When the six women converged on the Harmony House site, they found it was a hive of activity.
Hilary tracked down the site supervisor while the rest of the party had to be content with admiring the building from the safety of the garages to the side of the property.
Once Hilary had been equipped with a hard hat, she was permitted to enter and speak to the man with the name Frank Watson written on his yellow hat.
“I was under the impression the major work had been finished, Mr. Watson.”
“We are still working on the elevator shaft. The stairs have been removed, but the problems arose with the secondary section of the shaft from the kitchen area down to the basement level. A new opening has to be made to accommodate the elevator. We are examining the possibilities of using two or more kitchen cupboards for this.”
“I see. Will the laundry area be affected?”
“I hope not. If we have to move it, there’s sufficient space down there but plumbing and electrics may have to be reset and that takes time.”
“Mr. Watson, the future residents of this home are here with me. Is it possible for us to enter by the rear and inspect only the west side of the building, keeping well away from your workers?”
He rubbed a calloused hand over his face as he considered this request.
“I hate to turn you away. Is it Mrs. Dempster?”
She confirmed his assumption with a nod.
“Could you wait for about 30 minutes? We have a lunch break then. I’ll get the boys to set up a tape beyond where you should not enter for safety reasons, then you can do whatever you need to for the next hour. Will that suit?”
“Perfectly! Thank you.”
The women were quite pleased with this solution and spent the time wandering around the property. Spring-like weather had made an appearance lately but it was more than likely to vanish again soon. They viewed the tower-side of the building and speculated how much storage they would get from the three double garages, then they walked around to the rear gardens, where the flowerbeds were now visible and the first shoots of bulbs were pushing up toward the light.
“This is going to be a wonderful outdoor area,” exclaimed Mavis. “I have never had a garden of this size. It will be super to work here and keep what has been done in the best of shape. Is anyone else interested in gardening?”
Hilary, who had walked off to the back of the garden, waved her hand in assent but the others were too busy looking through the windows into the lower house area with Honor, who was explaining the layout for them.
Mavis was about to follow Hilary when she caught sight of a woman approaching from the street. She was not wearing a coat and Mavis guessed she must be a neighbour.
“Hello, there! Can I help you?”
“Possibly. I came over from the house next door to see if you were the new owners.”
“We are, but we have not yet moved in. I am Mavis Montgomery.”
“Good. Louise Ridley. My husband Dennis and I live next door. I hope you don’t think it’s a typical nosy neighbour enquiry but we have been wondering what on earth is going on here. You see we have been watching the house being built for some time now, and then no one moved in after the builders left. Quite frankly, we are confused. Our house value could be affected if something strange is going on here.”
“I see.” Mavis was not sure how to respond to this enquiry but she could see genuine worry on Louise Ridley’s face. This would be their nearest neighbour and it was important to start off in the right way and establish a good relationship.
“I’m not sure if you will think it strange, Louise, but we are a group of six London women who have decided to live together in support of each other. We are all ordinary people and we will welcome your help in this process. At the moment we are waiting for an elevator to be installed. After that we will move in. Have you ever been inside?”
“No. There’s never been anyone in residence who could be asked. I am relieved to hear you are not some weird commune or wiccan group. The woman who came here once with a little girl had such a fight on the front porch with, I presume, her husband, that the whole neighbourhood heard them. I am glad she will not be back. The sale sign went up shortly after that incident and since then, nothing.”
“Well, you and your husband will be our first guests. It’s a remarkable large house, Louise, with ample space for all of us. I hope we will be friends. It’s always good to know someone who can tell us about the neighbourhood facilities. Sorry, to leave you, but I can see the construction supervisor signalling to me. I have to round everyone up. I am glad we met.”
“Not nearly as glad as I am. I will be telling Dennis what you said as soon as he gets home this evening.
My goodness, it’s still a chilly wind, isn’t it! I must run. Bye for now.”
Mavis watched as Louise disappeared through a gap in the hedge separating the two properties. She could not see more than the tip of a chimney of the Ridley home as the line of tall spruce trees shielded it from view.
Her assessment of the conversation was that Louise and Dennis were concerned owners who feared their property would be de-valued by anything untoward next door. It would be her job to reassure them and she was confident the first steps had been taken.
