Cherrywood Manor: Part Four (special preview)

The interior of the manor was not Lydia’s only focus. What she had originally intended was for the renovations to begin on the exterior of the home. She had plans for the roof, repainting, repairing several of the windows and their frames, as well as replacing the doors and completely redoing the front porch. It was these attempts that got her into trouble with her neighbors to begin with. Not that they liked her much as it was, but for some reason, they felt so strongly about a house that wasn’t their own. Most of the houses near Cherrywood were also Victorian relics, and most had been owned by the same family for generations. These were family lines Lydia was seen as not being part of. She was not part of their clique.

Years ago, when Lydia had first moved in with her soon to be husband, she tried to make friends with her neighbors. She attempted to take part in their activities and their way of life. But she was given a cold shoulder enough times to take the hint, so she left them to their reindeer games. Renovating the house was also to spite her neighbors just as much as her dead husband. They would look at her beautiful home and know she was there. They couldn’t get rid of her anymore.

Knox had thought ahead, since they were bringing in the floors and chucking out the old, he ordered the supplies to put in the doors Lydia had gotten. He figured it would be best to tear out the old, throw out all the floor and bring in the new, without worrying about scuffing or struggling to get through the doors. Lydia was so excited, it would be the first glimmer of change. The door was totally unsullied by thoughts of her husband. She would see it every day and have a sense of accomplishment.

The crew installed the door as soon as they could so they could start working on the flooring. Lydia stared at the door with awe. The old door was solid wood with iced glass surrounding it. She had always hated that door.

Now, she had french doors that were almost all entirely glass save for the wrought iron that looked like ivy vines crawling up along the glass. The glass itself was fractales, appearing very much like opal of diamonds, and when light hit them, they cast rainbows everywhere. The doors had been taken from an even older house and restored. She had one a bloody bidding war to get these doors.

“You seem awfully proud about some doors, Ms. Cherrywood.” Naoki was getting something to drink while Asher and Knox argued over how to set up the heated floor system.

Lydia just smiled. “It’s not just a door, Naoki. It’s so much more than that.” She then frowned as she saw the outline of someone coming up her front stairs. “Crap, someone is here.” She turned to Naoki. “Go on back to work. I’m not paying you to dawdle.” She smoothed out her clothes and fluffed up her hair as the doorbell rang. She prepared herself, getting ready to pretend to be cordial when really, she just wanted to be left alone.

Upon opening the door Lydia saw one of her neighbors. The woman was the ‘head’ of everything in the neighborhood. And while there was no HOA to be spoken of, this woman always enforced things like there was.

“Oh, hello there Gwen.” Lydia expertly his her disgust. “What a surprise!”

Gwen was also good at hiding her disgust. She smiled like the good little poster child for uniformity she was. “Hello, Linda, how are you? I see you’re still getting some work done!”

Lydia’s stomach sank and she bit down onto the side of her tongue. “It’s Lydia.”

Gwen threw her head back. “Oh my goodness! I can’t believe I did that!” She chortled along. “I see you have a new door.”

“For my home, yes, I have a door.” Lydia posed her hands like Vanna White showing off a letter.

Gwen was peering inside upon hearing noises from within the house. Lydia stepped further into her line of vision and Gwen tilted her head to the side with a renewed smile on her face. “I wasn’t aware you were still doing your renovations.”

Lydia leaned in the doorframe. “I am! I wasn’t aware it was supposed to be common knowledge.”

“Well, it would have been nice to alert your neighbors so they could have prepared for any and all noise,” Gwen kept a chuckle in her overly produced voice.

Lydia breathed in deep, holding that heavy breath there like the white hot rage vibrating off her bones. “They didn’t seem to mind when I used to scream at night.”

Gwen’s smile faltered ut it came back just as strong and she laughed. “Oh Lydia, you’re so funny.”

It wasn’t a joke, but Lydia didn’t have time to tell her that. “Listen, I’m busy. I have to make lunch and oh look-” She glanced to he bare wrist. “My time is just running out.”

Gwen stepped forward. “What happened to the old door? It was so beautiful.”

Lydia’s pressed into a thin line then curled at the edges to make a mocking smile. “I donated it.”