A New Foundation Rochelle Alers (read aloud .txt) 📖

up at curving twin staircases leading to the second story. A massive chandelier, covered with cobwebs, sat on a drop cloth in the middle of the expansive space.

She shivered slightly from the cool air filtering through open windows and decided not to take off her jacket. “This place is going to need a good cleaning, Taylor.”

He nodded. “I’m waiting for a callback from a maintenance company to schedule a time for them to come in and clean the entire house. I don’t want to bring them in until cameras are installed. And I really didn’t want to bring you here until it was thoroughly cleaned. But I needed to know if you were willing to join the project because my brother Patrick is doing double duty as the restoration’s CFO and working for his fiancée’s uncle’s Napa vineyard. He divides his time between California and Long Island. He’s been sending me emails every day asking for figures so he can draw up a tentative payroll.”

“Have you hired your team?”

“Not yet. I plan to hire an architect as project manager, while I’ll continue to supervise the overall restoration. I’ve given also given Patrick the figures for the prevailing pay scale for architects, carpenters, plumbers, electricians and painters.”

“Do you know how many workers you’ll need?”

“No. I gave him an approximate number that can always be adjusted either up or down. Now I’m going take you upstairs to see several bedroom suites, and then we’ll go downstairs to the cellar, where the collection of paintings, china, silver and crystal are stored.”

There were many more questions Sonja wanted to ask Taylor but decided to wait. She wanted to know if he’d projected a date when he wanted to begin work because it would take time for him to interview and hire his team.

She climbed the staircase, noticing the worn carpeting on the stairs and on the second story hallway. There were several rooms stenciled with Water Closet on the doors. She stopped, opened the door and saw a narrow space with a commode and shower stall. Sonja entered the first bedroom suite on her right at the top of the staircase. Massive mahogany pieces made the space appear smaller than it actually was. The queen-size bed with a decoratively carved headboard and two bedside tables, an enormous armoire, overstuffed armchairs, a round table with four pull-up chairs, a woven rice container under a console, storage chest at the foot of the bed and a cushioned rocker under tall, narrow windows would have made her feel claustrophobic if she had been assigned to this bedroom.

“What do you think?” Taylor asked as he stood behind her.

“The mahogany pieces are exquisite, but less would be better.” Raising her camera, Sonja took several shots of the furnishings.

He moved closer, his moist breath feathering over her ear. “Can you imagine getting up in the middle of the night without turning on the light while attempting to find your way to the door through this maze?”

Sonja couldn’t help laughing. “No.” She sobered. “What I like is the Caribbean influence in the mahogany carvings on the headboard and armoire. The console, which is in the French Regency style, has an intricate Martinique-style carving.”

“Are you saying it’s an antique?”

“I won’t know for certain until I examine it closely.”

“I have two steamer trunks filled with correspondence, bills, canceled checks and documents linked to this house. I haven’t had the chance to go through everything except to pull out blueprints and floor plans.”

“Would you mind if I take a look at them? Maybe I can find receipts to ascertain where a particular item was purchased.”

“Are you sure that’s what you want to do?”

Sonja turned to look at Taylor. “Yes, I’m sure. Some of these pieces could have been ordered from Europe or won at auction.”

“I’ll wait until you move into the hotel before I bring them over.”

“I noticed we passed several motels during the drive here.”

Taylor shook his head. “A few are not much better than flophouses. I much prefer one belonging to a chain. I’ll set up an account for you once you check into an apartment suite where you will have the option of ordering room service or cooking for yourself. I’ll give you a salary commensurate with your education and experience, and you can set your own hours. Once the property is secured, you will be given an electronic key card that will allow you access to come and go whenever you like.”

“That sounds like an offer I can’t refuse,” she teased.

“I don’t want you to refuse it. You’re not going to become my employee, but a contract worker. Right now I don’t have time to look for another architectural historian. It’s going to be a lot easier finding painters, carpenters, and masons than someone with your expertise. I told you before that I don’t yell or threaten, but I am no-nonsense when overseeing a project. I have a timeline as to when I want the exterior and interiors completed, and that’s before my brothers leave their jobs to become involved with the business.”

“What about Viola?”

Taylor’s eyebrows lifted slightly. “I’m hoping she will eventually come around. But, if she doesn’t then I’ll contact culinary schools to recommend their best graduates.”

“You really have everything figured out, don’t you?”

“I have to. I owe it to my dad to fulfill his last wish to my mother.”

Sonja noticed Taylor’s voice had changed when he’d mentioned his father. There was no doubt the two had been very close. She wanted to tell him that she would do whatever she needed to help him fulfill his father’s final request to his mother. “And I promise to assist you in making Bainbridge House a pretty girl again because she’s been neglected far too long. She may have a little dinge, but it’s nothing we can’t get rid of.”

He gave her skeptical look. “Are you saying Bainbridge House is a girl?”

“Of course she’s a girl. Are you familiar with the French term belle époque? It means beautiful epoch.”

“I’ve read