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Britta giggled and darted into a room, her footfalls echoing behind her.
An icy breeze swept across my back, so I dragged our bags inside before shutting the door. I still couldn’t believe my uncle, whom I’d never known, had left us this house. But I’d seen the papers, had signed them with a lawyer.
Sunlight drenched through the windows, lighting up the home. Black-and-white paintings peppered the walls, and I followed Britta. A tanned animal’s skin covered most of the flooring. My sister lounged on the L-shaped couch with a dozen cushions, overlooking an unlit fireplace.
“We need to get a fire going,” she said, lifting her chin toward the stack of wood inside a metal cage near the wall. “And this is my room. I love it so much.”
Okay, the fire couldn’t be that hard to work out, and if not, there was always Google. “So no bedroom for you then? Who knows what’s upstairs?”
Her eyes widened. She leaped to her feet and sprinted past me, then upstairs. In the next room, I discovered a study. Two of its walls were made of shelves filled with books, and my heart skipped a beat at the sight. In the middle stood an oak table with a leather chair overlooking the window. Outside lay a yard with mountains in the distance. If Britta claimed the living room, then this would be mine. I strolled deeper and ran my hand across the book spines, many of which were in German. I had a lifetime to learn the language and get acquainted.
Excitement shot through me, and I twirled on the spot. Not only had we gained a house, but it had come furnished.
I walked over to the desk and picked up a framed photo of an older man with silvery hair standing next to two other silver-haired men, each holding a glass of what I assumed was whiskey. Behind them stood a wall of wooden barrels. The man in the center had familiar eyes, just like my dad’s.
The lawyer had told me that Leon had always been a private man. No family or children of his own. He’d stopped speaking with his brother after a huge argument. My uncle had to have known he had two nieces, yet he’d never reached out to us. Maybe he’d assumed my dad wouldn’t have wanted him contacting us. Had he been worried my parents would have attempted to take money from him? Had he even known they’d wound up in jail? I supposed I’d never know, but that didn’t matter now. The past was over.
“Thanks,” I said to the photo of my uncle, who had the kindest smile. “Thank you for leaving us your home.”
A sudden shriek came from upstairs, and I froze. “Britta?”
When she didn’t reply, I dumped the photo frame on the sofa and bolted out of the room and headed upstairs, taking two steps at a time. “Britta, where are you?” I pictured her fallen somewhere or hell, what if there were squatters sleeping here? Abandoned homes attracted the homeless.
“In here.” Her voice came from my right when I reached the next floor. I ran down the long hallway, passing two open doors to bedrooms, and burst into the last one.
My heart lodged in my throat as I scanned the area to find my sister reclining on a bed pressed up against the side of the window, faux furs beneath her. She resembled a starfish. Outside lay a postcard view of mountains and an overcast sky. She wasn’t hurt. Hell, I needed to calm down and not jump at everything.
“It’s like I’m sleeping on the clouds.” She rolled onto her side, hugging a pillow to her chest. “This is my room.”
“It suits you.” I grabbed another cushion and playfully whacked her hip with it. “Next time don’t scare the shit out of me.” I laughed. “No more screaming unless something bad has happened. Agreed?”
She nodded, not listening, and turned back to the window and its sparkling view. Spectacular. “You better find your bedroom.” She waved me away.
Leaving her behind to her daydreaming, I headed into the corridor, and the next two rooms were small and nothing compared to Britta’s, but at the end, I entered another, and I lost my breath.
It was twice the size of Britta’s. I smirked, well aware she’d complain when she saw this. The room had two walls of windows, an enormous king bed in the center, a fireplace against one wall, and my own personal bathroom with a tub. Yes! Oh. My. God. It had golden feet. I collapsed onto my back on the bed and lay there, laughing, unable to believe we were here. I pinched my forearm, and it hurt. Okay, maybe I wasn’t dreaming.
We had a permanent home.
No, not just any house. We had a mansion.
Euphoria washed over me from my head to my toes.
Dragging myself up, I told myself I needed to bring our bags up, then take a long hot shower before working on the fireplace. After that, food. Near the window, I glanced outside to the spectacular yard, where the land stretched outward toward the base of the mountain. How much land did my uncle own? To the right stood the distillery when I caught movement near a cluster of pines.
Pressing myself against the glass, I squinted for a better look. A deer trotted out, followed by two more. The bigger one had a gray streak across its brow, and they all sported large antlers.
Fuck, no!
Had they tracked us home from the mountains? They all looked up as if spotting me. For the longest pause, we stood there, locked in each other’s gazes, frozen. What were they doing?
They turned around in unison and vanished into the woods.
What the hell?
