Kate and Bill felt good - They had just bought their first home; and today was moving day. At the end of a long leafy lane, they had found the old house for sale, and they’d fallen in love at first sight. They both had that strongest of feelings that this was the home for them. The location on the edge of a beautiful lake something they had dreamt of but never thought they would ever achieve.

Kate reached across and squeezed Bill's leg, he looked across and smiled back.“You excited?”

“Are you kidding?” she responded, a huge grin on her face. She looked into the cat box sitting on her lap.

“See! Gizmo can’t wait!” she giggled as Gizmo, their elderly cat, snored gently in her blanket.

The convoy drew to a halt outside the new home. Dappled sunlight, filtering through the trees, played on the veranda as they wearily emerged from the car. Shattered, Bill stretched his aching muscles and sighed contentedly as a grebe called from somewhere far across the lake.

Bill grabbed Kate by the hand and they walked across to the front door. He took the tagged key from his pocket, unlocked the door, pushed it open, then stooped and lifted Kate into his arms.

“I love you!” He whispered as he carried her across the threshold. He gently set her down and they looked around. Motes of dust danced in the occasional beam of sunlight that fell through the shuttered windows.

“I’ll open a few windows” Kate laughed as she saw a fleeting look of distaste cross Bill’s face. She walked over to the nearest window and opened it and the shutters. Light flooded in, and the scratchy sound of tiny mouse footfall briefly interrupted the silence.

“Hmmm… I think Gizmo will have to come out of retirement for a while!”, said Bill as he wandered across to the kitchen. Entering, he felt a warmth and the faintest of touches on his shoulder, but looking around he saw nothing except for a beautiful glass figurine on the window sill, her broken arm beside her on the sill. Wishing it hadn’t been broken, and thinking how much Kate would love it, he made a mental note to look for the glue.

Moving across to the sink he idly turned the old brass tap. At first it produced only a hiss and a cough of dust, but then a splutter and then a steady stream of crystal clear water, drawn from the well that supplied the house.

“Ooooh! Is that you filling the kettle?” shouted Kate from the lounge, “mine’s a coffee!”.

Minutes later, still chuckling and carrying two steaming mugs of coffee, Bill returned to the lounge to find Kate sweeping whilst orchestrating delivery men and their furniture.

“That goes in the bedroom please, right of the window! Dining room… Opposite the door!”

Bill marvelled at woman’s innate capacity to remember and to plan the minutiae of home building… especially as their one and only viewing had been just a fleeting visit some 3 months before.

“You’re amazing… do you know that!” he chuckled as he delivered the mug to her outstretched hand.

“That’ll be why you married me!” she grinned cheekily, taking the offered cup.

Bill walked out onto the veranda, and looked out across the lake. The last of the days heat warmed his skin and he felt so comfortable and at home.

“BILL‼‼‼‼”

Her scream instantly dragged him from his reverie and he ran inside. His pulse racing, he frantically looked around to see what had happened. As he ran into the kitchen he found his wife, who ran and threw her arms around him.

“You shouldn’t have!” She shouted excitedly.

Confused, he asked “What? Shouldn’t have what?”

“I’ve always wanted a Lalique! and it's an early one! look! 1914! How on earth did you manage to afford it?” She beamed as she held out the figurine, now somehow completely intact and flawless.

The warmth enveloped him again. “Tell her it’s a welcome from the house” whispered a female voice in Bill's head. Then a male voice continued

“We've been guiding you to our home, no - YOUR home, to repay a kindness your great grandfather paid me during the great war. Without him I would have undoubtedly died and I'd like you to consider this gift just a small payment in return”.