The last winter months were busy for Sky. He had to go on location in Africa in February and remained away until early spring. He had asked Joe to do all the research about the land they wanted to buy. Joe came back with all being in order with paperwork, registrations and environmental laws. Sky also asked that all the buildings be well checked for any architectural and construction defects. The farmhouse had been completely renovated taking care to respect the original traits. All the work was under the watchful eye of the Costwold Historic Preservation Society. Anyone renovating an older than one hundred-year-old house that was famous for its use in history, had to obtain a permit and received the visit of a CHPS agent once a week during the renovation period. All the plans needed to be submitted before you started the renovations. The old lady sent all the papers to Joe, as Sky’s lawyer, and everything being in order in all aspects, Joe could go ahead and start the process of purchasing the property. Sky asked him to get all the paperwork ready and, as soon as he would come back to London, Maeva and him would go and do a complete visit of all the buildings and also the land as best they could. They did receive the report from the examination, and they would read them beforehand and note what they wanted to observe with a better eye. They had also asked for pictures, mainly of the farmhouse so they could have a first look.
 
During those months, Maeva spent her time doing some writing as she had received some little contracts to turn books into scenarios. All her free time was spent with her daughter and Yvonne and Victor, who took the habit to eat with her. Her parents having passed away a long time ago, they were being perfect adoptive grandparents to Neve and even, great surrogate parents to her. She was grateful for their presence.
 
Once she received the pictures of the farmhouse from Joe, she was able to start planning the decoration, but she also saw some antique furniture and wondered if they could be bought for the lady. Knowing she was going to live with her daughter, she might not have use for all of them, except her bedroom furniture.  On one of there weekly video calls, Sky asked her if she felt the need to do some major changes I the farmhouse, like a bathroom, she would like bigger or the kitchen cabinets to be reorganised or changed.
 
“I was not looking at the pictures that way. I don’t think so but, we will find out when we physically visit it. Right now, I love what I see. Did you notice the Valet service elevator? It’s incredible.  Also, the huge beams in the cathedral ceiling of the lounging room? They are beautiful. As for the bathrooms, I find they married the old look with all modern pipes and functions perfectly. I love the vintage bath and the latest trend two people shower that they go to match well. “, she finally stopped. She was really excited.
 
“Yea. I totally agree. Also, did you see the furniture? Do you think she would accept to sell some of the antique pieces?”, he asked.
 
“I was thinking the exact same thing. Some pieces are the most beautiful I ever saw. We could ask about this during the visit.
 
 
Sky came home on a beautiful spring day where the crocus, the tiny lilies and daffodils where pierced the earth with the pointy stems. The cool air smelled of fresh rejuvenated soil and burgeoning trees. Birds, inebriated by the warmth to come, sang songs of romance and hope. Neve was now walking on her own, her eyes bewildered by the garden bees and insects the were waking up from their winter sleep. Both hands on the French doors, she searched for her best friends that had the freedom she aspired to. She could see them running around the fenced section that was theirs to frolic in. Yvone was in the kitchen preparing lunch and keeping an eye on the toddler to allow Maeva a well-deserved shower. Neve turned around hearing the front door close and a huge man appeared in the living room. Neve sensed the familiarity and smiled hesitantly.
 
“Dada?”, Neve said with an unsteady voice.
 
“Princess! My beautiful princess. My smart pea.”, Sky had not heard her utter that word yet. He beamed with pride. “Come to papa, darling.”, and he went forward with his arms extended. Neve went to him. He took in his arms. The baby must have recognise his smell as she felt sure about him as soon as she was cuddle with him. She hid her face on his chest and hung on for dear life with her hands clutching his shirt.
 
“Welcome home Mr. Sky. Hope your road back went well.”, said Yvonne, her face beaming with joy. “Did you see Victor out there? He had some wonderful news to tell you.”, said Yvonne eagerly waiting to see if Sky knew they had decided to move with the small family to the Costwolds.
 
“Yes, he was outside and took my luggage in. I will never thank you enough for all you do for us, Yvonne. We need you and we want you as part of our family. Maeva told me how close she has gotten to you both. You are her only parents, you know. She feels it.”, Sky confided. Yvonne’s eyes filled up with tears of happiness. She was so emotional, she couldn’t talk. Sky tried to change the conversation not wanting to see Yvonne brake down and cry.
 
“So, Neve, what is Yvonne cooking?”, he got closer to the stove. “Delicious hearty soup.”, he said smelling the savoury odor of the cooking vegetables and beans. “Where is mama, Neve?”, he asked knowing Yvonne would answer for the baby.
 
