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it.”
    “Jinx?”
    “Her
brother’s cat.”
    “Oh
no,” Jameson said, trying to contain her laugh.
    “Oh
yes. She cried for days. So sensitive, that one,” Pearl said affectionately.
    Jameson
listened and couldn’t help but smile. “She loves this house,” Jameson said
softly.
    “Yes,
she does,” Pearl agreed. “Candy was her granddaddy’s baby; the apple of his eye . She followed him
everywhere. He loved this old place. Had a story for every nook and cranny, he
did. He was a good man,” Pearl said wistfully. “She told you a bit about him?”
    “She
did,” Jameson said. “ Actually , she told
me a great deal about spending time here as a little girl; how she always hoped
she’d raise her children here.”
    Pearl
was surprised as she listened to Jameson recap some of the highlights of her
conversations with Candace. Candace was an adept communicator, and she loved people, but she had become gradually
more reserved in allowing people to get close to her over the years. Pearl wondered
what it was about the architect that opened the senator up so quickly . Pearl set a cup of coffee in front of
Jameson. “She would have loved to have this house for the kids. It has never
meant to them what it does to her,” she stated a bit sadly. “For them, home is
just a house. They don’t have those memories,” she continued. Pearl sighed. “They
moved time and again. That was Jonathan. Bigger and bigger,” she said with a
shake of her head. “Candace used to have to fight just to cook their dinners.”
    “Candace’s
ex?” Jameson asked softly.
    “Indeed,”
Pearl said. Jameson looked up at the older woman inquisitively. “They both came
from prominent families,” Pearl said. “Jonathan’s employed a rather large
staff. He was raised by nannies and housekeepers,” she explained. She winked at
the unspoken question in Jameson’s eyes and laughed. “Governor Stratton had
only two people in his employ, myself and Mr. Bridges, his driver. Honestly,
neither of us did much,” she laughed. “Mrs. Stratton seldom allowed me to cook a meal by myself, and all of
her children were expected to contribute to the household duties. I was only
seventeen when I started with the Strattons ,”
she reminisced. “I could barely boil water.” Pearl smiled at Jameson. “That’s
why Candy loved it here,” Pearl said. “There was always something to do, always
something to explore. Candy’s father married a woman much like her husband
turned out to be. That was never Candy’s way,” she explained. “She wanted to
learn everything about everything. When her father was away; you could always
find her here with her Granddad and Gram. I think it about killed her when they
both left this world. And, then she lost her father. David had this house,”
Pearl sighed deeply. “He didn’t require my services.”
    “He
fired you?”
    Pearl
chuckled. “Gracious no. David may be a bit spoiled, but he would never have
dismissed his Pearlie,” she said. “Candy needed me more at that time. The kids
were small, she was running for office. It made more sense for me to be there
for her,” she said. “I was never so glad when David sold this house to her. I
remember she walked through the house for hours that first day as if she needed
to recall every moment.” Pearl winked at the architect. “Well, I’ll
leave you to it.”
    “Pearl?”
Jameson called after the older woman. Pearl turned inquisitively. “What is her
favorite room?”
    Pearl
smiled. “That’s easy, her granddad’s study.”
    “Do
you remember?” Jameson asked. “What it looked like then?”
    Pearl’s
expression softened. “Governor Stratton never touched that room. It stayed the
same until David changed it. The wallpaper was
tattered from age. The Governor could never bring himself to change it.
It reminded him of his father.” Pearl slipped into a memory. “She is so much
like him,” she said softly. She sighed again as she recalled the older