Chapter Fourteen

What was it like to live in a grand estate?

Hannah pondered the possibilities.

Early Saturday morning, the sun’s rays shined down over the earth, making the dew glisten like fine jewels. If she didn’t know better, she’d say the owners of this sprawling estate had strategically placed crystals throughout their manicured lawn to have this dazzling effect.

Yet, the morning’s beauty couldn’t compare to the excitement Hannah felt at being a guest here at this grand estate. When Ethan had first mentioned a sale, she’d thought he meant a yard sale. This was definitely not a yard sale.

In the center of the perfectly green carpet of grass was a slight grade and at the top sat a white stately mansion, which looked as though it had been around for centuries. Each of its many windows were adorned with black shutters. Behind its towering columns stood double red doors that beckoned to her.

Just for a moment in Hannah’s imagination, she pretended she was an invited guest to a prominent gathering. Oh, how exciting those events must have been. The mansion would likely have been the highlight of the social circles.

“What has you smiling?” Ethan’s voice intruded upon her daydream.

“Oh, I was just wondering what it might have been like fifty or a hundred years ago, when people were invited for grand parties. Do you think movie stars and politicians visited here?”

His dark brows furrowed together.

“What?” She didn’t think it was that strange to wonder about the people who used to live there.

“Nothing. I just didn’t take you for one of those who were into hype and glamour.”

“I’m not.” She glanced around at the people there for the sale. Some of the women were dressed in slacks and heels while others were dressed casually like her. The men were also a mix of business casual or jeans. “Have you looked at me?” She gestured to her dark pair of boyfriend jeans with the cuff at the ankles and her Boston Red Sox jacket. “What part of this outfit says glamour to you?”

“You look good in anything you wear.”

It was like a blast furnace had just opened and set her face aflame. He thought she looked good. Her pulse raced. This outing was starting to sound more like a date all of the time.

But it couldn’t be—she wouldn’t let it. As nice and as handsome as Ethan was, he was still a firefighter. He put his life on the line most every time he went to work. And…and she couldn’t lose someone else she cared about.

“We should be able to find you something for the bakery that has a lot of history.” His voice drew her from her thoughts.

“I hope so. Shall we head inside?” Hannah was anxious for this date or whatever it was to be over. “We don’t want to be late and miss getting a seat. There are a lot of people here today.”

Ethan leaned over to her and said softly, “Don’t worry. We have time to look around.”

She inhaled the spicy scent of his cologne mixed with his own masculine scent, and she momentarily forgot what she’d been about to say to him. She breathed in again, deeper this time. She didn’t think she’d ever smell that wonderful scent again without thinking of Ethan.

It took her a moment and some serious concentration. “It doesn’t matter,” she said. “We both know I don’t have the budget to bid against these people.”

“What you don’t know is that they aren’t here to lay out a lot of money. Most of these people are looking to score a good deal. So we have a chance. Trust me.” He sent her a reassuring smile.

And she instinctively did trust him. She knew he would never intentionally do anything to hurt her. It’d been a long time since she’d felt that way about any man. Wait. She’d never felt this way about any man. She was in trouble—big trouble.

Ethan couldn’t think of any place he’d rather be than there with Hannah.

He had a good feeling about today. He smiled. It was going to be a great day.

As they waited to enter the mansion, he chanced a glance her way. He got a warm sensation in his chest. He wasn’t willing to examine what it meant. Because he wasn’t staying in Bluestar. And there was no way Hannah would leave her brand-new bakery—her dream. And he couldn’t blame her.

He glanced away, turning his attention to their objective for today: finding fixtures for the showroom that added character to the bakery. He hadn’t been sure exactly what Hannah had envisioned for the décor, but from the doorway, he could see inside the house and there appeared to be some beautiful things.

As they neared the entrance of the mansion, they had to register for the auction. Hannah insisted that she would register herself as these purchases were for her bakery. Ethan worried that the bids might go higher than she could afford and as a backup plan, he also registered. When Hannah questioned his actions, he said he might see something to bid on for his mother, which was a possibility.

Buzz. Buzz.

There was no one he wanted to speak with at the moment—except Hannah. Still, a sense of responsibility had him checking the caller ID. It was his mother. He considered calling her back but it might be something about his aunt.

“Sorry,” he said to Hannah, “I have to get this. It’s my mother.”

“No problem.”

He stepped away and pressed the phone to his ear. “Hey, Mom, I can’t talk.”

“So it’s true. You’re on a date.”

His mother never used to know anything about his social life that he hadn’t told her. It would seem that had changed since he’d been on the island.

He lowered his voice. “And who told you that?”

“A little birdie.” His mother’s tone carried a note of amusement.

He wasn’t so amused with everyone knowing his business. “I do need to go.”

“I hope you have a great time on your date.”

