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“Everything Trey’s told me says they’d have been wonderful parents.”
“I’m sure of it.” Her mind in the past, Corrine turned her teacup in its saucer. “She was smart, funny, very, very independent, and more than opinionated on certain issues. Women’s rights, physical and emotional safety for children at the forefront. She and Collin fell in love gradually, a slow dance, and both of them were content to stay single. Deuce and I, it was bang, there you are, let’s get started.”
Laughing, she shook her head, sipped some tea. “But when they got there, it was solid and strong. The wedding was in late June, in the gardens. Everything blooming and beautiful. I didn’t realize she’d gone inside, gone upstairs. I’ll never know why she did. If I’d gone with her…”
“No.” Sonya reached out, laid a hand over Corrine’s. “You couldn’t have known.”
“We didn’t believe in curses. The hauntings? They simply were, and fascinating by and large. No one saw her fall. She was just… gone.”
“I’m so sorry.”
“It broke something in him, in Collin. In me, too, for a while. Then I saw her.”
“Here, in the manor?”
“Yes. In the music room where you put her portrait. I’d come to bring Collin some food, a week or so after her funeral. I went into the music room—we’d had good times there. I sat and cried for her, for Collin, for myself. And there she was, in the wedding dress I’d helped her pick out.
“She said, ‘Don’t cry anymore, Corry.’ She and Deuce are the only ones who’ve ever called me that. ‘I had love, and I still have love. Don’t let him stop living. Be here for him.’
“I said her name, and got up to go to her, but she was gone.”
“Did you ever see her again?”
“No, but I sometimes catch a trace of the perfume she liked, or just get a feeling. I know she’s here.”
Corrine sat back, lifted her hands. “I’m not a fanciful woman, but I know she’s here. Knowing that helped mend what broke in me. You finding her portrait, then putting it in that room, in that place? I have to believe that was meant.”
“I feel the same there. About both portraits. And now you’ve helped me really see her.”
“I think you’d have liked each other.” Corrine gestured toward the glass ball, the vase of flowers. “I know she’d have liked the little touches you and your friend bring to the manor.”
“I love this house. So does Cleo.”
“It shows.”
“Can I get you more tea?”
“No, but thanks. I’m glad you asked about Johanna, because you should know more about her. Now, I have to run a few errands before I head home. And,” she added as she rose, “I have some calls to make, a few arms to twist, and some planning to do.”
“If—Cleo says to say when. When I get this job,” Sonya said as she got up to walk Corrine out, “it’s going to be in very big part due to your photos.”
“Your concept, your design, but I’m not going to disagree the photos are going to matter.” She waited while Sonya got her coat. “So I’m going to make them damn good. I’ll be in touch.”
After she closed the door, Sonya did a quick happy dance that inspired Yoda to race in circles.
“I’m not going to jinx it, but I think our chances just went way up.”
As Clover played a happy tune from the library, Sonya grabbed a vest and a scarf to take Yoda for a walk.
No shadow today, she noted, and wondered who often stood there looking out.
Johanna? One of the other brides? Molly?
She could see Johanna now, beyond the portrait. She could see a woman who believed in herself, in looking out for others. She saw awoman who comforted a friend, and wanted the man she loved to go on living.
More good than bad, she thought again.
Looking over, she could see the back of the easel in Cleo’s front window. She kept Yoda close as she took a long look toward the Gold Room.
