******
Mattie glanced in the rear view mirror at the truck behind her, as the incline increased rather quickly. She kept her eyes on the narrow two-lane road and followed Clay's Jeep and camper upward as it spiraled around the mountain. The views from the Cabot Trail were incredible, to say the least, and she couldn't keep her gaze from drifting at times. She'd driven through the Blue Ridge Mountains in Virginia many times, as well as the White Mountains in New Hampshire, but this was different. This took her breath away.
She saw the right signal light blink on the back of the camper, and then the brake lights flickered for an instant as Clay turned right onto an overlook area off the road. She turned into the parking lot and pulled in beside him, and he came over and opened her door for her. She grabbed her cane, and joined him.
"I thought you'd like a break and a preview of the cottage's front yard," he smiled down at her and they clasped hands and descended the wood stairs leading to a large platform that seemed to be suspended from the side of the mountain. When they reached the slatted deck, Mattie could see that the ground on the other side was actually level for a bit before its dramatic descent. They stood, arm in arm at the railing, and gazed out onto the vastness and grandeur of the Atlantic Ocean beneath them. She was truly in awe as she let her eyes roam over the green rolling mountains, visible to her left as far as the eye could see, then the swirling varigated blues of the ocean that went on unbroken to the horizon. You couldn't help but ponder your place in the universe after gazing at this stunning display. She took a deep, relaxing breath.
"Clay, I've never seen anything so amazing. I feel as if we're on the edge of the earth," she breathed. The breeze lifted her hair, and she turned her face to him and pulled some strands back behind her ear. "I can see why you love this place."
"My hope is that you'll come to love it as well."
"I'm getting there already." She pointed to the horizon. "And to think that France is just right over there...a few thousand miles." They stood in silence for a few minutes more, then reluctantly turned and retraced their steps back to their vehicles. As she turned the ignition key, Clay peered in.
"Not much longer," he smiled. "Thirty minutes or so."
She took a deep breath and nodded, glad that they'd stayed at the campsite the night before and had a shorter drive. He closed her door and strode back to the Jeep. Now she was really anxious to see the cottage, and she looked back at the gorgeous view as she waited for him to back up and turn around, so they could continue on.
Mattie glanced at her watch after following Clay along the Cabot Trail for a while and saw that they'd been on the road now for about twenty-five minutes. She spied Ingonish on a sign a few minutes later, and almost immediately after, saw the right turn blinker start up on the camper, and she slowed down as he started a wide right turn onto a gravel driveway with a moderate incline. She followed him slowly up the curved driveway, and her eyes widened in disbelief at the sight of the small cottage, perched at the top of the rolling hill. She stepped on the brakes as Clay pulled off the driveway and parked the camper off to the side. This was the small cottage he'd rented for them? The boxy, two story house, covered in gray cedar clapboard with white trim and black shutters, was the quintessential beach cottage, and she blinked slowly as she saw him approach the car. She rolled down her window.
"Clay...I don't know what to say..." she truly felt speechless.
"What do you think, eh?" The ocean breeze ruffled his short hair as he rested his hands on his jeaned knees and leaned down and grinned at her. "Do you think this place will do for the summer?"
She felt like her heart was going to burst. The cottage was perfect.
"I love it. It's...it's adorable." She couldn't stop smiling at him.
"Park up near the house and I'll give you a tour." He waved her on, and she drove up to the house and parked near the fence and the front door. He strode up beside her as she opened the car door and stood up, resting a little on her cane. She gazed around her, and shook her head in amazement. She grabbed Clay's hand and he shut the car door, and led her around the picket fence that bordered the front of the cottage, which faced an inlet and an exposed rocky cliff. They walked to the side of the cottage that faced the ocean, and she lifted her face to the breeze and gazed at the endless blue sky and ocean, and green rolling hills. If there were a heaven on earth, this would surely be it.
"Oh, my goodness, Clay," she breathed, as they stood arm in arm. "I can't believe we'll be living here." She turned her head to look at the row of bushes bordering the grass where the yard began its descent to the ocean.
"It's nice, isn't it?" He bent down and kissed her softly. "Although, the inside needs some TLC, as you'll see in a minute." Mattie turned to inspect the outside of the house, and she saw several large windows on the side facing the ocean. She noticed that there was a red brick chimney in the center of the dark gray roof, and she smiled at that as well as at the flowers buds starting to peek out from the neat flower beds within the white picket fence.
