opposite end of the space. “Stephanie is the woman at her side. They’ll see to all of your needs. Poppy, a moment?”
Poppy wasn’t sure that she wanted to walk away from the Maddox gang without saying more. Preston was with them. He worked with Val to coax the girls closer to the housekeeper. Having done so much for her, Tiller didn’t deserve to be ignored, so she went to join him.
He slipped a hand onto the back of her shoulder to guide her away from the gallery toward the drawing room. “We’re going to invite Holden to dinner.”
Shocked, Poppy stopped to look at him. “Tonight?”
“No,” he said, wearing a smile. “Not tonight. Later in the week. We’re ironing out the details. It will be our last attempt to resolve this before we move on to legal action.”
“Okay,” she said, glancing back the way they’d come. “Do we want him to meet the whole family?”
“That will be decided,” Tiller said. “The Maddox family were brought here at Mr. Whitlock’s behest.” He frowned. “He said you were in agreement that this was the safest place for them.”
Poppy nodded. “Mm hmm. Thank you.”
It was safer for them there at the house, on the Adler Estate, away from the press. No question about that.
“Would you like someone to retrieve Mr. Maddox?”
“No,” she said, shaking her head. “I want to talk to Preston first and Turner won’t appreciate special treatment. His shift ends whenever it ends.”
Inhaling, Tiller’s smile flattened in a happy, yet incredulous way. “He’s not quite the type your parents envisioned for you.”
“He’s exactly the type Grammie envisioned for me.”
He laughed. “I can’t refute that. Mr. Granger would’ve enjoyed putting him through his paces.”
Her brow twitched. “My father?”
“No, his,” Tiller said. “Mr. Granger Senior enjoyed testing the young men who came around to the estate.”
“Grandpa? I didn’t know you knew him.”
He nodded. “I was a child when I first came to work on the estate… He enjoyed setting tasks for the youngsters, testing their capabilities.”
“What was it like?” she asked. “Losing him.”
His ease became something much more solemn. “It wouldn’t be an overstatement to say the place was never the same… There was a… magic about the estate when he and your grandmother were together. They carried it with them. A happiness and security that had nothing to do with money.” He rested a gentle hand on her cheek. “These halls are lighting up for the first time in forty-five years.” His eyes narrowed. “Don’t ignore the magic, Poppy. Don’t take it for granted.”
As far as she knew, Tiller hadn’t seen her with Turner, but she couldn’t misinterpret his meaning. “Which room is Mrs. Maddox in?”
“The Betton Room,” he said, his hand leaving her face. “We put her eldest daughter in the suite next door, set up beds for the children in the suite’s salon.”
She smiled. “You think of everything.”
“That’s my job, Miss Poppy,” he said, taking a step back. “Please go and greet your guests.”
With a single nod, she retreated to run up the spiral staircase beside them to do as he said. The sound of the kids and Maddox sisters vibrated down the second floor hallway. As she went along to the opposite end, a buzz hummed all around. The Maddox women were in their rooms, she didn’t see them, yet just having them near enlivened her.
Mrs. Caswell and Stephanie were talking at the top of the main stairs. Stephanie dashed past her, along the hallway just as Poppy stopped to lay a hand on Mrs. Caswell’s arm.
“You put the twins in the apricot and mauve rooms?” she asked because those rooms were identical in every way except their colors.
“Yes. Mrs. Maddox is in the Betton Room. Her eldest daughter is in the suite next door, just here.” Poppy nodded. “Mr. Whitlock is in the northwest bedroom, so we put her other two daughters in the rooms opposite.”
“Mr. Whitlock was using the Nook as his office space, wasn’t he?”
Mrs. Caswell nodded. “Yes, but he—”
“The Nook is too small for Zoey or Charley.” The Nook was usually used as an extension of the bedroom next to it, making the room a suite. As a bedroom, it wasn’t significant on its own. “Give Zoey the full suite and put Charley in my room.”
The housekeeper was taken aback. “Your room? But Miss Poppy—”
“I’ll stay with Grammie, it will be fine.”
She offered a smile then carried on down the hallway, smiling at the exuberant sounds of the kids as she went past their room. Bolstering