A Painterly Eye Arrives
At
The House of Four Seasons
by Atonia
Part 1-Andy the Guide
Jemma Cantrell smiled at the young man in the passenger seat, she’d peppered him with questions about where they were going, about the house and now she couldn’t wait to enter the gates. It seemed like a dream come true, she’d always wanted to live in a place like this and there it was on the internet her dream house. She’d taken it for the summer, three months with an option to extend her stay through another season or perhaps for a whole year.
The gates opened when her old Volvo pulled up and she looked over at the young man he smiled at her.
“Are you sure you want to go through?” he asked.
She took a breath, “I am, I’m sure though I’m not sure I believe all you’ve told me about this place,” she pulled her car through and along the drive to the garage. Getting out of the car she looked around it was absolutely lovely in her mind she was already sketching and mixing colors.
Andy, just Andy as he’d introduced himself took the keys from her and unloaded her trunk, she’d brought more painting supplies than luggage. Lastly the dog crate from the back seat. Andy opened the door to the crate and Macbeth jumped up and down and ran around barking wagging his little short tail. He was a Scottie and sported a plaid collar. While he introduced himself to the grounds Jemma moved toward the front door, pots of red geraniums in blue pots caught her eye on the front porch and a lovely wreath on the door.
She opened the door and walked into the entryway and caught her breath. It was what she had always wanted a large room off to the left proved to be the living room painted white, the long sofa was covered in white linen splashed about with red poppies, a vase of summer flowers in the bay window two comfortable chairs in red and white striped linen, foot stools around, highly polished dark tables and alabaster lamps with white shades. The draperies were red linen trimmed in the sofa fabric.
“Do you like it?” Andy asked dumping her luggage in the entry.
“I love it, I can’t imagine anything more perfect.” She thought of the cramped apartment in Columbia, SC she lived in. It had been a long trip to New England but she had taken her time driving and took many side trips to enjoy the scenery along the way.
A quick peek into the small dining room on the right of the entry done in blue and white striped fabrics with sheer white curtains on the windows. Down the hallway a library opened to the right all greens and browns and then into the kitchen, a bright sunny room painted yellow with black and white tiles on the floor, white cabinets and a center island of granite.
Andy showed her the stocked pantry and deep freeze and then led her out to the stone terrace.
“Oh, the view,” she ran to the edge of the bluff, the wind catching her long cotton skirt.
Andy watched her for a moment going over what he knew of her, she was thirty three and an artist affiliated somehow with the University of South Carolina. She illustrated children’s books and painted, selling her artwork in a place called The Art Bar in her hometown. She was a sometime actress in the local theater scene, single, never married. She lived alone with her little dog.
The house had provided a conservatory off to the left of the kitchen, a glassed room filled with plants and plenty of room for her to set up her easel, Andy took her painting equipment in there and set it down, he liked the plants and noticed the glass doors were opened onto to the terrace, he walked through and beckoned her inside.
“I just put your things down you can sort them out how you want.”
“This is lovely Andy, what a perfect place to paint.” She twirled around touching leaves and flowering plants.
“Are you ready to go up and see your room?” he asked walking through to the kitchen.
“Oh yes, I must say I am overwhelmed by this place…really I am.” She followed him up the stairs taking one of the smaller bags from him.
“This is it,” he opened the doors to her room, painted a pale green with white bedding and a long sofa in front of the fireplace covered in green and white toile printed linen. The doors to the balcony were open and a white sheer curtain blew in the cool breeze.
“This is my room…oh my I don’t know what to say.” She walked through the room and out onto the balcony. She could see the sea from the balcony and hear its roar as it crashed onto the shore. Her dreamlike state was interrupted by Andy.
“I’ll leave you for a minute, my room is down at the end of the hall, maybe you want to unpack or something then we can have a bite to eat.”
“Oh yes of course, thank you Andy.” Jemma hugged herself and gave a little skip as she turned back into the room and unpacked her bags.
Her eyes were drawn to the fresh flowers in her room, a collection of shells on the dresser. A perfect summer home, she thought as she hung her clothes in the old fashioned wardrobe.
Downstairs in the kitchen a pot of tea and a plate of sandwiches awaited them when they entered.
“You’ve already been at work I see,” Jemma poured out the tea.
“Um no actually the house has. There are some things you need to know Jemma about this place. I told you it was touched by magic, well that wasn’t exactly true, it is magic. Now don’t shake your head, it is. You will find that whatever you desire will appear, whatever the house thinks you need will be provided. This place is very old and the magic is ancient.” He looked into her big gray eyes, “It’s true I’m not making it up.” He grinned.
“You’re very convincing I must say.” Biting into a sandwich. “I can’t imagine the owner of this place wanting to be anywhere else.”
Andy smiled thinking of the woman who now owned it, “I don’t think she’ll be back. I’ll be here for a couple of days and then I must leave. Um I should tell you about summer.”
“Summer?”
“Yes, the summer season. You know this house is called The House of Four Seasons, well that’s because there are four seasons and four elements of life.”
“Elements,” she took a sip of her tea.
How to tell her about the seasons of love he looked up a moment, “Okay, you won’t be alone here this summer, I want you to know that.”
“What do you mean, does someone live here?” she sat up straight and looked him in the eye.
“Well you live here now, but you will have a companion.”
“I don’t want a companion.”
“Its part of the whole magic thing Jemma, this house is built on the magic of love. I’m afraid you don’t have a choice about the companion. If you don’t choose one the house will.”
“Ha, we’ll see about that, I came here to paint and for the solitude, I did not come here looking for a companion…or love.”
Andy picked up his teacup, “Sometimes we don’t always know what we are looking for, relax Jemma and let this experience just happen.”
“If you’d told me this in Salem I would not be here right now, I would have turned around and gone home.”
“That’s why I didn’t tell you. The house chose you out of hundreds of applicants. There has to be a reason for that. Don’t worry you are in no danger here, nothing will happen that you don’t want to happen.”
“Except the companion.” She took another sip of her tea. What had she gotten herself into. “I knew it was too perfect there had to be a catch, I just wish you had told me before I got here. What else, is there something else I need to know?”
“Yes a few things, like I said anything you need or want will be provided, you can only be gone for twenty four hours at a time if you don’t make it back, the gates will lock and you will not be able to get back in. That’s one of the magic rules here. So you can go around the local towns but you must be back within twenty four hours.”
“What if I want to leave and go home?”
He smiled, “I doubt that you will, you have a contract for three months, renewable if you want to stay. If you leave, it’s over.”
“Over.”
“Yes and you would have missed an experience you will never have the opportunity to have again.”
Jemma pushed a strand of her long blond hair behind her ear, “I’m intrigued. This ah companion…male or female?”
“Definitely male.” He grinned.
“Oh…a man…here with me all summer…um what am I expected to do with him?” her eyes wide.
“That’s up to you.”
Andy sat back in his chair and smiled at her, he felt the warmth of the house flow over them, she would be okay here.
The house was also intrigued with her, she wasn’t quite what it expected. She was a beautiful woman but headstrong, it would be an interesting summer and a companion must be carefully chosen for her for she would not choose for herself, this was quite evident. Who could possibly stand up to Jemma and who could possibly capture her heart?