Dylan’s Redemption(76)

“Then you know how I felt when I thought I lost you,” Dylan said from behind her.

She turned and took a step back. She hadn’t heard him come in, and it made him smile to see her off balance.

“Daddy, look. I can hide in here.” Will closed the door and shut himself inside the cabinet again.

“Handy. Now when he’s bad, I can lock him up.”

Will burst out of the cupboard. “No way.”

Dylan scooped him up and hugged him tight. “I’d never lock you up, buddy. I’m only teasing.”

“Only bad guys get locked up, huh, Daddy.”

“That’s right, and you’re as good as they come.” He nuzzled Will’s neck with his nose and got a giggle from his little boy.

“Look, Jessie made a farm.” Will pointed to the shelves along one wall. There were a dozen different carved farm animals along with small trinket boxes and larger chests she’d made.

“Jessie, oh my God. You did all of this.”

She simply shrugged. “There are a lot of hours in a day. I don’t like to sit idle.”

Dylan surveyed the rest of the large open space filled with bedroom, kitchen, and living room furniture. Some of the pieces were finished. Others still needed to be stained. She had the barn divided into sections. Tools cluttered one area where she cut wood and put the pieces together. She draped another area in drop cloths where she stained or painted the pieces. The smell of freshly cut wood and varnish permeated the air. Finished furniture sat by the doorway until she took it to her store to be sold.

In one part of the shop, she had a seating area with a love seat and a chair. Several wood-carving tools and large chunks of wood lay on the coffee table. He could imagine her sitting in the quiet barn whittling away at the wood.

He walked over to some of the finished pieces. “Jessie, these are gorgeous. I love this dining table.” He rubbed his hand over the carved wood. She had engraved a soft wave into the edge, rolling around the round table. The wave was mimicked in the base, only it swirled around and down until it met the feet. Unique. Like the woman who created it.

“I finished that piece several weeks ago. It’s mahogany. Tough to carve because it’s such a hard, dense wood, but it’s beautiful. I haven’t decided on the chairs yet.”

“I think I need another house.” He ran a hand over a large hutch. “These pieces are great, I’d love to decorate another house just to see them all displayed as they should be. My house looks great with all your furniture. I can’t wait to see Will’s new bedroom set.”

“I haven’t started it yet, obviously. I have some ideas in mind. I could sketch them out for you, so you can decide if it’s what you want.”

“I want a horse.” Will said, moving back into the cupboard again.

“I think I’ll make him a side table for his bed large enough for him to hide in.” She leaned down and brushed a hand over Will’s head through the door.

“I want this cupboard in my room.” Will stomped his feet and listened to the echo inside the walls.

Jessie studied the cupboard critically and decided she could modify it a bit to make it suitable for a television up top and some storage on the sides. Maybe she’d leave the tabletop and shelves in a wood tone and paint out the sides in red. It could work, she thought.

Dylan watched her assessing the hutch. “I’ll take it if you’re willing to sell it.”

“I have to make a couple changes.” She pulled one of the notepads off her worktable and sketched the modifications. She made a list of things to do for the new furniture set to match. “What color is your room, Will?”

He opened the door and popped his head out. “Bright.” He squinted, wrinkling up his nose.

She tried not to smile at his disgruntled, scrunched-up face.

Dylan had a silly smile. “It’s a bright yellow. I guess he doesn’t like it.” He bent to Will. “Why didn’t you say something?”

Will shrugged and closed himself up in the cupboard again.

“I’ll paint it a soft wheat color. Then I’ll paint out that cabinet in a deep red with wood shelves.” She eyed the cabinet where Will hid. “I’ll poke a hole in the back and run a strand of white lights inside, so he can see in there. The other furniture you wanted, I’ll do in the same wood tone with the horse theme. Something that will grow with him and work when he’s a teenager.”

“Sounds good, honey. Will, let’s go inside and get something to eat. We need to make Jessie dinner.”

The door flew open and Will reluctantly slipped out. “She said I could have something.”