My own real-life palace on a hill that overlooked a beautiful valley down below. It was surrounded by nature's beauty outside and full of grandeur and elegance inside.
I'd been like a kid at Disney Land when I first saw this place, and when he gave me the keys and a black card with no limit and orders to fit the place out as I'd like, I'd almost died on the spot. It was like everything I'd ever wished for handed to me at once. As if he'd reached into my heart and mind and found the best of what I kept hidden there and given it to me without question.
I didn't want the help of a professional. I'd known almost all my life what period pieces I'd want in my home, what fixtures for the bathrooms etc. The fact that my new home was almost three times the size of my imaginary abode didn't throw me off one bit. In fact, I accepted the new challenge with vigor and jumped right in while my new husband went back to work.
I remember the many hours spent choosing just the right colors and materials, the best furnishings even down to the fourteen-carat gold cutlery that had been imported from Italy as a surprise for me. There wasn't one spot in the whole place that hadn't felt my touch hadn't been taken over by us because as much as the place looked like a showpiece, I wanted it to feel like our home, and it had.
Now it looked as if he'd gutted it and replaced everything that held any semblance of my touch, any reminders of me ever having been here. We reached the great room where Cadmus walked over to a chair near the unlit fireplace. He glanced my way once before turning his head to look down at our sons. If he noticed my distress, he didn't mention it and didn't seem to care.