Restoring a House Pt. 03

"Yes, with his people helping. Scary, isn't it?"

"Yes. Better to work outside. Only have to watch trees falling on you."

My nights were sexless. The women were understanding, but kept offering. I gave them a sinister laugh and said I was saving up to have them both in the honeymoon suite in ten days.

The three of us had another collective shock when Vic announced that the radiators in the house, all fifteen of them, had been checked and were full of rust. The valves and air reliefs were shot as well. We could convert to baseboard hot water, or we could come up with five hundred per radiator for a complete overhaul, including sandblasting and powder coating, acid flushing, and new hardware.

Mely didn't blink. "I want my radiators. Grandfather would turn over in his grave if they went away. And you haven't talked to me about the foundation repair. What awful number is that going to be?"

"Auntie, it is too painful to talk so much about money. What if I take you out to lunch?"

Ceci looked up. "You are leaving me with a tuna sandwich?"

I decided that the Grotto for lunch, where they had outside dining with umbrellas and real tablecloths, was the best place to talk money. The two of them held my hands firmly. We gave our orders and I asked for a bottle of the Napa fume blanc. I took a sip, nodded at the waiter, and we relaxed. We all knew this was a play conversation. There wasn't any alternative to fixing the foundation.

"Mrs.Cartwright, you have a very serious situation with the coal room foundation. I know it is a mystery how it happened, but you can't live in the house with that crack underneath you. Think of the worry every night as you go to bed, wondering whether you will wake up in the basement."

"Kirk Hansen, the foundation is covered in the contract. You are responsible for errors and omissions. I can't think of a bigger omission than that crack. Why didn't your site survey turn it up? I thought you were a competent young man."

"Amelia, be reasonable. We don't want to end up in court. If you win, I will be bankrupt."

"Ha. Seems to me I read that half the contractors in California have been bankrupt one time or another. You just pick yourselves up and start over."

"Ceci, can't you talk sense into her. This is very demoralizing."

I was kissing the back of Mely's hand and licking fingers.

"Stop fooling around, Lothario, and tell me the bad news."

"Mely, you seem to be lucky. If your luck holds, fifty thousand, not counting Arturo's trenching in the back.

"And if it doesn't?"

"If the augers don't work for some reason and they have to hand dig a conventional footing in there, probably another twenty-five or thirty."

"So you haven't spent all my money yet. Kiss me."

There was plenty of emotion in the kiss for a play conversation. Mely realized it wasn't a joke about ending up in the basement. The contractor who warmed her bed was also keeping her from a great fall.

Ceci said, "The two of you should be ashamed, kissing like that in public. I could feel the heat over here."

"Auntie, the architect needs special TLC tonight." I gave her my tall dark cowboy look.

I said, "I have another thought about the basement for the client's consideration. That room is about ten by twelve. Perfect size for a walk in wine cellar. If we frame out the remaining three walls after the new foundation is built, and insulate the heck out of the space, your heritage house could have a heritage wine cellar."

The next thing I knew, Mely was in my lap, kissing me again. "You have the best ideas about spending my money. You are not going anywhere after you marry this poor woman who is pregnant by you?"

"Actually, Carlos and I are going to build a shop in another part of the basement and install some quality tools so we can do the wine cellar ourselves. You and Ceci are going to study wine books and magazines and attend auctions. She can't drink right now, but a good taster is supposed to spit it out anyway."

Ceci looked at us. "Please eat your delicious lunch and stop all these ideas."

By the time we got back, impressive equipment was being moved into the basement. Several thick hoses ran out to a truck in the driveway. I met Sam Silver, the auger foreman, and thanked him for coming so fast. "We just finished a job on the other side of town and can do this test for John today. Should be about two hours."

Much of that time was spent rigging the hydraulics and tying down the rig so the head end of the screw couldn't counter-rotate.

About three, there was a roar from the engine on the truck and grinding noises came out of the coal room. In thirty minutes, Sam emerged with a smile on his face. "You are fortunate. Compact soil with bed rock at seven feet. Four screws will be fine. We can do the remaining three tomorrow, if you like. Just leave our equipment here overnight."

I got him on the phone to John Phillips in a hurry. They had several minutes of engineer's discussion and Sam gave the phone to me. "Kirk, you lucky dog. Or maybe it is great grandfather's good planning. I think we can take a chance and do the rest of the screws tomorrow. I will turn over all the data and the rest of the plan to the city on Monday. I talked to the concrete guy this morning and will call him back about starting next week. You better buy the client a nice dinner somewhere."