"I can't wait to plant more flowers," she enthused as they walked back to the front of the house, and he opened the small gate for her, and she preceded him up the stone walkway to the small front stoop and the white wood door, still completely in awe of what would be her new home. She could never have imagined this. Clay unlocked the front door, and pushed it open for her, and she entered the living room, seeing the pale blue plastered walls, then spying the brick fireplace on the center wall as she gazed around the cozy room. The ceiling was white plaster. The living area to her right was furnished with a plump sofa, which sat against the front wall under a white-cased window facing the fireplace, a side table and lamp to its right. The orange, floral print slip-cover had definitely seen better days. She smiled at the slightly ragged looking orange slip-covered over-stuffed chair, sitting diagonally between the sofa and fireplace, and the brass floor lamp with a beige shade to its right. There was a worn, oval yellow and brown braided rug over the dark hardwood floor, which surprisingly, was in good shape. Mattie smiled at the color combinations and turned to see Clay grinning at her.
"See what I mean?" he laughed. "It gets better." She narrowed her eyes at that, and looked to her left at the round, non-descript dark wood dining table with four black windsor chairs, in front of a huge, multi-paned window that let in a massive amount of sunlight and had the most gorgeous view of the ocean.
"Oh, your drafting table." She trailed her hand along the large wood table, sitting beside the dining table and saw that a sheet of heavy paper was already fixed beneath the parallel bar. She remembered how he'd set it up in her living room, then hauled it out when they'd had the argument. Clay's cardboard tubes and tools were stacked neatly in the corner. She smiled as she saw the painting her mother had given him during their Thanksgiving visit leaning against the wall next to his drafting table. She spied the vase of fresh flowers in the center of the table, and swung her head around to him. "Clay, the flowers are beautiful."
He nodded at her, and held his hand out toward the wide arched doorway between the fireplace wall and the wall facing the ocean. She walked past the dining table and stepped from the wood floor onto the speckled tan linoleum tile of the kitchen, and saw that on her right, on the wall backing the fireplace, there was a very steep, narrow wood stairway up to the second floor, with a wood banister on the left, and she peered up, seeing that the stairs took a turn to the left half-way up. She frowned just for a moment, then figured that she would adapt to them with time and practice.
"Are the stairs going to be a problem, do you think?"
"No, I can manage them." Mattie assured him and she turned her attention to the small kitchen, painted in a glossy pale yellow, running her hand along the L-shaped butcher-block countertop. The white porcelain sink to the left was situated under another large window and she paused to look out at the gorgeous view of the ocean. The avocado-green stove was in the center of the long side of the counter and between two s
maller windows. The fridge, also avocado, was in the corner to her right. She opened the top freezer door, saw that it was empty, then opened the refrigerated lower door, and smiled as she heard Clay chuckle at the bare shelves.
"How far is the grocery story from here?" Mattie closed the door and turned to him.
"Right in the town of Ingonish. We passed it just a few minutes ago."
She nodded and continued her appraisal of the kichen. The upper and lower cabinets were obviously older, and had been painted over with a semi-matte, white paint. She turned to him, and sighed happily. "Clay, it's perfect. I can't wait to see the bedroom."
"After you."
She held her cane, and gripped the railing, taking the steep stairs slowly. "These aren't bad at all, Clay."
"Good."
She turned left and continued up the stairs, entering the second floor through a large square opening rimmed with a balustrade made of the same wood railings and spindles as the banister. She turned left and walked a few steps, then opened the door to her right. The compact bathroom was painted a peach color on the upper walls, with white bead board wainscotting below, and she saw the glassed, walk-in shower to her left. She walked over to it, and sighed as she saw what he'd done. Besides attaching a diagonal handicap hand rail to the tile wall, he'd put in a curved metal bar that extended across the width of the shower, beginning under the hand rail and ending on the tiled wall with the knobs and faucet. She smiled at his thoughtfulness, and swung around to see him standing in the doorway, his hand on his hip.
"I don't know what to say," she shook her head, trying to hold back the tears. "How on earth did you have time to do this?"
"I'd seen the inside of the house before, so when I signed the lease, I found the parts I needed, and as soon as I got the key, I installed it...right before I called you the other night, in fact."
She turned to him and kissed him softly. "Thank you for that, Clay." He nodded and smiled at her, and she could tell that he was pleased that she liked it. She sighed happily and turned back to check out the white pedestal sink on the wall in front of her, and she smiled as she turned to the right and spied the white toilet against the wall.
"There's the real toilet I promised you," he laughed and she joined him.
"That is a beautiful sight," she smiled.
