Eventually, Hannah and Jemima’s incivility wore down Jonas and Mariah. Jonas was desperate to talk with Mariah alone, and she felt the same, but the girls clung to Mariah’s skirts as they walked through the house. Jonas was quite proud of the work they had accomplished and was confident that the house would be ready for occupancy by the end of August. Thanks to the zeal of the townsfolk and their extraordinary skills, Jonas told Mariah, the house would be finished ahead of schedule. He now needed to travel to the city and advertise it.
Mariah agreed with him but with hesitation, while Hannah and Jemima suddenly smiled up at him and asked to hear more about his plans. For the moment, they entertained the hope that he would go to the city and not come back. They knew anything could happen in the city or on the way there or on the way back. Mariah noticed the girls’ uplift in spirits as did Jonas. They shared a look of concern, and then Mariah said they had to take their leave of Jonas. He watched them until they disappeared into the wood, and then turned back to the house.
Three men had returned to putting the finishing touches on the master bedroom closet that Jonas had converted to a small bathroom. He had had the closets in the other bedrooms converted into baths as well. The house had been confused by these renovations but trusted Jonas in his decisions. If it made someone want to live in it again, the house would accept it. It already felt much younger and more vital.
And as it watched Mariah and Jonas fall in love, it began to suggest to Jonas that perhaps he should live in the house . . . with Mariah. Jonas had pretended to ignore these hints, but the house knew—it had come to know him well—that he heard and that he was receptive. After all he had done, could he really expect himself to give up the house to some strangers, no matter how good their reputation?
But the house was also troubled by Hannah and Jemima’s behavior. It sensed their animosity toward Jonas and worried over their apparent desire to separate Jonas and Mariah. The house could not let them do that. For it to feel complete, it needed Jonas and Mariah to marry and live in it. They had to have children, at least five, hopefully three boys and two girls. They had to be like the Kindfellows.
They had to, in a sense, become the Kindfellows. And the house could not let Hannah and Jemima interfere. It would not make the same mistake again. First, allowing the best and dearest friend of Mr. Kindfellow to enter the house and then slaughter the family. And then Its failure to protect Shelley Windsprite.
It had been planning to either frighten or harm the callow youth who had squatted in it. And during its planning it had turned a cold ear to the cries of the young woman, assuming that the debauchery was consensual. It had made an assumption that it would later regret. Its sentient spirit had a human aspect—it made mistakes.
