Hamish had brought her out of her shell for a few years, and given her extraordinary opportunities, an amazing career, and two beautiful children. But the die was cast now that he was gone. Antonia was invisible again. It made Jake sad for her as he drove back to the city. He wondered if she’d ever come out of seclusion again.
Chapter 16
Haven Farm was just what Antonia had needed to start a new life in the States with her children. She had bought some beautiful early American pieces to furnish it, and kept it simple. It was a home where one lived outside a great deal. Dash and Olympia were still babies, but they wouldn’t be for long. She was going to buy horses for them when they were older, and sign them up at the private school in the area. She could envision her life there for a long time, until she was old herself. She had hired a housekeeper, a maid, and brought the nanny with her, and there was a team of people to care for the grounds under a property manager who came with the house.
Fred Warner was discouraged when he came to see it.
“You’re burying yourself alive out here,” he complained to her, just as Jake had said. “Hamish gave you a fabulous acting career. Are you really going to throw that away?”
“It was never what I wanted to do. It was his dream for me, not mine. I’m not going to just sit here and pick apples off the trees. I’m going to write, and if you help me put a picture together one day, I’d like to direct too. Hamish was the finest director I’ve ever seen. I learned a lot from him, not just about acting.”
“Show me what you can do, and I’ll put it together for you. I don’t want you to sit and rot out here. You’re too young to give up a career and just raise two kids. Hamish wouldn’t have wanted that for you.”
“I did the acting for him, because he wanted me to. I’m going to do the writing for me, and make him proud of me too. I just don’t want to be in front of the camera, or out in the world, showing off in evening gowns and high heels on the red carpet.” She had hated that, even with him at her side.
“You look damn good in them. Let’s not go all Daisy Mae just because you bought a farm, please.” Fred rolled his eyes and she laughed.
“I have an idea for a screenplay, Fred. Give me some time to get settled here, and see what I can do.”
“I’ll be at my desk, waiting for the phone to ring,” he said, waving one of his Cuban cigars at her.
“I’ll call you. I promise. And come out and visit us.”
“There’s too much fresh air out here. It makes me nervous. But yes, I’ll come to visit. I want to see you and the kids.” He was still heartbroken about Hamish. They both were. And she was only just beginning to feel like herself a year later. It had been the worst blow of her entire life.
* * *
—
She had hired some of the staff who had worked on the farm before. It was a very large, luxurious property, and needed experienced high-end maintenance. She had kept the two men in the stables, who were going to help her buy horses. She wanted the children to ride when they got older. There was a housekeeper to clean the house, with a maid who was a young local girl. She already had the nanny for Dash and Olympia she’d brought from England, and there were people to take care of the grounds, run by the efficient property manager. It was all she needed for now. And she felt safe here. It was a wholesome little community, although she rarely left the property. People were curious about her, once they knew she was there.
She had a view of the lake from her new office window, and she had just sat down at her desk on a sunny May morning to work on the screenplay she had told Fred about when she saw a battered pickup truck pull up, and a woman get out. Antonia had no idea who she was. She was wearing a short, tight black skirt and a low-cut blouse you could see through. She had thick, long dark hair that looked like it was dyed black, and she was mincing across the gravel in high heels that made it hard to negotiate as she got to the front door. Antonia wondered what she wanted, if she was selling something, and then forgot about it and started writing at her desk, and two minutes later the housekeeper knocked on her office door.
“There’s a woman who wants to see you,” she said simply, and Antonia tried not to look annoyed. She missed the efficiency of Margaret and Brigid in London, but she didn’t need them. The housekeeper she’d hired locally was of a different caliber. She had worked for the previous owners for years.
“Do you know who she is?” Antonia asked her.
“No. She didn’t say.” Antonia had the feeling she was selling something and didn’t want to deal with her, but the housekeeper didn’t seem to be equal to the task, so she got up from her desk and ran rapidly down the stairs. She wanted to get back to work. She was excited to be writing again. It made her feel free. She could do whatever she wanted.