Page 65 of Painted

NINETEEN

Early feltlike they’d witnessed something important as they’d stood in the doorway of Rhys’s studio, watching him process his grief through his art. It wasn’t a normal outburst of emotion, if there even was such a thing as a “normal” emotional outburst. By the time they returned to Rhys’s apartment, showered to get all the paint off, then collapsed into bed, Rhys was so exhausted that he fell into a deep sleep right away.

They both slept well into the morning, long past the time Early usually got up. That made both of them late for work, but fortunately, Janice was available to step in and teach Rhys’s first class of the day and Rebecca was able to handle the rush in the office before Early could pull themself together.

“I saw the painting,” Rebecca said when Early gave their excuses as they stumbled into the office around ten o’clock. The poignant look she gave them said far more about how she felt having viewed the painting than those few words could.

“Yeah, it was a busy night last night,” Early said, hoping their words said more than their expression as well.

No one in the rest of the family said anything about Rhys’s painting. Nobody asked questions about why Early moved theirthings out of Rafe’s apartment and back into Rhys’s by Tuesday afternoon either. On the one hand, everyone knew something profound had happened and that it wasn’t really any of their business. On the other, there was far too much work to do for the fundraiser for Early to begin to process all the monumental changes.

The days leading up to the fundraiser flew by in a whirlwind of preparation, decorating, and dealing with a dozen tradespeople and businesses who were offering goods and services for the silent auction, not to mention liaising with CADD.

By the time they finally reached Friday evening, Early didn’t even have time to stop and question whether they were capable of handling everything that needed to get done, they just did it.

“Good evening, Mr. Hollis, Mr. Plimpton,” they greeted the wily older gentleman from The Brotherhood who they’d met in the summer, when they’d helped to save Hawthorne House, and on that amazing first date with Rhys just the week before. “It’s so good to see you here this evening.”

That beautiful night felt like ages ago, but the gentlemen greeted Early as if they’d had lunch together that afternoon.

“We wouldn’t miss it for the world,” Mr. Plimpton said. “And I thought I told you to call me George.”

“I didn’t want to presume,” Early said, beaming.

“Presume away,” Benny told him, his expression bright with enjoyment. “That’s the only way any of us are going to get anywhere in this world.” He turned to the other gentlemen who had come in with him and said, “You remember Michael, Freddy, and Giovanni, don’t you?”

“I do,” Early said, shaking hands with each of the other men who had helped during the summer. “Welcome back to Hawthorne House. The event is being held in the dining room,but I can take your coats to the classroom we’ve designated as a coatroom for the night.”

“Don’t trouble yourself,” George waved his offer for help away. “Just show us the way and we can take care of ourselves.”

Early laughed, and since they knew better than to contradict a bunch of mischievous older men, most of whom had ancient family titles and more money than they could even comprehend, they headed down the hall, gesturing for the men of The Brotherhood to follow them.

A group of older kids from the local primary school were taking coats and hanging them on numbered hangers. As soon as the men from The Brotherhood saw them, the process of handing over coats turned into something that deserved its own comedy show. The older men were charming and funny as they interacted with the kids. Freddy pretended he couldn’t find his way out of his coat as two thirteen-year-old girls laughed uproariously at him, and Giovanni had a few of the others in stitches by pretending he only spoke Italian.

The whole thing made Early smile, and when they left the mad scene to find more hangers, they were buoyed by the positive energy that seemed to reverberate through the halls of Hawthorne House.

It wasn’t all delightful interactions between older and younger generations. Even though the guest list had been specific, more people showed up at Hawthorne House as they grew closer to starting the program that would honor Raina and Mariel Flint than had RSVPed. That meant there wasn’t quite enough wine to go around, and the chef they’d hired for the evening to run things, Leland, was struggling to keep up with demand.

“We’re completely out of smoked salmon,” Leland told Early amidst the din of clattering pots and things steaming on the hob when they went to check on the kitchen.

“I could possibly send someone out to fetch more,” Early said as they picked up a tray of finished canapes to take into the dining room.

“Not sure if there’s time,” Leland said. “Would you all be willing to settle for toast wedges with hummus? For some reason, you lot have an enormous amount of canned chickpeas in the pantry.”

Early laughed as they pushed their shoulder into the door to open it. “Whatever you can come up with, I’m sure the family will appreciate it. And then they’ll probably ask you to teach a cooking class as thanks.”

“I wouldn’t say no to that,” Leland said with a laugh as Early moved through the doorway and into the crowded dining hall.

Blaine and Baxter had done an amazing job of decorating the dining hall to look like some sort of posh dining room in a high-priced hotel. Every detail was perfect, from the cheerful lighting to the table arrangements to the way some of the artwork from the school was displayed on one side of the room with the items up for auction on the other side. Even the area that held a display talking about the work that the Campaign Against Drink Driving did was gorgeous and tasteful.

With all of that, Early’s eyes were drawn to the front of the room as they set their tray on one of the refreshment tables. At the front, past the dance floor that had been laid down and the area where the orchestra was tuning their instruments, two memorial displays had been erected, one for Raina and one for Mariel Flint. With all the taste and refinement that Blaine had used to decorate the hall in general, he’d worked the most amazing magic on those displays.

“I never thought I’d say this,” Nancy Flint surprised them, walking up to stand by Early’s side as the two of them studied the displays, “but that’s actually beautiful.”

Early turned away from the stylish flower arrangements and the happy portraits of each of the honorees to smile at Nancy. “I’ve always had complete faith in the Hawthorne family to make this a beautiful event,” they said.

Nancy nodded and drew in a breath, like she was having trouble keeping her emotions in check. “Mariel would have liked it, I think,” she said. “She always was one for big occasions like this. Anything that could bring people together, she was in favor of.”

Early smiled in surprise. Whether it was something the woman had worked through on her own or whether it was the magic of the Hawthorne family, Mariel appeared to have changed her mind. They stood taller and searched the room for Rhys, finding him talking with the representatives from CADD near the front of the room. Raina would have had the same reaction to the event as Nancy was saying Mariel would.

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