“Mama”, said Neve and she pointed to the bedroom door near the hall. Yvonne and Sky looked at each other and smiled. Sky went in the direction of the bedroom with Neve in his arms. He opened the door to an empty room, but then saw Maeva stick her head out of the bathroom brushing her hair in her undies.
 
“You’re back! Oh, Sky.”, they went to each other, kissed slowly and hugged, all three of them. Neve was clapping her hands, happy. Maeva burrowed her face in his neck. She breathed out, now at peace with the whole world.
 
 
 
Most nights, once Neve was soundly asleep in her side crib, Maeva and Sky reunited. During the day, they were both busy getting ready to move. Sky had ordered a all-included moving package, but they were many personal items, legal papers, and collections items that they needed to take care themselves. Maeva was in charge of the London house and Sky and Joe were in charge of getting the farmhouse ready. The domain was a little less than three hours away from the London house. Sometimes Sky would sleep over at the farmhouse for a couple of days and than stay home for a week.
 
They went to visit the farmhouse as soon as they could upon Sky’s arrival. Maeva had mentioned the need to feel the place out. They had studied the pictures almost with a magnifying glass. They knew every detail but being there, sensing the history, the past lives that lived within those walls, was the deal maker or breaker. The smell of an old house can also be overwhelming. In this case, the walls and stone floors had been carefully high-pressure cleaned. The Misses of the house was definitely ready to let most of the furniture go. She said they were part of the farm and they should remain there. She had carefully selected what was going to her new place with her. There was one place no one had talked about until their visit; the basement. It was dark and clammy. Sky went down; Maeva didn’t. He didn’t mention anything in particular except that it was mostly unused and look more like a cave. He had mostly checked the ceiling beams and the floor for wetness. He heard a humming sound and saw the was a submersible pump with a trench all around the walls. He would see about it with Joe. He thought it was good to have this but wondered was there was no mentioned of it anywhere in the documents.
 
Maeva took notes during the visit. She already had a list of what she needed to check on when on site. The housing inspector they had hired had done the measurements of all walls and existing appliances and furniture. . She was to see which piece of furniture and appliance to ask for and, see if some of the existing furniture they wanted to keep from the London house fit into spaces they would designate for them.
 
Her first impression upon entering was mixed as you descended some steps to come in which meant that the ‘rez-de-chaussée’[1] was almost a half basement. She was not sure she liked the idea, but it would take too much time to renovate this and would affect how high the ceiling would be. The interior was still well illuminated. The windows were wide and that area of the farm faced east. The sun rays of the sun slowly creeping up in the sky illuminated a beautiful rustic table with six chairs. As she got closer, she noticed, the table was an antique and had iron forged hand-wrought nails, which made the table from before the 1800’s. It seemed to be from the Georgean era and in dark wood, probably oak. The chairs were simple but strong, also held together by hand-wrought nails. There was a old stone fireplace with a bread oven on the right end corner. The kitchen consisted of curtain-covered hard wood open storage with a wood counter covered with a removable stainless-steel plate. It became an old butcher’s block when taken off. An antique style totally black modernized stove was placed on the opposite wall towards the entrance. A large iron fenced window was set between the stove and the door. There were also heavy wooded shelves all around the kitchen, with double shelves on top of the counter. A set of old rocking chair covered by sheepskin were set in front of the fireplace. Huge deer antlers hung above the fireplace and a wolf skin rug covered the front of the rocking chairs. An old-fashioned huge ice box covered the top door of the refrigerator. The bottom door was a simple wood panel. All were made from the same woo. She suspected dark stained oak. The ceiling was in plaster with wooden beam. The other walls were also plaster covered. She sat on one of the rocking chairs. The place was growing on her. It had a certain, ‘je ne sais quoi’[2]. She turned the chair around to look in the opposite direction. The entrance door and the step were also made of dark hard wood. Such a rich color. That is when she noticed the small steps continued to the end of the left side. There was a dark wood door there also. It blended in well and she didn’t notice it at first. She went to it and opened it. It was only a few stairs up. She landed on an upper floor, this time, at land level. She understood that she had been on the summer kitchen area. There some old house built with summer kitchens in Quebec, but she didn’t know they also had this here. A hall opened up in front of her which led to a huge room at the end. She passed all the closed doors along side the hall to reach that large space. The area went from the front of the house to the back, looking out at the stables’ path. Here, she found a fully equipped kitchen on the left and a complete lounging room on the right. That seemed to be the shared space of the farmhouse, and it was fully modernized. Naturally, they had taken care to preserve the beautiful historic elements like the stoned walls and the beams. The appliances were recent. She took pictures and texted Yvonne asking her what she thought about the kitchen appliances. Should they keep them or buy new ones? She looked out the front window and could see a huge part of the domain. She couldn’t see the buildings. It was summer and the foliage trees, bushes and flowers were in full bloom, which was exquisite. When she turned towards the kitchen, there were French door on the right of the wall. She approached and saw the doors gave way to the garden. The counters continued on the left wall and turned into an island that could be used for prepping and dining. Everything in the kitchen was totally white. Appliances were also hidden in cupboards or were totally white. More to the left of the island was a huge side window that gave a view to the side garden. Even though the kitchen was ultra modern, the stone walls, beams and white squared windows preserved the farmhouse look. The living room couches were a flowery pattern in jacquard material, so she would not ask for those. Sky and herself preferred white or off-white colors for sofas and couches. They also preferred to be comfortable in their furniture. She also took pictures of the lounging room. She continued her tour going to the rooms on either side of the hall; the first one was a complete restroom; all modernized with the most recent type of accessories down to a glass shower. A door at the end of the bathroom opposite the shower gave way to the laundry room. That was a space Maeva had seen on the renovation plans but there were no indication of what it was used for. It now made total sense to her.
 