"And, lastly, the bedroom." Clay backed into the hallway and she stood a little out from the bathroom doorway and looked directly at the double bed against the wall across from her. The headboard was brass, with vertical cylindrical bars, and rails, and the bed was covered in a white chenille bedspread. She tilted her head and saw that there was a peach-floral print bedskirt peeking from beneath the cover. The walls were painted a pale peach, and there was another braided rug, this one white and brown. A dark wood bureau stood against the wall to the right of the bed, next to the back of the balustrade. The thing that caught her eyes, though, was the large, multi-paned window on the wall to the left of the bed, facing the ocean. They would be waking up each morning to that gorgeous ocean view.
"I actually haven't slept up here yet. I've been crashing on the sofa downstairs." Clay walked with her to the window, and he turned the lock and lifted the lower window. They immediately smiled at each other as they felt the cool, evening breeze, and heard the crashing of the waves on the shore far below them.
"I think I'm in heaven." Mattie turned to him, and reached her arm up around his neck, and he bent and kissed her. "You'll be sleeping in that bed tonight, I assume?" She raised one eyebrow.
"Yes, I most certainly will," he laughed, and kissed her neck, then they pulled apart, and she saw him eye her thoughtfully. "Do you think we can manage here with the questionable furnishings, or will you want to change a few things?"
"Would the landlord mind if we put new slipcovers on the sofa and chair, and painted the walls?"
"He'd told me before I moved in that he hadn't gotten around to fixing a few things, so I'm sure he wouldn't object. You'll like him, I think."
"Well, I guess it's time to unpack." Mattie turned toward the stairs. "By the way, how far is our nearest neighbor? It seems like we're the only souls around for miles."
"You'd be surprised how many houses are tucked away in the nooks and crannies around here." Clay laughed as they descended the stairs. "By the way, the post office is in Ingonish as well. We can go by there tomorrow, if you like, and you can meet George."
"I definitely want to meet George. I liked him right away over the phone," she smiled back up at him as she stepped into the kitchen.
"Then tomorrow will be shopping and exploring day. I'll call Mike, the owner, after we unpack."
"Let's open the windows for a while, until it gets too chilly." At his nod, Mattie unlocked and opened the kitchen window, immediately feeling the cool breeze, while Clay opened the large window behind the dining table.
Within an hour, the Barracuda was unpacked, and Mattie sat on the floor, her hair now pulled back into a practical pony tail as she began organizing her books on the shelves beside the fireplace. Clay leaned over from the sofa and picked up the black receiver on the end table and dialed the owner's number. She listened to his easy conversation and smiled as she set the Frank Lloyd Wright book next to Andy Warhol's. This was her new life, and she took a deep breath of the ocean scented breeze, counting herself very fortunate indeed. She needed to call Ann in the morning, she decided, and have her get in contact with the publisher, to get this writing thing moving along. She imagined that she would need to send the publishers a synopsis and a sample of the textbook, and she figured that, even after that, it would take a while to coordinate everything. Today was Thursday, and she'd spend the next week getting the house fixed up, then she could concentrate on the book.
"Well, I told him you loved the house, and Mike says he's fine with anything we want to do with it." She turned to him as he set the receiver on its cradle. "He also said that if there's any furniture we don't want to keep, he'll pick it up and take it down to his garage, and store it there." Mattie held a book on her lap and she gazed at him, then looked around the living area.
"We need areas for our separate office spaces." She bit the side of her lip as she assessed the area. "We could get a smaller dining table, and that would give us room for your drafting table on one side, and my desk on the other, and we'd have that gorgeous view while we work."
Clay rested his jaw on his fist, as he looked over at the space. "The table is pretty run-down, but the chairs are sturdy, and I like the style. We can use two chairs for the new dining table, and the other two for our desks."
"I like that idea."
"Where do you want your stereo and our records?"
"Do you think this second shelf is deep enough?"
"I'll get them and we'll try it out."
Mattie inserted the last book on the bottom shelf, and saw Clay come over with the stereo, and she watched as he set it into the shelf.
"Looks good." She looked up at him and smiled, and he helped her to her feet, and wrapped his arms around her. "Why don't we arrange the records tomorrow?"
"How about this? I take you out to dinner in Ingonish, and you take your notebook." He kissed her neck. "We can make several lists of what we need to do and buy, while we enjoy a lobster and a glass of wine."
"Give me five minutes to clean up," she laughed as they pulled apart. "I'm starved, and lobster sounds perfect."