“I’d like to keep an eye on Ari. Would you mind if we took a walk outside?”
“Okay.”
Falling in step, they began to walk, going to the back porch and watching Ari as he played hide and seek with the open barn door.
“Is he all right over there?” Jace asked.
Kelly heard the fatherly concern in his voice. She thought of her own father. With all his faults, he loved his daughter.
“We’ve already renovated the barn.”
“We?”
“My cousin and her husband and I do most of the work. It’s hard and we’re slow, but it saves us a lot of labor costs.”
“You and two other people are working the Kendall?”
She spread her hands. “We’re all there is.” The barn had been in particularly bad condition when Kelly had taken over the property. An engineering study told her it was structurally sound. The house was livable, although it needed a lot of upgrading. Kelly moved in and asked her cousin and her husband to help her out with the renovations. Drew, her cousin’s husband, owned a construction company and she was indebted to him for life.
“Tell me how you came to buy the Kendall?” he asked.
“The cousin who helps me, Mira, and her husband, Drew, let me know about the property before the for sale sign went up. He knew I always loved it. I immediately called and arranged to tour the place.” She glanced at Jace. Jace had his gaze on his son. “It didn’t matter what state it was in. I was determined to make it mine.”
“Why?”
Kelly surveyed the area. The May weather had turned the grass emerald green. She remembered when it was high enough to hide her five-foot-five frame and coarse enough to leave cuts and bruises on her arms and legs. Now she could look clear across the vista.
“I grew up not far from here.”
“Short Hills, you said.”
“When I was still in school I used to get off the school bus and climb onto the fence just to watch the horses.”
Jace snapped his fingers. “The redhead,” he said. “I saw you there a few times. You were only a child.”
She was older than she looked, but she didn’t say that.
“You weren’t here often,” she said.
He frowned, but waited for her to continue.
“I know your dad sent you to boarding school. I thought it must be a wonderful place to go to school, but I didn’t see how you could bear to leave the Kendall.”
“It wasn’t my choice,” he admitted.
Kelly knew that. Gossip spread easily around Windsor Heights then and now. Some she’d met since buying the Kendall had told her stories of the Kendall family. It wasn’t always pleasant.
“You haven’t told me why you love it here,” Jace said.
Her throat closed and she had to swallow the emotion that rose in her. “I’ve always felt I was part of this land. And that this is where I was supposed to be. When I bought it, it needed a lot of work. And I mean a lot. But I loved doing it. I loved seeing it come back to the glory it once had. I want to make it into a showplace. And every floor I restore, every nail I use to repair something is part of me going into the history of this place.”
“But you’re not a Kendall.”
The words hurt for some reason. She would never be a Kendall. “That’s true, but...I belong here. I feel it. I suppose it was because I grew up so close to the place. The Kendall had survived war and depression, and I wanted to be a survivor, too, in my own way.” Things were often out of sorts in her own home. The Kendall was her anchor.
“Why haven’t you changed its name then? You’ve been here two years.”
She shook her head, still smiling. “It wouldn’t be the same. For over a century this has been the Kendall. Changing a name would change the nature of the place.”
“Do you know where my brother is?” He abruptly switched subjects.
“I haven’t seen him. In fact, I never saw him. The entire transaction was completed between the bank and the county. Your brother wasn’t ever required to be there.”
“Why didn’t he pay the taxes? Sheldon loved being the lord of the manor.”
“I don’t know. People in town said it was mismanagement. Given the state of the property when I showed up, it wouldn’t be hard to believe.”
“It wasn’t necessary to the sale,” Jace said, and Kelly heard the censure in his voice.
“It wasn’t my business,” she told him. “I didn’t force your brother to get into trouble with his finances and there was no reason why I should help him if that’s what you’re implying.”
“Ari, don’t do that,” Jace shouted. He was on his feet, ready to run and aid his son if necessary.