Wherever She Goes (Psychic Seasons, ReGina Welling [novels to improve english TXT] 📗

As a result, every one of the bedroom suites was tightly themed. Rococo, Art Deco, American Craftsman and more. At one point, the house had been used as a boarding home for war-widowed women. Eventually to save on maintenance, most of the furniture had been piled into a couple large storage areas and parts of the house had been closed up. Over the past few months, Julie and Tyler had been systematically restoring the suites to serve as backdrops for the fashion photography that was quickly becoming Julie’s stock in trade.

Convinced that his ne’er do well son would squander everything passed down to him, Julius had devised a complicated series of clues as a treasure hunt that he felt only a worthy descendant could solve. Then, he’d promptly died before he could pass those clues on to his next of kin.

By the time Julie ended up sole owner, Hayward House desperately needed windows and a new roof and she was playing beat the clock to come up with the money for the repairs.

When Gustavia had dragged Julie off to see Kat for a Tarot reading last spring, Julius and Estelle had used the psychic medium to reconnect with their granddaughter, provide her with those clues and a warning about Logan Ellis, to whom she had recently become engaged.

Now, less than a year later, Julie had shaken off that vile con man of a fiancé and married Tyler Kingsley, the love of her life. Three of the four caches Julius had hidden were already found and Hayward House sat safely under its new roof.

It hadn’t been only Julie’s life that changed, either. Gustavia had met a long lost aunt, reunited with her family, and found Finn—the man she hoped to start a new family with someday. Of course, she had also been targeted and kidnapped by Julie’s crazy ex who blamed her for every bad thing that had happened to him.

That’s how she ended up living here—temporarily—at Hayward House. After banding together to pull off a spectacular rescue mission led by Amethyst and her tracking abilities, the little group of friends had all gotten together and decided it wasn’t safe for Gustavia to live alone in her little cottage home. And much as she hated to admit it, they were probably right. Logan had grabbed her in broad daylight from a public place and she did feel more protected now even if she missed being in her own space.

Kat felt the same way, Gustavia knew because they’d talked about it, but the psychic had also been installed in a lovely suite of rooms here because, being blind, she was doubly vulnerable if Logan ever decided to set his sights on anyone other than Julie and Gustavia.

With a sigh, Gustavia moved around the kitchen tidying up. Content to leave the rest of the house alone, Estelle had redecorated only two rooms turning one into a studio space and updating the kitchen which now carried a heavy sixties vibe mixed with a bit of farmhouse flair.

Estelle had left the brick fireplace area and the heavy oak trestle table that took up one end of the room and went perfectly with the also still-existing slate sink that spanned a four-foot wide area under the window. Everything else had received a face-lift.

Most of the budget had gone into installing new appliances, the rest into replacing doors and drawer fronts resulting in a dazzling blend of clean white cabinetry set off by a range, double wall oven, and refrigerator in blush pink.

The finished room was so totally Estelle that Gustavia could still picture the tiny woman’s birdlike movements as she baked up a batch of light and fluffy biscuits. In the short time she’d known Grams—Estelle insisted on the nickname—Gustavia had soaked up every bit of knowledge she could about cooking and running a home.

A batch of those biscuits was currently baking in the top oven while from the bottom, wafted the scent of a perfectly constructed frittata.

Lola perked up just before Gustavia heard the sound of footsteps on the upstairs landing. Kat must have been tired after the wedding celebration because she rarely slept this late. Gustavia couldn’t help but smile as Lola dashed from the room with her usual graceless abandon the minute she heard the first step on the stair.

From day one, the big dog had taken a liking to the blind woman and felt it was her duty to play guide. Right now, she would be at Kat’s side, using her body to nudge a change of direction around any barrier she perceived might be a problem.

Knowing her friend’s preferences, Gustavia reached over and punched the button on the coffeemaker. Kat would drink tea but given the option, she preferred coffee. And from the look of her this morning, probably a double shot.

“Bad dreams?” Gustavia asked with concern after studying the shadows under Kat’s eyes, so dark they stood out in her pale face.

Voice dry Kat replied, “You’d have to sleep to have dreams.”

Counting her steps as always, Kat slid into a chair, leaned an elbow on the table to rest her head against her hand.

“Want to tell me about it?” Gustavia placed a warm hand over Kat’s where it lay on the table. A bubbling gurgle preceded the coffee maker’s beeping to let them know the pot was finished brewing. Kat started to rise but Gustavia insisted, “I’ll pour you a cup, I need to check on breakfast anyway,” and went to pick out a novelty mug with all the coffee in the world won’t make me a morning person printed on it. “Want me to fix you a plate?”

Kat had that echoing hollow feeling in the pit of her stomach; the one that always followed a night without sleep, maybe some food would ease the clawing ache.

“Smells good in here, biscuits and something egg based?”

“Nail on the head. Frittata with mushrooms and peppers.”