Page 58 of A Flower for Angus

‘See you later for dinner then. Love you.’

Andrea wasn’t happy that Poppy was staying at the mansion, but she felt like she needed to. Unless someone had thrown them out, all her business suits, shoes, and other clothing had been left behind when she ran from Chicago to Toronto. She highly doubted anyone had bothered to clean house. Her bedroom wasn’t in Edna and Adrian’s way, so they would be inclined to ignore it.

She and Julian had been in separate bedrooms after Julian was diagnosed with sleep apnea and heart disease over three years ago. It wasn’t like they’d had much of a physical relationship anyway. She wrinkled her nose. As long as she was available to be seen on his arm and play social hostess, he didn’t need her in his bed. The most time they spent together was in his study or in the office working with the company portfolios.

Lost in her own thoughts while Vince and Angus chatted, it wasn’t long before they finally pulled into the drive facing two wrought iron gates where the immense golden stone structure loomed.

“The code is 6789876,” she instructed Vince as he opened his window to push the buttons on the door entry box. “That is if it hasn’t been changed.”

It hadn’t. The iron gates swung open and Vince proceeded up and around the concrete circle to stop in front of the three-story structure. Monstrous 4-foot square stone pillars held up the upper balcony of the second floor. Above the second-floor balcony, a massive letter C had been etched into a section of stone that jutted out from the main wall. A raised rock flower bed in the middle of the drive held daylilies of all colors swaying in the slight breeze.

Angus opened his door. “I see what you mean about it lookin’ like a museum or a mausoleum,” he remarked to Poppy when he opened her door to help her out. In her ear he growled, “Why did ye put me in the front seat? I wanted to sit in the back together.”

“Because Vince would have been lonely in the front with no one to talk to,” she glibly replied.

“He can find his own lass then,” he growled, hugging her into his side.

Poppy chuckled nervously as Vince came around with their bags from the trunk. The butterflies were getting worse. Then she turned to face the mansion.

Taking a deep breath for reinforcement, she started up the steps and made her way to the huge front door. She tried the big handle of the door first, but when it didn’t open, she took the keys from her shoulder bag and inserted one into the lock above the door handle, then pressed the lever. It opened.

“Here we go,” she whispered to Angus, looking over her shoulder with trepidation.

“Once more into the breach,” Angus teased. “Ye can do it, lass.”

Poppy shoved the door wide open and stepped inside. As she slowly walked into the mansion, it was if nothing had changed. To her right and left were huge coatrooms for guests to leave their belongings. Directly in front and across a broad expanse of gleaming dark wood flooring were two staircases with landings halfway up, one on each side of the room, that led to the next floor. There was a step down into the main floor where a long hallway stretched toward the back of the house. A huge crystal chandelier hung above them.

“I’d hate to be the maid who has to clean that,” murmured Angus in her ear as he pointed upward towards the glittering crystal.

They were all startled when a voice suddenly exclaimed from the doorway to the left side of the room. “Poppy! What are you doing here? Come to gloat, have you? And who are these people with you?”

Chapter 14

Poppy whirled to faceEdna standing in the doorway on her left, her mouth dry and her heart racing. To her amazement, Ralston stood right behind her dressed in casual dark slacks and a white polo instead of his neatly pressed butler’s jacket and suit pants. He looked angry and protective of Edna with a hand on her frail shoulder, his dark eyes glaring at them. They had come from the direction of the library and Julian’s study.

“What’s Ralston doing out of uniform?” she asked bluntly.

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