I get it. Lilly then had questions about the housewhy it was so big and interesting, and was it really old, and how did she make the darkroom?
The lodge has been in the MacKinnon family for generationsso lots of family members used it for summer getaways and vacations and holidays and just family gatherings. It was always kept pretty rustic, but when I knew I was going to be staying here for quite a while, I put in electricity and ran cable wires and all that. She motioned. This used to be a utility room. It already had a sink and rough shelves. But when I set it up as a darkroomwell, one problem is that everything has to be put away perfectlybecause once youve turned out the lights, you have to find what you need in the dark.
So we can turn out the lights? Lilly asked.
Sure. But first let me show you what certain things are used for. The blackout shades had the obvious purpose. The extractor fan sucked out the chemical odors. She pointed out the safelight. And next to the old sink was a long wet bench made of something similar to Formica. Thats where the developing trays gowhere youre developing the photos...and at the far end, theres a squeegee to remove excess water from the prints.
This so beyond awesome, Lilly said.
Whats this stuff? Pepper said as she pointed.
All large bottles of solution are stored on the floor. Every single thing thats used in here has a place. And no matter how tired or busy I am, it all has to be put back in that place before I leaveor Id never find it in the dark the next time.
Well, thatd probably be too hard for me, Pepper admitted. Dad says I shed stuff every place I walk, like a dog sheds fur.
So whats that? Lilly didnt want to listen to her sister. She wanted to hear Rosemary.
Okay...on the other side of the roomand I know its hard for the three of us to operate in this narrow space, but when Im by myself, its not so bad. So this is an enlarger. It does just what it sounds like. Makes the prints larger. It might make them blurrier, tooso you cant just ask it to enlarge something and then go take a nap. You have to watch the process.
Rosemary? Lilly again. Could we do this with you sometime? If we didnt move and didnt get in your way and didnt do anything wrong? If we just watched?
Sure. If its okay with your dad. And you guys are only going to be here for a week, arent you?
Were not sure exactly. We think were going home a day or two after Christmas, but Dad only promised that wed be home by New Years Eve, because were sleeping over with a bunch of girls from school.
Were going to stay up all night and have popcorn and stuff.
Sounds like great fun. She heard a vague sound, turned her head, and abruptly realized that someone was knocking on the front door.
She hustled out, glanced out the peephole and felt her stomach jump five feet. She yanked open the door at the same time she looked at her watch.
My God, Whit. Im so sorry. I swear I didnt realize how much time had gone by.
Its not a problem, except that when you gave me your cell number
She nodded. I never heard it ring. Im sorry. I think I left it on the fireplace mantel. And we were in the back of the house, the darkroom.
Like I said, its okay. But I did figure by now youd need rescuing.
She did. Not from his girls. From him.
The minute he walked in the room, she suffered from a cavorting heartbeat and instant noodle knees, annoying her to no end. So he was a hunk. So he was so brawny he made her feel like a sweet little Southern belle. So he had the sexiest eyes this side of the Mississippi.
It was just attraction.
Last she knew, that problem was embarrassing but not fatal.
The kids leaped on him as if hed been missing for six months. Dad! Rosemary took us in the darkroom, and showed us all about the enlarger and the paper safe and the squeegee panels
And where you keep the chemicals and the big extractor fan and solution and stuff
Since Whit was getting pulled inside, Rosemary interrupted with the obvious. Would you like some tea or coffee? Ive got both.
Coffee, definitely, if its not too much trouble.
By the time she brought two mugs back in, the girls had yelled for permission to play games on her iPad, and theyd taken root on the floor with couch pillows behind them. Whit, hands in his back pockets, was circling the corkboard display on the coffee table.
He smiled when she walked toward him, cocked his head toward the girls. Theyve made themselves at home.
Its the iPad. Not me.
I dont think so. You keep gaining goddess status.
She laughed. Im not doing anything, honest.
Maybe not, but well have to brainstorm some way to take you down a peg in their eyes. Otherwise, theyre going to pester you nonstop.
Hed lowered his voice so the girls wouldnt hear. His whisper was just as evocative as his normal tenor.
Well, if you think up something evil I could do, give a shout, would you?
