Page 100 of The Summer Swap

“That was one of the reasons you left in such a hurry?”

“Yes. I’d recently found out that Cameron hadn’t sold this place. I no longer trusted that he’d destroyed the painting. Given that Jeff was asking about it, I needed to find out for myself.”

Kristen shook her head. “And he hadn’t.”

“No. And I don’t understand why. That part is still a mystery, and always will be.”

“I don’t think it’s a mystery,” Todd said. “The painting is yours. He loved you and he loved the painting. Why else would he have kept it hanging here in pride of place? He didn’t want to destroy it. He couldn’t bring himself to do it. It meant something to him. To both of you.”

“Todd’s right,” Kristen said. “Dad was sentimental. Think about his office—every surface is covered in family photos and bits and pieces that the two of you picked up on your travels. He would never have destroyed anything as beautiful and important as that painting. And I’m glad he didn’t. It’s precious, Mom, not just because it plays a part in your history but because it’s a wonderful painting.”

“There’s one thing I don’t understand.” Todd leaned forward. “Why is this Jeff person so interested? Why does it even matter? It’s not as if you sold it and passed it off as an original Cameron Lapthorne. No crime was committed.”

“That’s true,” Cecilia said, “but if the story had come out it would have damaged your grandfather’s reputation. His integrity. It still would.”

Todd reached for the coffeepot and poured it into mugs. “But even if he saw the painting, which he won’t, he has no way of proving Grandpa didn’t paint it.”

“Not for sure, no. I’m the only person who knows the truth. And now you do, too, of course.” Cecilia felt a flicker of anxiety. “I should probably do what Cameron was supposed to do and destroy the painting. That would put an end to it.”

“No!” Lily half rose to her feet. “You can’t do that. And everything you say makes sense—that it never had any real impact on Cameron’s career. That part of its history isn’t important. It’s done and in the past. But the painting is special.”

“I agree. It would be criminal to destroy it.” Kristen finally voiced her thoughts. She had so many questions she wanted to ask, but one stood out. “Why didn’t you paint more yourself? You clearly had a future if you’d wanted one. Your work was the one they picked as the winner of that exhibition.”

“Art isn’t only about painting, as I suspect Lily has discovered over the past week.” Cecilia smiled at Lily. “There are many ways of expressing yourself creatively. When we bought Lapthorne Manor, I started experimenting with the gardens and treated the land around the house as my canvas. I found it more thrilling than painting because it changed constantly. I designed those gardens from scratch, and I had as much satisfaction from planting the borders as I ever did painting a canvas. More, in fact because the garden was alive. Living art. I was able to watch it change with the seasons and the years.”

“The gardens are spectacular.” She hadn’t ever thought of them as art. But they were, of course, she could see that now.

And she realized how much she had to learn about her mother. She’d made so many assumptions, and so many of them had been false. And perhaps the biggest assumption was that her mother didn’t care about her.

Her mother cared deeply, which was one of the reasons she’d kept so much of this from her. But Kristen wished she’d known. Maybe it would have been painful to hear the truth, but she would rather that than not having the full picture.

She glanced across the table at her son, and decided that she was going to be honest with him about the situation with Theo. And she was going to call Hannah. She was going to try and help them to understand but not today, because she needed to rest and make the most of this time with her mother.

She’d called her mother out of desperation, never expecting to be offered comfort or sanctuary and yet here she was being given both. Another example of life taking an unexpected direction.

Her marriage might be imploding, but there were other relationships that were important to her. Other relationships that she needed to nurture.

Her mother smiled at her across the table and Kristen smiled back.

The past was behind them, and it was up to them to mold the future. The potential for a good relationship was right there in front of them.

All they had to do was take it.

20

Lily

“We should have made this bed wider.” Lily was conscious that Todd’s elbow was jamming into the wall. It wasn’t the best sleeping arrangement for him. His shoulders were too broad and his legs too long, but somehow he’d managed to fold himself around her. “We planned this room for grandchildren.”

“I am a grandchild.”

She laughed and buried her face in his chest to muffle the sound. “You’re about six feet longer than the version we were thinking of when we designed it.”

“If we snuggle close together it’s positively roomy.” Todd shifted and pulled her against him. “This could fast become my first choice of sleeping position.”

“Me, too.” She curved her arm around him and found that her head fitted perfectly against the muscle of his shoulder. “What a day.”

“I know. I still haven’t got my head around the fact Nanna painted The Girl on the Shore.”

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