The House

Chapter 24 - Day 3: The Beautiful Peach

"It's not ticking anymore," David observes, looking down at the cuckoo clock, and he's sounding almost sad.

"Did we kill it?" I ask, and I, too, am feeling sad for some illogical reason I shan't even attempt to explain. It's a clock. It's made of wood. It didn't have feelings, and it doesn't need to be mourned. I feel a little guilty, which also doesn't make sense at all since, technically, David killed it, I just hung around making coffee and saying stupid things.

"I think it was dead long ago," David says, unceremoniously sticking the piece of wooden bird back into its house and closing the door. He rises from his seat and hangs the clock on the wall, and I half expect it to start ticking again, but it remains depressingly quiet, just hanging in its place blindly, its heartbeat gone now.

"I'm sorry," I whisper because it's his clock after all, or at least it's his grandfather's clock, and it might hold sentimental value for the family.

"Just another thing on a very long list of things to get repaired," David shrugs. I think that he might be a very practical man and not half as emotional and sentimental as I am. Well, most people are an adequate amount emotional and sentimental; not everybody is as weepy and filled with feelings as I am... fortunately.

David returns to the island, picks up his mug and downs the last of his coffee. 

"Thanks for the coffee and biscuits," he smiles. "I'll just check on the burning weeds, make sure that I've not set the orchard on fire yet, then I'll come back to take a look at the other clocks."

I rise from my seat, feeling guilty for a completely different reason now.

"I'm sorry, David; I didn't mean to take you away from your work for such a long time. You can take a look at the other clocks when you really have time for it; no need to drop everything you have to do. I know you're busy."

David crosses to the back door and bends down to put on his shoes; he gives me an amused look over his shoulder.

"Belle, I heard the awful racket those clocks kick up; you shouldn't have to put up with that. Getting them to behave is part of my job." He straightens and takes his work gloves from the counter. "This house belongs to my grandfather," he explains, making a sweeping gesture with his hand.

"It's been in our family for more generations than I can remember, handed down to the first-born children. It fell into this state when his grandmother inherited it. For some reason, the family locked it up, installed a caretaker on the grounds and abandoned it. I've always been fascinated with this place. As a kid, I used to come here with my grandfather when he came here to check up on it. I want to restore it and make it live again; that task includes repairing the clocks."

He smiles, his eyes caressing the chipped decorative ceiling with the pretty grapevine design, the scuffed wooden cabinets and the cracked stone surfaces and his expression is filled with real love. I envy the look on David's face. I don't think I've ever looked at anything in that way. He is looking past the stray cobwebs and peeling paint and is seeing a thing of true beauty. I follow the path of his eyes with my own, letting my imagination join his and soon, I am starting to see it too.

A warm, friendly kitchen, with giggling children chasing a cat, the smell of delicious food filling the air with tantalising flavours. A smile spreads on my face as the happy family scene unfolds before me, and I get caught up in the moment. The dream shatters and dissipates when I realise that David is watching me with a bemused expression on his handsome face.

"Will it be yours one day?" I ask a little breathlessly, averting my eyes from his intense gaze.

"It's going to be mine now," he states, shrugging when I look up at him again. "My grandfather is in the process of signing it over to me; he doesn't want to leave it to me in his last will and testament; he wants it to be mine now. I'm not sure why that is so important to him; I don't see what difference it makes; I'll restore it either way. I want him to live here with me."