“It’s not—” He stopped himself in time. He didn’t want Hannah to overhear and read too much into what he said. Because he wasn’t quite certain what to call this outing. Was it a date? More importantly, did he want it to be a date? He had no answers.

He ended the call and returned to Hannah’s side. “Sorry. It was my mother checking in.”

There were unspoken questions reflected in Hannah’s eyes. “Is everything all right?”

“Uh-huh. Just Mom being Mom.”

Slowly the people in front of them moved inside. The auction had garnered a big turnout. That wasn’t necessarily a bad thing. It all depended on what everyone was interested in bidding on. He just hoped it wasn’t the same items that interested Hannah.

Stepping into the spacious foyer, Ethan craned his neck to look around. The owners had definitely seen to its upkeep. The ceiling consisted of intricate and ornate plasterwork. And in the center was a giant chandelier. As his gaze slid down the wall, he took in the brass and crystal wall fixtures. He hoped there would be something there that would fit Hannah’s definition of elegant.

“How did you get us in here?” Hannah interrupted his thoughts. “This place is amazing. And I overheard someone mention that the estate sale was by invitation only.”

“My mother is well-connected when it comes to antiques.”

“Please thank your mother. This is amazing.” Hannah’s gaze continued to take in every detail of the estate.

He failed to mention that he might have persuaded his mother with a bit of begging to get a most-sought-after invitation. It had certainly piqued his mother’s curiosity as he usually avoided these things by using every excuse known to man. So when he’d written it off as needing some specific pieces for a project he was working on, she quickly put it together and assumed that it was for Hannah. It appeared his mother and Aunt Birdie had been talking—a lot. Perhaps too much. Definitely too much.

They walked through the spacious rooms. They were quiet for the most part, unless something caught Hannah’s attention. Then she’d tap him on his arm and lift up on her tiptoes to whisper in his ear. It was much like touring a museum.

In the dining room, Ethan noticed Hannah was no longer beside him. He stopped and turned. The dining room was crowded with people. Thankfully the furniture had been removed, allowing for greater mobility.

He had to lift up on his toes to peer over all of the people. Where could she have wandered off to? And why hadn’t she said anything to him?

And then he spotted her standing in the center of the room. She hadn’t meandered off at all. She’d merely stopped. He followed her gaze to the ceiling where there was a crystal and brass chandelier. Not nearly the size or impressiveness of the chandelier in the foyer. But this six-candle structure with all the crystal dangling from it had certainly caught Hannah’s attention. By the way she was looking at it, he’d hazard a guess that she was in love with it.

He’d seen similar looks on his mother’s face when she’d find a certain piece at an auction and just couldn’t bear to leave without it—no matter the price. He’d also spent enough of his youth at auctions to know the piece would go for a much higher price than Hannah’s lean budget could afford, even if she was to cut everything to the bare minimum.

It took time to work his way back through the crowd that was moving in the opposite direction. It was much like he imagined a fish felt trying to swim upstream. And yet with a bit of patience as he squeezed past a number of people, he was once more by her side.

“Find something you like?” he asked.

Hannah blinked as though she’d been lost deep in her thoughts. “What?”

“The chandelier—I take it you like it.”

“Oh yes. It’s beautiful.” Her gaze moved back to it. “I think I’ll bid on it.”

He didn’t want to ruin her good mood to let her know it would probably sell for a four-figure price. Instead he said, “Let’s see what else we can find.”

“Oh yes. We should keep moving,” she said as though she wasn’t aware of how long she’d been standing there or that he’d had to backtrack to reach her.

“Are you enjoying yourself?”

“I am.” As they fell in step with the people around them, she said, “Thank you for bringing me here. I’ve never been to an auction before. But I wouldn’t mind going to more.”

“I’ll have to put you in touch with my mother.” He said it more as a sort of joke than anything else.

“I wonder how your mother would feel about having a tag-along. I could keep adding to the features of the bakery, a little at a time.”

She liked the idea of hanging out with his mother? He swallowed hard. He never thought she’d take him up on the offer. Mary had gone one time to an auction with his mother and afterward swore she’d never go again. His mother was quite fine with that decision.

“But of course, it’d never work, what with your mother living in New York and I’m in Bluestar.”

He let out a pent-up breath. “Yeah, that’s quite a commute.”

“Still, if she were on the island visiting Birdie and had a local auction, you can count me in.”

“I…I’ll let her know.”

All of this time he’d been thinking that once he returned to his life in New York that he’d never see Hannah again, but that wasn’t quite true. Aunt Birdie would keep drawing them back into each other’s orbits. Not that it changed their circumstances. But still he liked the thought of having Hannah in his life, even if it was only occasionally.

She tapped his arm. “I think it’s time to take our seats.”

He glanced around, finding people rushing to the expansive living room where the auction was to be held. “I think you’re right.”

