Little Lady Briana

3 Puppy Briana

There had been time for a nap, but not with Melody. Briana hardly had time to say goodbye to her disgruntled sibling – let alone her parents or grandmother – before Kiara had her bundled into her car seat in the back of an elegant black Chrysler. When she woke to a dry mouth and a soggy diaper, it was midday, and they were zipping down a deserted New England highway at a pace that was unlikely to be within the legal limit. Kiara was on point with a cool bottle of water, and an offer of a change once they got to their destination.

"Are we close to Grandma's house? I don't even know how far away it is."

"Pretty close now." Kiara glanced down at the GPS display on the car's built-in tablet and nodded. "The estate is about two hours drive from Ardenthill – with a heavy foot anyway."

"We're just picking up Grandma's dogs?" Briana kicked her feet, as much to work out the kinks in her legs as to resettle some of her diaper's bunched-up padding. She must have been dressed by Mom or Dad on the way to the car – she'd been too sleepy to remember the sweater and overalls she was wearing, along with what felt like a onesie underneath. Kiara had exchanged her smock dress for leggings and an oversized knit sweater, but kept her headwrap.

"Picking up your Grandma's dogs is a whole adventure on it's own, you'll see when you meet them. We're also there to make sure the house is buttoned up for the winter, and to let the house sitter go home. Ashley's Mansion can sit for a few weeks on its own, if the dogs are elsewhere."

"And then Grandma goes back with her dogs?" Briana sighed sadly.

"That was the plan, originally." Kiara caught Briana's gaze in the rear view mirror and smirked. "Then a couple of meddling kids convinced my mom to throw money at a property management company until they sold her the house next to Tess Rasmussen House – and let her rent it before closing besides."

"She really did it?!" Briana bounced gleefully in her cars seat. "Grandma's going to live next door?"

"She really did. That was a nicely executed plan – even when she's sick, my mom's not easily swayed. Who's idea was it, yours or Melody's?"

"Melody's." Briana nodded. "They came up with the idea when they went to pick up Grandma's medical stuff with Mom."

"Nice. I'll have to take them for a trip when you and I get back. I need to get to know my niece and nieté better." Briana squirmed happily.

Her warm, fuzzy feelings lasted her the twenty minutes until they left the highway and rumbled through a town Briana didn't recognize, at which point curiosity took over. At the first rotary, a sign welcomed them to Gloucester – which Briana had heard of but wouldn't have been able to place on a map. It's seaside, obviously, and I think it's near Boston? They passed lovely turn of the century houses, made their way down the main street, and came out the other side by the water.

The houses had become much more fancy – more than twice the size of Mom's house – though most of them had a modern look. Briana bounced in her car seat, trying to guess which of the older houses would be Grandma's house. Each time she was sure she'd picked the right place, Kiara drove by without a sideways glance. With the road just a dozen feet from the beach, they turned onto a private road, where the houses were fully opulent. Every one of them was a sprawling mansion, and their grounds stretched out for an acre or more. My family doesn't really have a house in a place like this – do we?

Trees bracketed the driveway that Kiara finally chose. In short order, the trees opened up to reveal an honest-to-goddess stone-walled mansion. It was shorter than many of the modern mansions at only two stories, but it had character they lacked in spades. Kiara parked between a garage that had clearly been added on to the house – and a two story tower with a conical roof. Leading up to the front door was a courtyard of flat stones, ringed by flower bushes.