Choose your bed

Emily hopped down the stairs with one of Faith's old dolls in her arms. "Faith, can I play with it?"

“Of course,” she nodded, “you can use any of the toys upstairs in the room. There's more in the attic, we can go up and take a look in the next few days. "

Emily hugged the doll with satisfaction. "Thank you."

"I can see you seem to like it here," smiled Molly, stroking Emily's head affectionately.

Emily beamed. "I can live in Faith's room," she announced happily.

"It's the nicest room in the whole house," smiled Molly, then turned to Faith. "That means you need some more furniture."

“Yes,” Faith nodded, “not much, but at least a bed and a chest of drawers or a wardrobe. I'll be moving into Mom's little sewing room while I'm here. "

"We still have a bed in our attic, and you have to go to Penzance for the rest of the things," Polly said. She looked at Lucian questioningly. "Dr. Clarke, when is your furniture coming? "

“I'm just bringing my desk. Everything else is already there, all I really need is some furniture for my bedroom, ”he said with a shrug.

"Why don't you go to Penzance together?" Suggested Molly at once. "You could have a look around, we'll take care of Emily and talk to Shane in the meantime."

"Yeah sure, why not," Lucian agreed. "I still have a few things to do anyway."

Faith glared at her aunt; she didn't like the idea of buying bedroom furniture with Lucian Clarke, of all things.

"I'd rather talk to Shane myself," she said hastily, "and I'm in no rush with the furniture."

"As you like, dear," Molly sighed, and Faith had a vague idea why her aunt sounded so disappointed. "We'll take Emily over there anyway, so you'll have a little rest."

A little later, Polly and Molly disappeared with Emily.

"Are you sure you don't want to go?" Asked Lucian.

"No thanks."

"What a shame. It would have been more entertaining for two. "

Faith gave him a frosty look. "I am sure that you can choose your bed very well by yourself."

He laughed softly. "Of course I can, I know what to look out for."

"I take my word for it," she replied dryly, trying to ignore the rising heat inside. "Then don't let me stop you, have fun trying it out."

She turned around quickly and went into the study while he looked after her smiling and finally left the house whistling happily.

The craftsmen arrived the next day. Faith had quickly come to an agreement with Shane; they knew each other from before, and he had given her a good price for the renovation.

While he and his coworkers were busy with work around the house, Faith began going through the papers in her father's study.

She sat at his old desk and struggled through the mountains of files and papers. Elliott Havering had always been overly correct and meticulous in his doctoral duties, but he had always been at loggerheads with office work and paperwork. When Faith and before that her mother had still supported him, the confusion had been tolerable, but now the entire office was in an absolutely chaotic state.

Around noon, Polly and Molly showed up with Lucian. They'd been out together to register Emily for school, and the little one had stayed right there to meet the other children. The two older women had taken the opportunity to show Lucian around St. Albury.

"Faith, dear, we brought lunch," Polly called from the hall.

Sighing, she got up and went over to the kitchen. “Thank you, that's nice of you. I completely forgot the time in all the chaos.

"Sounds like you're not doing very well," said Molly.

"You know my father," Faith grimaced, "I'm afraid I'll be sitting here for Christmas."

"We kept telling Elliott to hire a clerk, but he steadfastly refused," Polly said, shrugging. Then she turned to Lucian. "Dr. Clarke, I don't envy you, you have a fair amount of work to do. "

"I know I admired the somewhat unconventional filing system on my first visit," Lucian smiled. "I need an office assistant anyway, maybe I'll be lucky and find someone who would also be willing to put the whole thing in order."

Polly gave her sister a meaningful look. “Faith, you could be Dr. Help Clarke, "she suggested eagerly. "Nobody knows your father's office as well as you do, and you supported him in practice back then."

Faith noticed that Lucian's gray eyes suddenly looked at her very attentively and interested, and she could have strangled her aunt.

“I'm sorry, but you can't. When Dr. Clarke has any questions, I'll be more than happy to help while I'm here, but nothing more, ”she said defensively.

"You should think about it again," Polly insisted, "then at least you would have a job that you enjoy, at least until you've decided what to do next."

"Can we leave that subject, please?" Faith asked angrily.

"It's okay," said Lucian soothingly. “I've already posted an ad in the Albury Guardian, I'm sure someone will be found. Until then I'll have to somehow cope on my own. "

"Well, then everything is cleared up," Faith commented coolly, and resolved to have a word with her aunts.

It was perfectly clear to her what the two of them were up to, and she didn't like being touted by them like Lucian Clarke's rotten fruit. The whole situation was uncomfortable enough without him getting the impression that she needed a man so badly that her aunts had to sort it out for her.

"By the way, I found a strange entry in one of Father's bank statements," Faith now changed the subject. "A few weeks ago there was an incoming payment of 125,000 pounds - do you happen to know what this is all about?"

The two older women exchanged a quick look with Lucian, who tried to look uninvolved.

"I have no idea, dear," said Molly, deliberately harmless. "Elliott didn't speak to us about his financial affairs."

"The money came from a CCR Foundation," said Faith, brooding. "I know that father worked in various organizations, but it seems a bit strange that he was paid such a large amount."

"Sometimes doctors receive endowment funds for research projects, and that's not unusual," Lucian explained casually.

Inwardly, he made three signs of the cross that he had not bought the house through his private account, but through his foundation.

"Oh." Faith looked at him thoughtfully. “Maybe I should call this organization then. If the money was prepayment, I'll have to give it back. "

“I can do that if you want. I know someone who works there, ”he offered hastily.

“Exactly, let Dr. Clarke do it best, ”Polly agreed. "Relationships are still the quickest way to sort things out."

Faith nodded. "All right, I'll give you the bank statement later."

At that moment Shane poked his head into the kitchen. “Faith? Could you please come We brought the bed upstairs and you have to tell me where to put it. "

She got up. "I'll be right back in the study and continue there," she said on the way out, "the sooner I finish the paperwork, the better."