Atropa Belladonna (Book 2)

Chapter 4

  In the months that followed I came to know Marian and Elise fairly well, particularly Elise. Elise and I spent the first month of our acquaintance looking for houses outside of Chicago. I realized that Jeff was right about starting our family together with our own place. I wasn't sure why he thought I should go with Elise and the children, perhaps he thought I needed company. It did seem like having the children and Elise there was a good idea. At first the homes we visited were much too small given the staff and my requirement for a garden. After about a month of failure Jeff spoke with the real estate agent, a man named Henry Sparks who began showing us larger homes with acres of land. Jeff insisted that Mr. Sparks drove us. Jeff had a driver take me everywhere. It was unspoken but I wasn't allowed to drive the car myself, despite having had my own license for some time. Driving was a necessity in Bend when I lived out by Frank and Mary. It wasn't that their houses were so far from each other, it was that both our places were a good drive from town. For several years I was able to get along fine, driving in the old car that Frank helped me find second hand, nothing like the cars Jeff owned; an alfa romeo sedan for him and a Desoto wagon for us, our family car. In the case of finding a house, having Mr. Sparks drive was a good idea. I was able to pay attention to the neighborhoods and houses. I thought we looked like a circus troupe: Mr. Sparks in his fedora driving in the front seat, Elise and I in back pouring over the brochures, and the children in the very back crawling around.

One afternoon Mr. Sparks drove about forty minutes outside of Chicago to a mostly rural area. He turned on to a long country road and for several miles we only passed one small lane that I presumed led to a property. He reached into the back seat and handed me another small brochure. It had a sketch of a house on it. Calling it a house was doing it an injustice. It really seemed more like a mansion to me.

"It has a little over 40 acres," he said looking at me in the rearview mirror then returning his eyes to the road, slowing down and turning down a second lane at least a mile from the last. Upon pulling on to the lane, we passed a set of stone pillars with iron lanterns on top with amber glass panes, as we drove into the property I saw that there was a cast iron that went on for a ways in both directions. It must have circled the property. We also went through a long iron gate that was opened so we could enter. The first stretch of the property was full of trees and that's why I hadn't noticed the fence right away, but once I did it gave me the feeling of an enchanted fairy tale.

"It's empty." Mr. Sparks remarked, "The owners have already moved out. There are already a few lovely gardens, but you would be able to make it your own." Both Elise and I were craning our necks, scanning the property. "There's so much land. Mr. Lambert said that you wanted some acreage." The lane curved and the terrain changed into manicured lawns and sections of yard with large oak trees.

He pointed to the left where there was an even smaller lane off the road, shrouded in trees with just enough room for a car to fit. "If you drive past the property there, there's a road that leads to a small, charming guest house. You have to walk from the main house, but you can't see if from here. It's pretty far off from the main property. The other road is off Taylor Drive, it's shrouded but easier to the guest house that way."

I nodded. It all seemed unreal. Finally, we pulled into a semi-circular driveway and in front of the home. It was a very large place but didn't seem ostentatious to me. It was built in 1930, and looked like an English cottage. The main part of the house was mostly stonework. There were tall windows in the very front, in what I assumed to be the entry or music room. The remainder of the exterior held plenty of smaller paned windows. As soon as we parked, Clara and Charlie jumped out of the car and ran towards the back of the house.