There were other doors giving in the hall. The farmhouse had five bedrooms. The biggest room was the one next to the stairs going to the summer kitchen. That room was obviously the master bedroom. It had a French door that gave to a cute balcony. There were two other doors. The first one was a beautiful complete bathroom this time it also had an antique stand-alone bath. An absolute beauty with gold taps and accessories. The floor and wall tiles were white marble. The shower had a large glass stall with seat.
The other door was on the same side a few feet away from the bathroom door. She was surprised to see that door gave into a staircase going up to the attic, or so she thought. The stair needed a little love, she thought. Once up the, she faced another door and on the left was a huge space, as big as the second floor. Before entering that space, she opened the closed door. That room was renovated as well. It was quite large and had a large window with a view to the North, so located in front of the side wall of the stables. You could see some of the wall through the tree foliage, but not much. She thought they would have better view of it in the cold seasons. This part of the house was on top of a part of the carport below. She wondered how it was supported but it had been built with the original farmhouse as you could find the same stone walls and beams on the ceiling. The room had some old wood shelves and an antique cabinet with a stained-glass door. Maeva fell in love with the room and could imagined herself writing in it. The room also included a huge oak desk and a winged chair with a rich red upholstery. The window had heavy red velvet curtains. In any other instance, the decor would have been extremely pretentious, but the simple wood planks flooring, the stone walls and the slanted beamed cathedral ceiling gave it a wonderful medieval feel. She went back out to explore the huge open space. It was easy to imagine what this would become. There were some parts of the farmhouse that reproduced to a T the lay-out of the London house, but it was much larger and had more character. All the walls and the ceiling of the attic space were stone walls, wood plank flooring and criss-crossed beams on top. She went back down to the master bedroom. They were no furniture in that room, so it was not used and hadn’t been used for awhile, she assumed.  She went to the room closest to the bathroom as this is where she would choose to sleep if she was an older woman living alone. She was right; the room was quite large and was furnished entirely of antiques. There was the bed, a double size, with a head, foot and baseboard in mahogany, two side tables, a dressing table and a wardrobe all of the same Victorian style and wood.  The large two panel stained-glass window had a view to the front gardens, now in full bloom. It was lovely. She wouldn’t ask for any furniture from this room as the lady will probably be bringing it with her. She went to the other bedrooms that were quite similar in size, two had complete bedroom sets, all antiques. The last room she looked at was the room right next to the lounging room on the north side. It connected to the lounge room, but she had not seen a door. She went back into the lounge room and went to the area where a door should be. There was a hard wood wall unit there. She pushed into it. Nothing moved. She pulled, still nothing. She pushed it sideways in the direction of the kitchen. It slid. It was a little rusty, but she got it open. That was so cool. A hidden door. That could also be an office, she thought. The only problem, she found was the complete lack of closets. She didn’t know if the occupants didn’t like closets or forgot about them. Most of the time, the rooms had antique wardrobes to palliate this. Some were beautiful but were not all from the same era. She would check with Sky what there were to do about this. She already had a plan in mind.
 
[1] A French word meaning the floor you enter on, the one level to the entrance door.
[2] Meaning, a special something.