The partial house inspection revealed several changes. Furniture had been removed from the main floor and the spaces could now be seen clearly. The first discussion was about who would occupy the lower tower room and Vilma suggested that both tower bedrooms should be the domain of Hilary and Mavis.
“After all, you two are responsible for this entire project. You should have the prime spots. Does everyone agree?”
To the dismay of Mavis and Hilary, this was a unanimous decision. Neither woman would have claimed these special rooms for themselves but it would be churlish to refuse the generosity of the others.
Hilary immediately reminded them Harmony House was to be owned jointly and all decisions would be voted on. “I want you to know that our first room designations may be temporary until we see what is needed most.”
“I want to underline that,” spoke up Honor. “It’s the same agreement as I accepted when Hilary suggested the lower level for me. We can’t know yet how we will settle in here. Let’s not be too possessive at first. Everything could change in a few months.”
“Exactly! I am going to schedule a meeting for two months from our moving in and we will reassess things then. All in agreement?”
“Yes!” was the resounding response.
Another good sign, thought Mavis.
What wonderful women, thought Eve.
I want to see the two other major rooms, thought Jannice. She followed Vilma who headed straight for the dining room. She had an idea.
“What do you think of making this room our general living room? We could leave the dark panelling. It would be mainly a winter gathering place as we would be outdoors in the warmer weather. There’s a handsome fireplace here and we could put comfy chairs around. A piano would be a nice touch and we could have one of those televisions installed above the fireplace behind a screen made from a painting.
I am glad those other awful paintings have been removed.”
“Won’t we need a dining room, once in a while?” Hilary had heard Vilma’s voice and had listened to her plan. Eve spoke up next.
“I’ve been thinking about that very thing, Hilary. I believe the lovely airy space in the kitchen is perfect for a casual dining table big enough for all of us. The French doors lead out to the small deck from there and it’s much handier to the kitchen.”
“Eve, you have already appointed yourself as Kitchen Supervisor and I think that’s a sensible idea. Vilma is right. This is a grand winter common room where we can enjoy the view across the front yard. The panelling won’t bother us. It will be a cozy effect in the evenings with the fire burning.
Now what about the room on the other side of the hall with that white carpet?”
The group turned around and walked back to the left of the entrance, passing the vivid violet stair carpet on the way, with a shudder.
Honor hoped the workmen would spill something on it and ruin the whole thing. It was going to be expensive to replace.
Hilary stood back and allowed the others to enter and walk around. She liked the way in which the group recognized the strengths of each person and gave everyone’s opinion equal weight. She knew another good idea would emerge before long.
“I think we could save money on replacing this carpet if we designated this room for occasional use only.”
“Do you mean something like a quiet room?”
“Right! It’s a corner room so it could be our Corner Contemplation spot. No drinks or television and no phones, just books or magazines or letter writing.”
“In a Jane Austen style with a writing desk?”
“Absolutely, Hilary!”
“Well, to be practical,” said Jannice. “We will still need rugs to cover some of the carpet and I don’t see why this could not be our guest room also. A pull-out bed couch could be here for occasional guests and the powder room is right next door in the entrance hall. We could easily enlarge the washroom by taking a section from that huge coat closet for a shower.”
Vilma clapped her hands together and everyone laughed and congratulated Jannice.
“I think Vilma’s good design ideas are washing off on me!” she declared.
After this joint planning meeting, the decision about which bedroom belonged to which person was settled very quickly. The four rooms off the upper balcony were the exact same size and each had an ensuite washroom and a stunning view over the back garden. Two of the washrooms had a bath instead of a shower and that made the decision easier.
Eve chose the one nearest the elevator so she could quickly go down to the kitchen. Jannice and Vilma picked the next two in line leaving the one beside the tower room free for Honor if she should feel she wanted to be closer to the others when her hip was better.
There was no more time to check things out, as the crew arrived back with their supervisor.
“How did it go, ladies?” Frank Watson was pleased to see no one had passed through his safety barrier.
“We did everything we needed to. All we need now is for the elevator to be completed so we can finally move into our new home.”
“That’s what we’re here for, Mrs. Dempster. And if you wouldn’t mind, we want to get on with it.”