If At First

Part 7 - Chapter 6

I advanced slowly through the scrolled wrought iron gate in the stone wall that surrounded her property, up the flagstone path to the front porch. The door flew open before I even reached the bottom step. I looked up to be received by a plump, round-faced woman with neatly cropped chestnut hair, wearing pink scrubs and white thick-soled shoes.

"Tabitha?!" She gushed before I had yet reached the door, "Come in, come in! I'm Beverly. She's been waiting all morning for you, we're so excited!" I took a deep breath and very deliberately disregarded the sinking feeling in my chest.

"It's nice to meet you Beverly," I answered, and held out my hand to shake hers. She ignored it and threw her arms around me in a welcoming hug. To say I was happy to be here would have been a shameless overstatement, but Beverly's excessively affectionate greeting effectively put me a little more at ease.

"Well!" She said, freeing me, "When your grandmother told me you were going to be staying with us, I was just thrilled! It's always so quiet here. I mean in the neighborhood. It'll be wonderful to have a young person. I mean, not that you're young, per se – I don't think you're a child, ha-ha, goodness, no! Oh, but you're not old. You're quite pretty, you know, nothing like she– well never mind. Oh! It's not as though your dear grandmother doesn't keep us busy enough, but sometimes it's just work, work, work. She needs a break sometimes, something to take her mind off of-" She was distracted then, by a speck of dust on a round table in the center of the hall entry. "Oh! Dear, my mouth just has a way of taking off on its own, doesn't it? But I really think you're going to add some life to the place, and maybe cheer her up a little – she gets terribly depressed sometimes, there's a particular one of her medications that leaves her feeling dreadfully low, and I am just sure that your being here is the very thing to cheer her up..."

Beverly continued without pause, — or breath— grabbed one of the bags I carried and led the way through the paneled foyer and up the grand first flight of stairs. She huffed and puffed the entire way, but refused to stop chattering. She took a short break at the top step, and leaned on the newel post. "Your grandmother's room is down that hall," she pointed, "And mine is right next to hers. I don't stay here every night, but now and then when she's having a bad day, you know." Beverly looped around until she found a second flight of steps, and began the trek up those to show me the bedroom I would occupy. We reached the third floor and eventually arrived at a door around the opposite side of the house.

"Sorry for the long trip up here," Beverly smiled merrily, but now completely out of breath. She opened the door and it swung wide. "Actually, it's nice to have some use of this floor, your grandmother never comes up here anymore, and heaven knows she doesn't have many houseguests these days. She thought you might like it better to have some space to yourself, so we had the floors redone, the bathroom remodeled, and this room redecorated for you." She pointed to an opposite wall. "I like it best because it has that little round-ish part over there with the balcony, and then there's a fireplace too. In fact, I don't think your grandmother has even seen the finished product! She's hired a contractor and decorator to redo the entire house room by room but she seems not to care at all what it looks like in the end."

I stood there gaping at the room.

"Now, if you stand around looking like that, people will wonder about you."

"It's beautiful." I said, straightening myself, "But why would she do all of this for me? I'm sure it was fine before."