Page 30 of Suzanna's Surrender
He’d loved his grandfather. These splotches of paint, more than the cabin itself, were memories. She reached a hand out for his, rising when their fingers linked. Then she saw the portrait.
The canvas was tilted against the wall, its frame old and ornate. The woman looked back at her, with eyes full of secrets and sadness and love.
“Bianca,” Suzanna said, and let her own tears come. “I knew he must have painted her. He’d have had to.”
“I wasn’t certain until I saw Lilah yesterday.”
“He never sold it,” Suzanna murmured. “He kept it, because it was all he had left of her.”
“Maybe.” He wasn’t entirely comfortable that the exact thought had occurred to him. “I’ve got to figure there was something between them. I don’t see how that helps you get any closer to the emeralds.”
“But you’ll help.”
“I said I would.”
“Thank you.” She turned to face him. Yes, he would help, she thought. He wouldn’t break his word no matter how much it annoyed him to keep it.
“The first thing I have to ask you is if you’ll bring the portrait to The Towers so my family can see it. It would mean a great deal to them.”
At Suzanna’s insistence, they took Sadie as well. She rode in the back of the pickup, grinning into the wind. When they arrived at The Towers, they saw Lilah and Max sitting out on the lawn. Fred, spotting the truck, tore across the yard then came to a stumbling halt when Sadie leaped nimbly out of the back.
Body aquiver, he approached her. The dogs gave each other a thorough sniffing over. With a flick of her tail, Sadie pranced across the yard. She sent Fred one come-hither look over her shoulder that had him scrambling after her.
“Looks like love at first sight for old Fred,” Lilah commented as she walked with Max to the truck. “We wondered where you’d gone.” She ran a hand down Suzanna’s arm, letting her know without words that she knew about the call from Bax.
“Are the kids around?”
“No, they went into the village with Megan and her parents to help Kevin pick out some souvenirs before they leave.”
With a nod, Suzanna took her hand. “There’s something you have to see.” Stepping back, she gestured. Through the open door of the truck, Lilah saw the painting. Her fingers tightened on her sister’s.
“Oh, Suze.”
“I know.”
“Max, can you see?”
“Yes.” Gently he kissed the top of her head and looked at the portrait of a woman who was the double for the one he loved. “She was beautiful. This is a Bradford.” He glanced at Holt with a shrug. “I’ve been studying your grandfather’s work for the past couple of weeks.”
“You’ve had this all along,” Lilah began.
Holt let the accusation in the tone roll off him. “I didn’t know it was Bianca until I saw you yesterday.”
She subsided, studying his face. “You’re not as nasty as you’d like people to think. Your aura’s much too clear.”
“Leave Holt’s aura alone, Lilah,” Suzanna said with a laugh. “I want Aunt Coco to see this. Oh, I wish Sloan and Mandy hadn’t left on their honeymoon.”
“They’ll only be gone two weeks,” Lilah reminded her.
Two weeks. Suzanna struggled to keep the smile in place as Holt carried the portrait inside.
The moment she saw it, Coco wept. But that was only to be expected. Holt had propped the painting on the love seat in the parlor, and Coco sat in the wing chair, drenching her handkerchief.
“After all this time. To have part of her back in this house.”
Lilah touched her aunt’s shoulder. “Part of her has always been in the house.”
“Oh, I know, but to be able to look at her.” She sniffled. “And see you.”