I crept up the stairs to the office and slumped onto the sofa. The new house plan was looking very nice on Ceci's drafting table.

"Terrible news." Mely was in the doorway behind me. They sucked in their breath and looked alarmed.

"Great grandfather put his house on a hill of granite. The test screw is solidly into rock at seven feet. Four screws will be enough and they will be finished tomorrow."

I was buried under pounding fists. "You are not funny. The house could fall down."

"Just for that, I am going to buy you dinner out, wherever you would like to go. We will drink toasts to great grandfather."

"You just took us out to eat. We can celebrate with a nice meal at home. You will make two large margaritas for the tub and she can have sips."

And that is the way it was. The sun was going down earlier, but the three of us managed to catch some last rays as we relaxed in the hot tub. Ceci said, "My hormones are making me emotional. I almost cried twice today with all your teasing." Her head was on my shoulder and my arm around her.

"But don't stop. Mely and I wouldn't know what to do if you stopped springing surprises on us."

The client took her usual place in my lap and we both caressed Ceci. "Kirk," she said, "your wife-to-be is making me cry with her design for the new house. Every day I find something on her drawings that gets me all excited."

"Speaking of surprises, I need to go to the City early tomorrow with Arturo's son. Which means the two of you need to be around if Sam and his crew need help."

"We don't get to know what you are doing?"

"It is a nice surprise. Enjoy the suspense until you see it."

They said I was cruel and nasty and beat on me. I saw the smiles.

Dinner was mellow. We held hands and voiced a prayer to great grandfather, thanking him for his wisdom in putting his house on a hill of very hard rock.

Juan was at the curb at 5:30 when I drove up. I handed him coffee and a roll as he got his seatbelt on.

He nodded at me, "Thanks, senor. My father says you are best man he has worked for."

I smiled in the darkness. "That's nice to hear. And thanks for getting up at this ungodly hour to help me with the bed."

Juan was a sophomore in high school. Got good grades, he said. "My mom would kill me if I came home with a C. She says I have to be the first Hispanic President." We looked at each other, nodding about the mom problem and living up to expectations.

The bed was partly packaged, with enough showing that we could admire it, and not worry too much about paying three thousand dollars for hand rubbed walnut and mahogany. The man who ran the shop, a true artist named Ransome Jones, said he was pleased his bed was going to a hundred year old restored home. "Kirk, it is a pleasure working with you. I hope the client is pleased."

"Ransome, the client is going to be excited as all get out when she sees her new bed."

Juan and Ransome and I got the precious package into the truck and tied down. As we drove off, Juan said, "A whole store full of beautiful pieces. I could spend all day in there."

"I'm going to build a shop in Amelia's basement. Maybe you could pick up some useful skills."

"That would be great, senor Kirk. I don't have any money, but would like to help."

I had arranged for Arturo to distract Mely and Ceci when we got close to home, so that the bed could be smuggled into the upstairs bedroom. I called on my cell and they said they would create an instant emergency in the yard. I also called the store in town that had their best king size mattress ready to deliver and told them to get ready.

In an hour, the deed was done. The room was crowded with admiring workers. The bed looked magnificent. There was a noise in the hall and Mely asked, "What's going on? I see Kirk's truck is back."

Two bodies edged into the room and just stood there. Then Kirk was getting hugs and kisses and exclamations filled the room. Even Juan got kisses. His folks had come up behind and smiled.

Mely said, "Ceci! We have to shop for furnishings! I want to sleep in that bed tonight!"

I mumbled about the bathroom still being painted, but got a glare, "Who needs a bathroom? In those days they had a jug in the corner!" That got a lot of laughs and everyone went back to work. I pressed two fifty dollar bills into Juan's hand and whispered, "Don't tell your parents. This is for a hot date." My new shop helper went down the stairs with a bounce in his step.

At the end of the day, I relaxed in the hot tub with two beautiful women rubbing on me. "Kirk, you are a devil. That was such a surprise."

"Are you serious about sleeping in it tonight?"

"I was, but this is very nice, and the bed here is terribly comfortable with three of us."

"You remember I was supposed to do something when the back bedroom was finished?"

