanted to restore this place but we
never had the opportunity. Family fights, crazy grandmothers and all that. Let
us at least do something to make Purgatory beautiful and livable again. In a
way, it’s still our house. Our blood flows through these walls. We want to see
it restored just as much as you do.”

He winked at her and left her
standing in the central hallway, struggling to grasp what he had just told her.
Elliot had seen Nash that morning when he dropped Alec off at the hotel on his
way to work, but he’d only mentioned the results of Alec’s interrogation, which
seemed relatively benign.

He told her that the Sorrento
detectives, after speaking with Alec, had determined his actions had indeed
been in self-defense and they intended to file their report and close the case.
It seemed that none of them were sorry that Femmie Loreau was dead, a man with
a criminal record a mile long but who had gotten away with much more that
wasn’t on his record.

Frankly, Elliot was a little
surprised with how quickly they were willing to close the case, but she didn’t
mention it. She was very thankful. Nash had left her with a saucy wink when the
kids weren’t looking and with no hint of what wait for her at home.

Lost in thought, Elliot began to
walk. She ended up on the second floor, where more painters were carefully
stripping off eighty year old paint. She could hear Alec and Penelope, and she
found her way into Alec’s enormous bedroom where Penelope was trying to
convince her brother than she deserved the bigger bedroom. 

Elliot took her daughter back to
the bedroom that was positioned over the ballroom, the one with the killer
floor to ceiling view of the bayou, and Penelope shut her mouth. When Alec
attempted to invade, she kicked him out.  She’d found her room.

Elliot grinned as she listened to
her children bicker; it was like music to her ears.  Rob used to throw socks or
towels at them to get them to shut up, but it was all in good natured fun. Alec
and Penelope were actually very close. It was good to hear them again, in a new
house, filling it with their life and youth.

Ending up in her big master
bedroom that overlooked the driveway and the bayou to the north, Elliot hunted
for a change of clothes considering she was still in her clothes from
yesterday.  She’d taken two hot baths and one hot shower at the hotel, cleaning
her body and then some, but the clothes were still dirty. 

Coming across a box containing
carefully folded pants and other items, she changed into clean jeans, a white
long sleeved t-shirt with a scoop neck that emphasized her sexy figure, and
pulled her long hair back into a ponytail. Pushing up her sleeves, she jumped
into organizing the boxes.  From the craziness of the past two days to the
sudden industriousness of today, she was ready to settle in.  Thanks to Nash,
she was finally thrilled and happy to be there.

She was home.

                                                                   ***

The day flew by and before Elliot
realized it, dusk was beginning to fall.  The sky over the bayou was turning
shades of deep blue and pink as night approached, and the fireflies were coming
out in droves, creating a galaxy of stars in their own back yard.

Alec and Penelope turned into
five year olds when they saw all of the fireflies around the house. They ran
outside and tried to catch them, and Elliot watched her grown children act like
kindergarteners as they chased bugs around.  Standing in the ballroom, she
grinned at the sundown entertainment.

Most of the contractors had shut
down for the night, leaving Beau and Hallie still perusing the place,
discussing what needed to happen. Frankly, Elliot was glad to have the help
with the smaller decisions, like fixtures and door knobs, but she had the final
word with the colors and finishes. She had picked out her appliances that
afternoon, state of the art devices that would work in harmony with the antique
surroundings, and she felt like things were finally moving forward. She was
happy, carefree, feeling better than she had in almost two years.

As she watched her kids dance
around, she could hear Beau and Hallie at the front door.  Beau was seeing the
woman out.  Elliot heard the front door shut softly and Beau’s footsteps as he
made his way back to the ballroom. He came to stand next to her, watching her
California-bred kids have fun with the fireflies.  She heard him laugh softly.

“How old are they again?” he
asked.

“Eighteen and nineteen,” she
replied. “Or more like five and six right now.”

They chuckled for a moment, their
gaze turning to more than the kids as they frolicked. There was an entire world
out there being bathed in the colors of sunset. Elliot sighed faintly, her eyes
on the sky.

“I have seen a lot of sunsets,
but never one like this,” she murmured. “There’s something so peaceful and
timeless about this place.  I’m going to have to write a book about it.”

Beau glanced at her, trying not
to stare.  She was so pretty and intelligent, so unlike anyone he had ever met
before.  Elliot caught him looking at her from the corner of her eye and she
turned to him with a smile.