Excerpt

Chapter 1

Sophia Becquerel

I stepped over a two-by-four, my work boots sending up a plume of sawdust. The buzz of the table saws mixed with steady pop of air powered nail guns to create a cacophony found only at construction sites.

Stopping at a door frame, I dropped my clipboard to my waist and studied the distance of the opening to the wall.

"Here's your helmet, Miss Becquerel," Frederick said, handing me a white hardhat.

"I don't need—" Frederick put his hands on his hips. "Never mind." I took the hat, though I honestly saw no point in it. No one was working overhead.

"Thank you." I put the hat on my head and smiled at Frederick. He was a middle-aged man—gray hair, obviously handsome in his younger years and still accustomed to using that to his advantage.

It wasn't fair to him that I was coming in now after he'd already gotten this far. Frederick was a good architect, one of the best in the state and THE best in Natchez.

And just because I had a degree from one of the best architecture schools in the country, didn't mean he didn't have more experience.

I'd seen the blueprints and I knew what he was trying to do.

I had no problem with him replicating a house built hundreds of years ago, but there were always things that could be done better. There was no reason not to take advantage of knowledge gleaned over those hundreds of years, especially since central air conditioning, running water, and electricity had to be taken into account. And not to forget a modern kitchen built inside the house, not in an outbuilding.

Besides, I couldn't help myself.

I put a hand on the door frame.

"I hate to ask this, but do you think you could move this door down about…" I held my tape measure to the floor. "four and a half feet?"

Frederick rubbed his chin and gave a valiant effort toward hiding his disappointment.

"Sure," he said, making a note on his own clipboard. "Not a problem."

"Thank you."

I stepped through what would be the doorway. This would be the study.

The tall French windows would look out over the Mississippi River. It was a good view. Better than Grandpa Jonathan's view.

"Quitting time," one of the men called.

"Who made you the boss?" Another man asked, but all the saws turned off and the sounds of construction turned to sounds of men tossing tools into their tool boxes.

"Nobody's gonna argue with the clock," a third man said and the men laughed.

"Looks like the men are quitting for the day," Frederick said. "I'll stay 'til you're ready to go."

"Not a chance." I turned and looked at him. "I can think better alone anyway."

"You sure?"

Frederick was probably trying to decide if letting me think was a good thing or not.

"Absolutely," I said. "When I'm finished, I'll walk over to Grandpa's house."

"Text me when you get there, will you? Your father would tear me to shreds if something happened to you."

"I will." I turned away, waiting for the men to leave so I could get focused again. I'd ridden out here with Frederick, so I could see his point.

It was a fifteen-minute walk back to Grandpa's. Five if I jogged it. I knew because I'd jogged it this morning before I drove into town to get a copy of the plat. Asking the clerk to send over an electronic copy had gotten me transferred to two different people before I'd politely been told that they didn't do that here.

As the men drove off, I removed the helmet and took a deep breath.

Now I could really get a sense of how the house was going to feel.

I was pretty sure there had been a garçonnière here at some point—many long years ago… certainly not in my lifetime.

It was in the perfect spot to catch the breeze coming off the river and it was just far enough away from what had been the main house—now my grandfather's house—to allow the older boys privacy. Living in their own apartment, but still on the property allowed boys to be on their own while still being part of the family and helping out with the crops.

I walked around a bit, checking the general layout. The house was just a skeleton at this point.

If I'd known about it soon enough, I would have been the lead architect myself. But that would have required me being closer than I was to my father and not just in physical proximity.

I hadn't planned on spending my first summer after college graduation in Mississippi. Top in my class at MIT, I'd had three job offers in the Boston area. I'd ultimately chosen the one that allowed me to start in September.

And all because of one phone call from my father.

He was retiring from the Air Force after a full twenty-year career and was building a house on his father's land.

The timing was a bit off though. Father's retirement wasn't until October, but he wanted the house to be move in ready when he got here. With his new wife.

My momma could not have cared less. She had married her college sweetheart when they'd accidentally reconnected on Facebook.

According to her, she'd searched for him after her divorce from my father, but hadn't been able to find him. Then through the magic of Facebook, he had gotten a spontaneous friend request. He had accepted, messaged her, and there had been no turning back for them. They lived in France now. I missed her, but I was proud of her for following her dream and not letting anything hold her back.

In that way she was my hero and my role model. I had no college sweetheart to reconnect with, but I had gone to Boston, an unfamiliar city, on my own.

Father and I had never been close. Always at work, the Air Force was his life. But to his credit, he'd always taken care of his four children, even after the divorce.

It was going to be dark soon. And despite my insistence that I could get to my grandfather's house safely, walking in the woods at night was not something I cared to do.

Still… I wanted to take some notes, so I sat on a bench, in what would be the parlor, the guys had thrown together for themselves and turned to a blank page.

At first the music was faint… barely noticeable. Then it slowly got louder, until I couldn't help but notice it.

It was classical music… piano.

It was too loud to be coming from Grandpa's house.

When I looked up, the bright setting sun was in my eyes.

My vision still blinded by the sun, I put a hand over my eyes and looked to my right.

I saw people… men… and ladies… Waltzing. The ladies were wearing long hoop-skirted dresses that swayed as they twirled.

A vase of fresh white roses was in a vase at my right hand, where a side table would be.

There were three couples dancing and one man standing off by himself, a glass in hand.

I closed my eyes, squeezing them tightly together. Oddly enough, it seemed to help the music fade slowly into the background.

But when I opened my eyes, the dancers were still there.

The room was fully furnished, much as I imagined it being completed. A fire burning gently in the fireplace. Tall windows framed with emerald green curtains. The furniture was pushed back against the walls.

The one man, dressed in what looked like a black tux with a white cravat, leaning with one elbow on the mantle, seemed to look right at me.

His handsome face wore a confident expression. I couldn't tell if he was looking at me or through me.

I pressed my fingers against my brow and closed my eyes again.

I was imagining things. I'd gotten swept away in visualizing the completed house.

Shaking my head, I slowly opened one eye, then the other.

The sun had dropped below the horizon now and again I was surrounded by the barely framed skeleton of the house.

I blew out a breath and stood up. My knees were weak, so I sat back down to give myself a minute.

It was going to be dark soon.

I needed to pull myself together and get to my grandfather's house.

I could talk to him about it.

He'd know how to make sense of it.