Annie's Answer Read Online Free

it was obvious why he was the town’s most eligible bachelor. His sandy
blond hair fell over his forehead on one side, slightly shaggy--maybe that was
the latest style for successful young men. She met his eyes and couldn’t decide
whether they were green or hazel, then he was ushering her into a foyer with a
checkerboard pattern of black and white tiles on the floor. A broad carpeted
staircase led to the second floor, and she could imagine sweeping down it in a
full-length gown.
    What she
didn’t see was her charge.
    “Aunt Mattie
will be out in a few minutes,” Nathan said. “It’s too dangerous going up and
down steps with her crutches, so we fixed up a bedroom on this floor. A live-in
maid used it some years ago, but now we have a professional cleaning service
that comes weekly. Let me show you the house.
    “This is the
den,” he said, taking her to a paneled room with an ornately carved fireplace
and a long brown leather couch with a pair of matching armchairs. “I’ve
encouraged Aunt Mattie to spend time here because there’s a flat screen TV, but
she’s no couch potato. You’ll learn her opinion of television programming soon
enough.”
    “It’s very
nice room,” Annie said as she admired the oriental carpet and landscapes
hanging on the walls.
    “I’ll just
show you the rooms Aunt Mattie might be using,” he said. “The kitchen is
through this arch.”
    “Wow!” She put
her hand over her mouth, embarrassed by her reaction. Her whole house could fit
into the huge kitchen. It had stainless steel appliances and a flagstone floor,
not to mention a scrubbed pine table with chairs for a dozen people. Enough
pots and pans with shiny copper bottoms hung from the ceiling to prepare meals
for a hundred people.
    “The floor is
a little uneven, so I’ve tried to discourage Aunt Mattie from coming in here
with her crutches. Good luck on that,” Nathan said, hurrying her into the
formal dining room, an awesome room unlike any she’d seen in Westover. In the
unlikely event the Sawyers ever needed another income, they could open an
antiques shop with the contents there.
    He didn’t give
her time for more than a glance, hurrying her to a sunroom at the rear of the
house. It ran the length of that wing of the house and was furnished with
vintage wicker furniture made comfortable with big floral patterned cushions in
shades of green, yellow, and orange. She tried to identify the plants in huge
ceramic planters, but Nathan didn’t give her time.
    “How lovely,”
she said, looking through the screened windows on three sides. The garden was
the stuff of her dreams. Several small ponds and a waterfall shimmered in the
morning sun, and meandering paths were paved with large, flat stones. The
colorful array of plants and flowers took her breath away, and she wished her
job included caring for the meticulous beds.
    “Our gardener
does a good job,” Nathan said, hurrying her out. “Aunt Mattie should be up by
now. She’s an early riser.”
    After what
he’d told her about his relative, Annie braced herself to meet a fire-breathing
dragon.
    They caught up
with her as she thumped her way across the kitchen on rubber-tipped metal
crutches.
    “Aunt Mattie,
this is Annie Williams,” Nathan said, nodding at the tall, slender woman.
    She stood
ramrod straight, even on crutches, and Annie was a little surprised to see her
wearing faded jeans and a brightly flowered cotton blouse, not the housedress
she’d imagined on an Iowa farm wife. Her thinning salt and pepper hair was
pulled back in a ponytail, and her long face was creased by age and darkened by
the sun. She had thin lips and a sharply pointed nose, but her features were
more regal than homely.  Her only concession to age was one clunky
taupe-colored orthopedic shoe. Her sprained ankle was wrapped with an elastic
bandage with her foot encased in a terrycloth slipper.
    “Does she make
coffee? I see you didn’t put the pot on this morning,” his great aunt