Home Sweet Home [Available on Kindle]

Chapter 2

Leia felt less confined when she left the kitchen and could easily breathe again, at least until the next flash of lightening or deep throated rumble of thunder came. She went into the room next to the hers first and found the light switch but no light brightened the dismal room. After muttering a few curses she went back down to the kitchen where her father still sat reading. It was with trepidation that she interrupted him.

"Do you have a torch? The light doesn't work."

He glanced at her and then closed his book, quietly this time as it was a fair request. He rummaged around in a cupboard for a moment and then pulled out not a torch, but a candle and a box of matches. He saw that Leia took them in dismay and then pulled something else from the cupboard – a bag of tea-lights and some more candlesticks.

"Thank you," she said and quickly made her way upstairs again.

Stood outside the storage room door she lit a candle stick and grasped it in her hand. There was a box just inside the door way which she set everything else down on and lit a tea-light which she left there and then went further into the room. There weren't many cobwebs in there and there were foot prints in the inch thick layer of dust which carpeted the floor. Perhaps Arthur had moved things from what was now her room and put them in here? Maybe he had prepared for her arrival after all.

The first box she came across was made of wood and held empty photo frames, the next, much bigger in size, had candle holders and lanterns. Grinning in triumph she picked a candelabrum out and placed her candle in it. Then she filled the other braches with the rest of the candle sticks and lit them. Then she brought the lanterns over and filled all seven of them with lit tea-lights and placed six of them and the candelabra around the room. Now it wasn't nearly so dark and with the help of the cleanest lantern she could easily see where she was going and what exactly was in the room.

Boxes, chests, suitcases and cabinets filled the room, some dustier than others. Then there were objects covered with cloths that could be almost anything at all – pictures, mirrors, tables... honestly she didn't know what half the stuff was, but knew it must have cost a fortune in wealth and family history.

She soon became lost in her task, forgetting all about the thunderstorm, her attention rapt on the treasures before her. There were portraits of men, women, children, whole families; chests filled with old clothes, curtains and table cloths; boxes of books, ornaments and old kitchen implements. Everything entranced her for a long time.

The thing that held her attention most was a large mirror. It had a silver frame that was in prefect condition as if it had been polished only yesterday. Claw feet would sit on the mantle of her fire place and the middle of the curved top was decorated with twining vines and leaves. The mirror's surface reflected her wonder filled face without a blemish. This had to go in her room. It would be the defining object in there. Refined elegance. Sophistication.

With new found enthusiasm she looked about the room again looking for anything, anything at all that she could find to be of use. She whipped a dust cover off what looked to be a table. It had the elegance she associated with women of vast fortune. It was simple, made with bright wood and gracefulness. Shallow drawers made its depth and added detail to the curved frame. It would quite comfortably sit three people. She supposed she could leave it in this room once it was decorated.

Under the next cloth was a desk that was all she could ever hope for. It was, to put it simply, shaped like a kidney bean but made out of the most beautiful wood she had ever seen. Four drawers were on either side of where the person sat and the top had tiny drawers stacked four high, in which she could keep all her odds and ends, all around the edge. There was an old ink well, a runner in which to keep pens and pencils safe, a square where one put their paper. There wasn't a speck of dust on it thanks to the thick canvass that had hidden it. The only problem was how she was going to get it out of the room because one thing was for sure – although she wasn't sure where she was going to put it she was definitely going to put it somewhere.