He chuckled. They shared a smile that made her feel like a lit sparkler in a dark room. But then he motioned toward her corkboard.
The girls said you were doing a project with orchids.
She nodded. The wild orchids in South Carolinaespecially rare and endangered ones. Duke gave me a two-year grant, but I think I can finish the project sooner than that. When I came up here in June, thats all I did, traipse around the mountains, taking photographs and collecting specimens. So most of the gut research is done. I just have to put it all together, which is going to take a serious block of time. She knew she was babbling, but he honestly looked interested.
Landscapings my work.
The twins said you owned a business.
He nodded. Im the family disgrace. I have three siblings, two lawyers and my sister is a CPA. Im the only dirt bum. Love working with my hands. Love taking a piece of landdont care whether its small or bigand analyzing the soil, the shapes and contours, figuring out which plants and trees will thrive there, what will show it off. I have no idea where I picked up the addiction, but I sure have it hard-core.
My parents are both surgeons, and they expected the three of us kids to follow in their footsteps...but at least I could share disgrace with one of my brothers. I went for botany, and Tucker has a retreat camp on Whisper Mountain here. Ike was the only brother who turned into a doctor, like we were all supposed to.
Being a disgrace is tough.
Well, I was a disgrace for more than one reason, she admitted, and then wanted to shoot herself. That wasnt information she meant to share with Whitor anyone else, for that matter.
He didnt ask. He looked at her, as if waiting to hear the other reason she was a disgrace. But when she didnt say anything more, he turned his attention back to the corkboard of photographs.
Are you only photographing them when theyre in flower? he asked.
Good question. No. I marked the spot where I found each orchidthe location, the environment, the plants growing near them, tested the soil for acidity and all that. Then I went back every month to record that information all over again. Different predators showed up in different months. Different plants became dormant in different months. There were different insects, different temperatures, different rainfall.
Man. Id love to have done this kind of study. I dont know anything about orchids. But the how, why, when and where certain plants or grasses grow is of enormous interest to me.
You didnt go for a botany degree...?
No, I went after a landscape architecture degree from Michigan State. It was a long way from home to go to college, but they had a great program for what I wanted. Never regretted it. But the study youre doing crosses paths with so much Im interested in.
But he looked at her as if he were far more fascinated in her than her study. She couldnt remember the last time anyone wanted to hear what she thought, what she felt.
Hey, Dad! Pepper leaped up from the tablet and hurtled toward them at her usual speeda full gallop. Can we all stay and watch a movie if Rosemary says yes? Theres one that starts in just a few minutes. Well miss the beginning if we have to go home.
I think our familys imposed on Rosemary enough for today.
But Dad. Its Princess Bride! And its on right now.
You never have to see that one again. You know all the words. Hell. I know all the words. Please. Anything but that. Anything. We can even go home and talk about...clothes.
He herded them out, over a new round of protests and pleas and outright begging. Grabbed jackets. Found shoes. Listened to chatter.
Over their heads, before he whooshed them out the door, he looked at her. Really looked at her. As if theyd been connecting in a private way since the moment they met...the moment he walked in. Every moment they found themselves together.
She thought: he wanted to kiss her.
It was there. In his gaze. In how privately he looked at her, how silently he looked...worried. Worried but determined.
When she finally closed the door, the sudden silence in the cabin struck her again as unexpectedly lonelywhen shed been content living alone. Or she thought shed been content.
She ambled through the living room, picking up mugs and glasses, doing little cleanupsand lecturing herself at the same time. She was imagining those looks from Whit. The guy was still in love with his wife, from everything the girls had said. He was still loving her, still mourning her, still grieving.
And she had no business volunteering for trouble, besides. She was still in deep emotional shock over Georgethe man everyone assumed shed be thrilled to marry, thrilled to spend her life with. She hadnt discovered his turnip side until it was almost too late...which unfortunately said a whole lot about her lack of judgment in men.
She was afraid to trust her judgment again. Not because she was a sissy. Because she was smart.
She had to be smart. Her confidence had been crippled, not by George, but by misjudging a man she thought she loved. It was a mistake she couldnt risk making again.