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“What a lovely idea. It’s one of my favorite rooms,” Paula told her.
“Would you play, Grandma?”
She smiled at Anna. “I could be persuaded.”
“Why don’t we let the younger generation deal with that.” Corrine rose. “And I’ll start persuading. We know the way,” she said to Sonya.
Sonya got busy with the coffee. “I wasted a lot of nerves on tonight. You’ve got a great family.”
“We do, and the meal didn’t hurt. It was better than Mom’s, and if you tell her I said that,” Trey added, “I’ll sue you for slander.”
“Lips sealed. Oh God, Anna, that cake’s gorgeous.”
“Tastes even better,” Seth told her. “Do you want me to start on the dishes? I have experience.”
“And I may call on it before we’re done. But let’s leave all that for later, and keep this party rolling.”
As music drifted in, she glanced toward the doorway. “She really can play. It’s the first time I’ve heard the piano when I know someone’s playing it.”
“You hear piano music when there’s not?”
She shrugged at Seth. “Sometimes, late at night.”
A rich baritone joined the piano.
“That’s Ace.” Obviously familiar with the kitchen, the butler’s pantry, Anna got out cake plates, coffee cups, and saucers. “They’re a hell of a pair.”
Together, they loaded up the dessert cart—a first for Sonya.
When they rolled it into the music room, she saw dogs piled together at Deuce’s feet. Ace stood with his hand on his wife’s shoulder, singing “One for My Baby.”
When they finished, she applauded. “You’re hired!”
“Do you play, Sonya?”
Sonya shook her head as Paula played some sort of trill. “My mother plays—not like that, but she plays a little. When she tried to teach me, we both agreed my talents lay elsewhere.”
“Do one more before dessert,” Anna insisted. “Do ‘Embraceable You.’”
“Are you up for a duet, sweets?”
Paula glanced at Ace over her shoulder. “I could be persuaded.”
“I asked them to sing this at my wedding. Our first dance.”
“I’ve still got the moves.” Seth turned Anna into a dance.
“It meant the world to them to sing at Anna’s wedding,” Corrine murmured.
“Their voices just mesh, don’t they?”
“They do. Deuce grew up in a musical household. He can play, and he has a strong voice. I have no musical talent.”
“Yours lay elsewhere. In your photography, your family.”
“They do. Johanna played.”
Glancing over, Sonya saw Corrine studying the portrait. “You were friends.”
