dogs and other domesticated animals were excellent judges of character.
“I sure am ready to have a look at that house,” Casey announced. “I’ve been excited ever since Walker sent me the pictures.”
“We’ll take my car,” Kendra said, picking up her keys. She’d vacuumed the interior thoroughly that morning before taking Madison to preschool, and covered the backseat with an old blanket for the trip over, removing it after she’d unloaded the dog, all to prevent messing it up again.
“That’s fine,” Casey said agreeably, and they all left by the back way, since Kendra’s car was parked behind the building, and besides, she wanted to draw as little attention as possible.
Daisy wasn’t happy about being left behind and whined pitifully, trying to squeeze through the crack when Kendra went to close the door.
“Oh, let her come along with us,” Casey urged.
“She sheds,” Kendra said.
“I don’t mind,” Casey replied.
Kendra nodded and brought Daisy along, already liking Casey Elder for her down-to-earth attitude. She’d fit in well here in Parable—if she decided to stay.
Casey rode in back with Daisy, crammed into the middle because of Madison’s car seat, while Walker took the front passenger side. Kendra followed side streets to Rodeo Road, but people peered at them curiously as they passed just the same from yards and sidewalks.
Any stranger would have attracted their attention, but they might well recognize this one—even in disguise, it seemed to Kendra, Casey Elder radiated a sort of down-home confidence that marked her as somebody special.
They reached the mansion without incident and, since the work was done, there were no cleaning or painting crews around.
“Holy smokes,” Casey said in her trademark drawl, standing at the front gate and looking up. “That is some house.”
Kendra was already unlocking the front door, Daisy at her side. “You be good,” she whispered to the dog.
Inside the massive entryway, Kendra went over the house’s best features, but she sensed that Walker and Casey wanted to explore the place on their own, so she left them to it, saying she and Daisy would be on the screened-in porch in back, or in the yard.
Casey smiled and nodded, and then she and Walker set out on their self-guided tour.
Kendra went on through the middle of the sprawling house and out the back door, taking Daisy with her. She let Daisy sniff her way around the yard while she checked the flower beds—the gardeners she’d hired were doing a good job of weeding and watering—and unlocked the door to the guest cottage, so Casey could look it over when she was ready.
She picked a bouquet of zinnias in the garden, planning to put them in the center of her kitchen table over at the rental house later on, and then just stood there, looking around, waiting to feel the sadness of letting go. After all, this had been her dream house once; she’d loved it, lived in it with pride. There were a lot of happy memories, from before and after the break-up with Jeffrey—she’d played here as a child, of course, taken refuge here, and much later, Joslyn had lived in the cottage, when she’d first come back to Parable and found herself falling hard for Slade Barlow—the last man on earth Joss would have chosen. Later still, Kendra had thrown a huge party right there in the backyard, with dancing and caterers and the whole works, to welcome Tara when she’d bought the chicken farm the year before.
No sadness came over her, though.
She knew, standing there with a colorful bouquet of summer flowers in her hands, that Casey would buy this house and make it a home. She would raise her children here.
And that was all well and good.
This house had been Jeffrey’s, really—he’d been the one to pay for it, to furnish and maintain it, even after they were divorced. Now it was going to change hands, and the money from the sale would go into a trust fund for Madison, Jeffrey’s child, as it should.
Kendra felt a lot of peace in those moments, thinking about all the changes that had taken place in her life since she’d first seen this house, as a lost little girl, hungry to belong somewhere, to be wanted and welcome.
And she had been welcome here, with Opal and Joslyn and Joslyn’s laughing, generous mother.
But she wasn’t that unwanted child anymore. She was a grown woman, whole and strong, with a daughter of her own to love and bring up to the best of her ability. She