Samson and Sunset Read Online Free Page B

Westovers. You drove
about five miles down the gravel road toward the river and turned
right at the fourth corner road. Then after about a mile and a half
you came to a black and gray cobblestone circle drive. If you
wanted to go to the Big House (sounds like jail, but that’s what
they called the main house,) you turned into the circle drive; if
you wanted to go on to the farmstead, you went straight.
      Turning into the circle drive was
magnificent. Lush green grass, beautiful flowers, elms, poplars and
old oaks surrounded the house, which was white with black shutters,
white pillars and ornate black double doors. A fountain centered
the grassy circle drive and several stone benches scattered the
grounds. Turn-of-the-century lampposts lined the walkway. I’d lived
in Hudson all my life and never known a place like this
existed.
      Shay told me to go on inside and
Rosie, their cook, would be inside.
      “Call her Cookie,” he said. “Everybody
does. Tell Cookie what you want for dinner and tell her I want my
usual.”
      I flashed him a
don’t-tell-me-what-to-do look and walked towards the house. As I
pushed open the beautiful scrolled double doors, my eyes widened
and time seemed to slow. I felt like I was stepping into another
dimension. Who lived like this?
      “Cookie, oh Cookie…” I called through
the house as I stepped into the grand entrance hall. Didn’t want to
scare the poor gal, coming up on a stranger in the house.
      I just had to stop in my tracks, my
feet sinking into the plush Persian rug. A giant crystal chandelier
hung from the ceiling in the center of the room, directly over a
round cherry wood table, on which stood a large glass vase of
lavish flowers. Two ornate cherry wood banisters circled upward,
mirroring one another, to an upper landing, where you could stand
and look down on everything.
      There were velvet benches, cherry-wood
tables with matching gold mirrors, gold-leaf accents everywhere,
glinting; a high, coffered, ivory ceiling. I felt like I had
stepped into a fairytale. Any minute now a princess would be
running down those stairs in glittering diamonds and rustling silk,
late for a ball. Gone With The Wind had nothing on this
place.
      After a while I pulled myself away
from gawking at the gilded room (I was glad I’d been alone my first
time seeing it all, it would have been hard to keep from staring
shamelessly at everything.) I found Cookie in the kitchen,
introduced myself and delivered Shay’s dinner request.
      “Don’t you want anything, honey?” she
asked. She had a kind, round face, with dark brown hair.
      “Oh, no thanks,” I said, “I’m going
home to eat with my family.”
      ***

    Shay came in around 9 p.m. I had been reading
a book I’d found on the coffee table. He went over and flipped a
switch that started playing real sweet music through the house.
      “I have to take a shower,” he said,
and off he went.
      When he came back to the den, he asked
if Cookie had left dinner.
      “Yours is in the oven, I’m going home
to eat.”
      “Well, I don’t know about that.” He
sat down on the sofa opposite me. “Things are starting to look a
little rough out there.”
      “What do you mean, ‘rough’?”
      Just then the phone rang, four fast
rings. Shay answered and talked for a few minutes, asking questions
in a serious-sounding voice.
      “Okay, we’ll be alright. We’ll start
sandbagging tonight.” He hung up. “Callie,” he turned to me, “the
rivers are out of their banks and over the roads. We can’t get out
tonight.”
      “What?” I jumped up. “No! I have to go
home! Take me home right now, I can’t stay away from Kelly!”
      “Well, princess, this time you’re not
getting your way. There is no way to get out on those roads unless
you want to wash away.”
      I started sobbing like a baby. Shay
came over and put his arms around me. “I’m sorry, really I am. But
I’m responsible for you when you’re