By the time they got to the room, there was only seating left in the back of the room. “I’m sorry.”

Hannah’s fine brows drew together. “For what?”

“Not thinking about grabbing our seats while you looked around.”

“It’s not like I thought of it either.”

“So did you see anything you want to bid on?” He already knew the answer just by watching the expressions on her face as they’d passed through the various rooms.

“Oh yes. More than I can possibly afford. But thanks to you and your cost-cutting suggestions for the renovations, I’m hoping I can afford a couple of things.” She held up her hand and crossed her fingers for luck.

Just then a man in a dark suit and tie stepped up to the podium in front of the room. Next to him was a giant screen displaying the auctioneers company name.

He welcomed everyone and then he got straight to business. The items were displayed on the screen as well as listed in the brochure they were given upon registering for the auction.

There were so many items from the twenty-one-room mansion. Numerous times Hannah started to bid on an item, only to drop out as the price quickly escalated. He felt bad for her. He knew what it was like to want something so much and not to be able to afford it. Ethan thumbed through the brochure, looking for the dining room chandelier. He had some savings. He’d hoped to own his own house by now, but with the real estate prices in New York, he was still saving money. Perhaps he’d spend a bit of it today.

“I won the bid on some ornate vintage brass plate covers.” She smiled, looking pleased with herself. “That was so fun. I want to bid again.”

He laughed softly. “That’s awesome. They’ll look amazing in the bakery.”

“Now I need something else to go with them. Like that chandelier. I have a little bit of money I made from a couple of cake sales the past week. I could add that money to what I have in the bakery budget.”

He nodded in agreement. He just had this sinking feeling it wouldn’t be enough.

“It would look amazing in the center of the room. And with the bakery’s high ceilings, there would be plenty of room to hang it without having to worry about anyone bumping their heads on it. Right?”

He gave it some thought. “I’m not sure without actual measurements. But you could always put a display table beneath it.”

“Oh, I love that idea. It’d be a real show piece.” Her smile made her eyes twinkle like jewels. “I can already imagine it. This is going to be so much better than the images I sketched in my notebook.”

A pang of guilt started in his chest. He shouldn’t be getting her hopes up. She had no chance of having the winning bid on such a fine chandelier. But he couldn’t help but get caught up in her excitement. It was contagious. And she was right. It would give the bakery some flair.

He was beginning to envision Hannah as some sort of princess baker and the bakery would be her palace. He smiled at the image of her wearing a tiara with a smudge of flour on her cheek and a spatula in her hand as some sort of scepter. He wanted this all to work out for her—for her dream to come true. At least one of them knew exactly what they wanted and was going after it.

He focused back on the brochure. At last, he found the chandelier. It was a dozen or so items down the list. Not long now. And so he patiently waited, which was unusual for him. In the past, he’d never had the patience for these sales that could go on for hours. He’d rather be out doing something physical. Sitting around just wasn’t something he was good at but seeing the joy this event brought Hannah was changing his mind…just a bit. Maybe accompanying her to auctions once in a while wouldn’t be so bad.

And then at last it was time to bid on the chandelier. Hannah jumped into the fray right from the start. Her bid sheet with her number went up and down. Sometimes her hand didn’t even make it the whole way down to her lap before it shot back up in the air.

Then just as he’d predicted the price started climbing into the four figures. At first, Hannah kept bidding into the low four-figures, but he knew even that was too much for her. And then with a distinct sigh, her bid sheet came to rest in her lap. When the auctioneer prompted her to bid some more, she reluctantly shook her head. Her eyes reflected her utter disappointment.

Without thinking Ethan raised his hand. The auctioneer accepted his bid. And moved on to the other bidding parties of which there were now two.

“What are you doing?” Hannah asked. “You can’t bid on it. I don’t have that kind of money.”

Before he had a chance to answer her, he was raising his hand again. There was this driving need within him to do this—to win the auction. Because Hannah was right. It would be the show stopper in the bakery.

“Ethan, stop. You can’t do this.”

And yet he kept bidding. And bidding. They were now down to him and one other party. He just wanted it to be over.

Ethan called out a substantial increase in the price, hoping it would be enough to knock the other bidder out of the running. The auctioneer turned to the other party. He called once, twice, three times.

“Sold!”

Ethan breathed his first easy breath since the bidding had begun. Quite honestly it was the first time he’d ever bid on anything, and he had to admit that there was a bit of a rush to it.

He turned to Hannah. “We did it.”

She had her arms crossed as her distinct frown doused his exuberant mood. “No. You did it.”

“But I did it for you.”

“And I told you I can’t pay you for it. I hope you and your chandelier will be happy together.”

She was mad at him? His elated mood quickly deflated. He hadn’t meant to overstep. He’d let himself get caught up in her vision. Surely she wouldn’t stay mad at him. He hoped.