The wiggling and giggling increased. "She wasn't supposed to be knocked up before you proposed."

"Don't be crude. I'm just an innocent boyfriend who got carried away on a tropical beach."

"Carried away. Yes, he did get carried away and it wasn't the least bit innocent. I was lying there, naked on the sand, half in the water, and I could see a hot look in his eyes. It was like that movie."

She grabbed my head, licking. "Romeo, I have news. Maria called me today to confirm they are coming on time next week. She said they enjoyed staying here so much she is pregnant!"

Mely said, "That Carlos! He does look studly."

"This is terrible. Now we have nature's deadline on top of everything else!"

"What about the architect? The clock is ticking for her too."

"With the teasing from you two, I hardly know which way is up."

The pregnant one lay on me and said, "Mom, he does need help. What is the plan for moving back to the house?"

"I'm cooked enough. Let's talk about it over dinner."

Amelia sipped on her gin and ice and smiled at us. "The client wants some special favors..."

Ceci was sauteeing the sole and I was finishing the salad. We nodded at her.

"You have pleased an old woman greatly by doing two things at once. You have restored my house and you have fallen in love and made a baby. I couldn't ask for more. Let's pick a date when things are wrapped up and have a nice old fashioned wedding."

Ceci kissed my cheek and said, "Kirk, this is just a trick. She knows how these projects drag out and is using my baby timeline to force completion."

We hugged each other and said to Mely, "A very nice trick."

The next few weeks were a blur. Rumors about the coal room got out and the town paper ran a feature with pictures and quotes from Amelia about great grandfather's smarts in picking the house site. The original plans for the second floor bedroom were abandoned because of all the people coming by for a look. The client decided, racing nature's timeline for two mothers-to-be, that the whole restoration was the priority. The debriefings from each busy day's work took place mostly in the hot tub.

One still warm evening in early October, a naked Amelia fixed me with a fierce eye and said, "Kirk, it's time for some commitments. And I don't mean the kind you males just shrug off, leaving your women crying."

Ceci, who had bigger boobs, but otherwise wasn't showing yet, had hold of a limp item that wasn't staying limp. "Pay attention," she warned, "or else."

I reached for the client, but she sat up on the edge of the tub and said, "It has been decided that the marriage will occur on the Saturday after Thanksgiving. The bride will be four months pregnant and still able to get into her dress. The ceremony will be at the Unitarian Church, for family only. The reception will be here and will be a joint celebration of the marriage and the restoration project. Ceci and I have been working on the guest list, and it looks like over five hundred."

She continued, more fiercely than before, "The premises are to be completed and all construction materials removed. The press has got wind of this and will be onsite in force. Your reputation is on the line. The client is not to be embarrassed!"

I gave her my toughest contractor look and said, "Come Here."

She fell into my arms, stiff as a board. Must be worried about pulling it all off, I thought to myself.

Ceci wrapped us in a towel as I carried the weeping client to the kitchen and sat with her tightly clenched to me.

"Amelia, you are the world's finest client. Every single person on the project is proud to work for you. The restored Cartright House is going to be famous and so is the owner. Your schedule will be met."

"Oh Kirk, this is so much more than I ever imagined when I thought about fixing the house!"

THREE YEARS LATER

I sat on the ground with two little demons trying to knock me down. "I want to go first!" screamed Jose. "No, me first!" screamed Maryann.

"First one in their harness goes first," I said firmly, like a dad is supposed to.

The small bodies twisted and squirmed as they wrestled with straps and buckles. They both landed in my arms at the same time. "A tie! A tie!"

"Ok, who was first yesterday?"

Maryann glumly admitted she had been first the day before, so I clipped Jose into the cable coming from the tree house and signaled to Ceci, who was smiling down from the platform. With a quiet whir, the truck winch I had installed drew the arm waving child upward, the safety latch clicking as the cable wound.

The architect and I still shared a joint office in the big house, but lived in the back wing of the guesthouse. It was snug for three, and even snugger for four, when Amelia, who was now called Grandma by the children, joined us for dinner and a warm bed afterwards. The contractor was very circumspect about his behavior around small kids, as was Carlos. The Sotos occupied the other wing of the guesthouse and presided over the most famous B&B in the foothills.

Mely joined me on the grass, her arm squeezing tightly. "Kirk, you are still putting first things first, spending time with them."

"The client wouldn't permit anything else, would she?" I answered.