Seven mates for seven brothers

12- You are on!

As Alex took her upstairs to show her the rooms that would be theirs, Cassy saw that the bedrooms needed her special attention much more than the downstairs living areas.  Besides, with all the dirt that would be coming out of there, she would most likely end up cleaning downstairs twice if she cleaned there first.

Alex pointed to the rooms; matching them to each of his brothers as they walked down the corridor; at the dead end they turned around and went up the other way.  On this side only the first two rooms were occupied, they walked until they reached a door where the other dead end was.

“These rooms haven’t been used for about ten years.  So, I think you will have to use my room for tonight at least.  We can all jump in and clean this out tomorrow; move your stuff up here and get you settled in.”

“Ten years?”

Alex stood to one side, letting her walk in first.  “Yes, that is how long it has been since the rogue attack.”

Cassy knew by now that he did not like talking about that, but hoped that he would learn to trust her soon enough to share that with her.

The room was gloomy even after she switched the light on and she saw that it was because the light shade was covered in dust; ten years worth of it.  There was a musty smell as well so she went to open up the windows at the far side of the room; pulling the heavy curtains open that hung across the entire wall.  As she tugged on the curtains gently, it gave way and with a ripping sound tore in half and landed on the floor, raising a dust cloud at least knee high.

“Oh my goodness!”  Cassy cried in horror; the one corner still in her hand.

Alex took the cloth from her hand and dropped it on the floor.  “That is to be expected after such a long time.  We can drive to town tomorrow and see if we can find some place that can do new ones for us.”

When Cassy shook her head he looked uncertainly.  “You don’t want new curtains?”

“I need new curtains, whether I want or not, but tomorrow is out of the question.  Too much work.  I will have to clean upstairs first before I know how many rooms are going to need new curtains.  There are some standard size curtains in one of the crates that might do for some of the guest rooms. By the way; you will have to phone and let the U-haul people know that we are going to keep the truck for at least another week.  Sorry about that, it is going to cost, but I will need to clean out before we move that stuff in.”

While she was talking she had pushed the remaining curtains to the side and was now looking for the window to open.  That is when she realized the entire wall was glass with a sliding door that led to a balcony.  The sliding door opened with some resistance, reluctant to move after such a long time to reveal a solid wall of trees so close Cassy could almost touch it.

“Haven’t been in here for ages, forgot about this.  Spectacular isn’t it?”  He watched as she tenderly trailed her hand across the back of an old rocking chair on the balcony.

“This is absolutely stunning, these trees, this balcony …” In her minds eye she could picture herself sitting in a rocking chair, a baby on her lap laughing in the sun.  Startled at this surprising picture her imagination painted; she cleared her throat and turned to face Alex.

“Simply unbelievable.  It is stunning out here; it’s so peaceful, I could spend hours here.”  Her voice was still breathless, caused by her wild imagination and she could feel her heart attempt to climb out of her chest.  If her heart was beating so erratic, he could undoubtedly hear it loud and clear.

“Please don’t!  We had the best meal ever tonight and if you spend hours here one of us would have to cook dinner and we might not survive.”