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“We’re doing what?” Jenna asked when we were back in the car. Her eyes grew huge, and her mouth temporarily dropped open. “House hunting? Why?”
“We need a place to live,” I said. “Don’t you want someplace more permanent?”
“I’m, uh, starting to get attached to the views at the apartment,” she said, twisting her fingers together.
“Wait until you see some of these views,” I told her, writing off her trepidation to that thriftiness that didn’t let her immediately accept something from me. I put my hand on her arm. “This is for us,” I said.
She relaxed somewhat, but Jenna seemed to go into a shell once Lenore started showing us some of the most impressive mansions in the area. She trailed behind us, notoffering much commentary, except to nitpick and find fault in the most minor things.
Each one had more luxurious gardens and grander views than the next. But there were either too many bathrooms or not enough. The kitchen was in a weird spot, or the master bedroom didn’t have a balcony. Lenore and I tried tag teaming her, pointing out that any of her qualms could easily be remedied by hiring a contractor, but Jenna didn’t think we should have to spend so much money and then have to do construction on top of it.
I was starting to think she was making excuses, pretending not to like the gorgeous houses in which I could easily see us spending the rest of our life together. I started watching her eyes, and they weren’t matching up with the discontent coming out of her mouth. For some reason, she was lying, making up reasons to dismiss each place.
Did she still not accept that we were forever?
The way she’d blurted out to Max that we were still figuring things out came back to me. That had almost been our first argument, and now I wondered if that was how she still felt. But why?
I was about to call it a day, to give Jenna some space, but Lenore insisted on the last one, saying she’d been holding it back. As we pulled up the quaint, winding lane that was lined with wisteria trees, Jenna leaned forward a little, intrigued for the first time.
The mansion sat at the end of the private drive, with a tidy brick exterior crawling with ivy and rose trellises. Four big picture windows glistened in the sunshine on the first level, reflecting back the neatly trimmed lawn and flowerbeds. The second level had a wrought iron balcony stretching across thelength of the house, lined with potted fruit trees. Jenna’s chin was almost on her chest, her longing impossible to hide.
It wasn’t the biggest by far, but as we toured the inside, Jenna grew animated for the first time at all the historical charm. The view out the back had us both gasping, overlooking acres of rolling vineyards. She was practically drooling as she struggled to come up with something she didn’t like about it. We went back downstairs and outside into a garden that was a riot of color and lush green foliage with stepping stones dotting a path through it to a secret spot with a marble bench and a fountain. Jenna’s look told me all I needed to know.
“We’ll take it,” I told Lenore before Jenna had a chance to come up with some fake complaint. “Make it happen as soon as possible.”
She hurried off with glee in her eyes, already getting on her phone as she left us alone in the garden.
Jenna turned to me, her eyes welling up. “Why did you do that?” she asked, a note of desperation in her voice.
I took her by the shoulders, leading her to the bench. Our bench. “I don’t know why you’re trying to pretend you don’t absolutely adore this place. It’s clear that you do. I can see it in your eyes.”
“Did you even see the price?”
“Doesn’t matter,” I told her. “The way you looked at it does.”
With a long sigh, she had to admit the truth. “It’s wonderful. It’s like it came straight from my dreams. But…”
I pulled her into my arms and kissed the top of her head. “What’s that ‘but’ about?” I urged.
She melted against me, wrapping her arms around my middle. “It’s nothing. This place is beautiful, and I know we’ll be so happy here. I’m just a little stunned, I guess.”
Her voice still didn’t match her words, sounding a bit off. Could she be worried about the money, or was it something more? Something to do with my own fears that she still didn’t see us as being forever? Then she leaned back and tipped her chin up for a kiss, and I chalked up my worries to my earlier paranoia over the councilman.
She was right. We were going to be happy here, blissfully so, and I eagerly lowered my head to claim her lips in our new garden hideaway.
Chapter 24 - Jenna
Not even Lev’s kiss in that enchanted, secretive place in the most beautiful garden I’d ever seen could dispel my guilt. If anything, it added to it. How could I let him spend so much money when I had no intention of staying married to him? He might not have been paying attention to the prices of all the houses we’d toured, but I was. The amount for this one he’d suddenly decided to buy was staggering. Outrageous, and almost didn’t seem real.
The entire place didn’t seem real, and it really was something straight out of one of my many childish daydreams after watching some British TV show about the upper classes. It was huge, but not overwhelming like the other mansions we toured. There was nothing stuffy or pretentious about it. Everything was chock full of cottage charm, with wide baseboards topping the gleaming hardwood floors, crown molding that edged whitewashed walls, or rich, brocade wallpaper. The kitchen was top-of-the-line and full of country cheerfulness with open cabinets and white marble counters.
In the master bath, a huge, clawfoot tub was set into an alcove with a picture window that streamed sunlight through the beveled glass. That alone would have sealed the deal for me, but when I saw the garden, I was hooked and couldn’t find a single bad thing to say.
Like now, when I couldn’t come up with a reason why Lev shouldn’t buy this wonderful place for us. Not without risking him suspecting my motives.
I sank into his embrace, fighting my mixed emotions. The house was so perfect, it was easy to imagine making a life with him here, and that was something I couldn’t do. I let him pull meback through the garden path and into the house where the real estate agent was already putting everything into motion.
“The house will be yours before you know it,” she crowed. “And then you two can start your happily ever after.”
