The house- Chapter 18

in #busy5 years ago

    

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Sarah walked straight to the kitchen to make her aunt a cup of tea with lots of sugar in it.  It seemed as if her aunt was in shock and she knew the tea would calm her down. Daphne sat on the couch sobbing when Sarah brought the tea.  

"Daphne you need to tell me what is going on. Drink the tea it will make you feel better and then we can talk"

Daphne sipped on the tea and a few minutes later she was able to talk. 

"I better start at the beginning...I apologize for my crying but it was such a shock to see the house, and the memories just overwhelmed me."  She took another sip of tea and then continued. 

"This is the story that your grandfather told me..I'm not sure if your father ever told you any of this but it might not have affected him the same way it did me....."

Sarah shook her head eagerly awaiting the rest of the story.  

"Your great grandmother Amelia lived in this exact house for quite a while before she died in 1946. She was originally from France and lived there with her husband Francois. He was a very famous architect you know...and he wanted to explore all his options.....but their marriage was not all moonshine and roses. Your great grandmother was extremely unhappy here and wanted to go back to France, but her husband wanted to live here because there were more opportunities here. He even tried to make the house as comfortable as possible and imported all these windows from France to make her feel at home, but she just wanted to go back to France.  

She desperately wanted children but they tried for so many years and she never fell pregnant. Finally in 1945 a miracle happened and she fell pregnant with a little boy. Your grandfather. Unfortunately she was not strong enough and she died after the birth. Francois was devastated and he didn't want anything to do with the child.  He went back to France and left the baby behind in an orphanage. He blamed himself for her death and eventually died of sorrow not long after."

Sarah was totally stunned she could not believe what she heard.  "So what happened to my grandfather?" 

Well he grew up in the orphanage and then at the age of four he was adopted by a doctor and his wife. He had a good life and he became a lawyer...just like you are.  I never told you any of this because it was irrelevant and the past is in the past....but today when I saw this house I know that it was fate that brought you to this house.  Your grandfather just finished studying when this specific house came on the market. He bought this house and he and your grandmother lived here for nearly fifteen years. I was born in this house...your father too... 

I have some lovely memories from that time and I was so sad when we had to sell the house and move down to San Francisco. A very famous writer bought the house from us and I have never been back since..." 

Sarah listened to the whole story and then reached for a tissue herself.  She was glad to find out more about the history of the house but she never thought that she was in any way connected to the house.

Sarah was totally overwhelmed about the whole story.  She sat back and then told her aunt about her trip to Paris and that she went to visit the chateau where Francois and Amelia lived.  Both Sarah and her Aunt Daphne had a good cry and then went to the kitchen to make some more tea.  

Daphne asked if she could take a tour through the house and Sarah walked with her.  Memories of her childhood flashed back and Daphne was able to tell Sarah many things that she did not know about the house.  They sat in Daphne's room and talked for hours while Sarah made notes. She wanted to restore the house to it's original state and she was so glad that she had Daphne here to tell her everything she needed to know.  

Daphne was excited to be back in her old bedroom and couldn't believe the events of the day.  She missed this house terribly and couldn't believe that she now had the opportunity to relive her childhood at the age of 64.  The rest of the weekend flew by and Daphne was sad to say goodbye but promised to be back very soon to help with the final arrangements.  She planned to come and stay there two weeks before the wedding to make sure that everything was exactly the way they wanted it.  

Matt's plane had already landed when Sarah dropped Daphne off at the airport and she couldn't wait to tell Matt about the whole weekend when he climbed into the car.   

- To be continued-

 

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