Restoring Grace (45 page)

‘Then you can be my apprentice. I probably
won't let
you actually touch anything for a
while, but you can make
yourself
useful, watch what I do, and eventually, I might
let you do a little
scraping off glue from the backs of paintings. Under strict supervision of
course.’

A flicker of optimism the size of a birthday
candle lit itself in her heart.

‘But I thought you didn't want me!' She put
down the cloth and wiped her hands on her jeans.

‘Oh, I do want you,' he said softly, 'but
possibly not in the way you want me.’

Ellie lowered her eyes,
which was unfortunate because
her gaze landed on the zip of his
jeans, which was not what she needed just now when she was trying to hold
herself together. She was dumped, she knew that; he'd
made it perfectly clear. But she would see him again, and
even
if she ended up as his cleaning lady, that would be better than not seeing him.

He lifted her face so she had to look at him,
his hand
tender on her cheek. 'I want you to
come over a couple
of mornings a
week, do what I need doing, and study
what I'm doing.'

‘Of course. Anything.’

His eyebrow flickered. 'I
will pay you the going rate,
of course.'

‘
Oh no! I'll do it for the
pictures. You're restoring them.'

‘
Sweetheart, you could redecorate my house from top to bottom, and clean
it with your toothbrush, and you
couldn't pay
me for restoring the paintings. I'm doing
that because they are very
beautiful and very precious and possibly a great contribution to the artistic
world.'
He paused. 'And Grace might be able
to pay me if she
sells them.'

‘
So why do
you want me – to come and be your appren
tice?' she added after only the tiniest hiccup of hesitation.
'Not many people understand how something that
can
seem mind-numbingly boring is in fact incredibly impor
tant. I need someone who is painstaking and
careful and
pays enormous attention to detail. I've needed someone
for some time but haven't got anyone because there
aren't
many people I can stand being
around while I'm working.’

‘
Oh.'

‘
Yes, that
is a compliment, sort of. Now go and get your
stuff sorted out. I won't
be long.' Then he leant forward and kissed her nose.

She stood in the kitchen, immobile from every
sort of
emotional agony. Here is a man, she
fumed silently, whom
I have practically told in words of one syllable
that I will
go to bed and have mad
passionate sex with, and he kisses
my nose! As if I'm a kitten or
something!
indignant as she was, she
couldn't help feeling slightly
warmed by his gesture. It wasn't what she
wanted from him, but it was better than nothing. Even if he did see her as a
kitten, needing a saucer of milk, while she saw him as a sex god, at least he
responded to her in some way. And if she scraped off glue, or whatever he
wanted doing, she would at least see him from time to time.

‘You're a fool, Ellie Summers,' she told
herself as she stuffed her things into her bag. But the bubble of hope wouldn't
be suppressed.

*

It was only when they were nearly at Luckenham
House that Ellie thought it would be nice to ring Grace and tell
her she was arriving, so she turned on her mobile
phone.
'Six missed calls,' she said. 'Oh, they're from Grace.'

‘Beside herself' didn't really describe Grace
when she opened the door to Ellie. Flynn was in the background,
and Ellie had time to wonder why and how long he'd
been there before she realised how Grace was
feeling. She
almost feared that
without a restraining presence, Grace
might have flown at her like a
feral cat — terrified, but still damaging.

‘The paintings! They've been stolen!' she
wailed, her hands in her hair, her eyes wild.

‘Let them get through the door,' murmured
Flynn. 'We can't have this scene on the doorstep. There isn't room.'

‘And the paintings haven't been stolen,' said
Ran. 'I've got them.'

‘
What?' Grace turned to him. 'Who are you?’

Shortage of sleep, an
emotional rollercoaster worthy of Alton Towers, and the conviction that her
only asset had
been taken from her, had affected Grace's
memory.

‘I'm Randolph Frazier. I'm a picture
conservator. I'm going to restore the paintings for you.'

‘
But I can't
afford for you to do that! Ellie's going to
do it.' Grace was still distraught. It took Flynn's hand on
her
arm and firm voice to calm her.

‘Let's go into the kitchen. We can discuss
what's happened or what should happen in there.'

‘It's OK,' said Ellie. 'Really it is. I'm sorry
about the paintings, but Ran insisted they shouldn't stay here another night.'

‘They were deteriorating rapidly,' he said from
behind Grace's head as they trooped to the kitchen.

‘None of this is anything like as bad as you've
been fearing, Grace,' said Flynn. 'Trust me.’

In a very confusing, frightening world, Grace
realised that she did do that.

Ellie went to make hot
drinks, as the situation seemed
to
demand the rituals. Flynn sat Grace down at the table.
Ran sat
next to her.

‘
I realise
it must have been a dreadful shock to find the
paintings gone,' he said.

‘
I should cocoa,' muttered Flynn, who was
hovering. 'But I felt I had to get them out of here as soon as
possible,' went on
Ran. 'They've already got dry rot in
 
the
top and it spreads, rapidly.'

‘
Tell me
about it,' said Grace, putting her elbows on
the table and hiding behind her hands. 'Thirty thousand
pounds
is what I'm going to have to pay to have it put right. It's as much as a
house.'

‘
No,' said Flynn, 'but it's quite a good car.’

Grace opened her eyes and regarded him. He
seemed to be being flippant again.

‘Anyway,' said Flynn. 'Much as I would like to
discuss fine art, now that your pictures have turned up safely I have got to
go.' He learnt over the table, ruffled the back
of Grace's head and kissed her cheek. 'I'll give you a ring
later, my love.' He raised his hand to the others.
'See you!'
Then he left kitchen.

Grace knew she was blushing. She could feel it,
and even if she couldn't, she could tell by the way the other two were looking
at her. She missed Flynn and cursed him in the same thought. If he'd wanted to
inform the
world that they had slept
together it might have been less embarrassing if he'd just said, 'By the way,
in case you're
wondering, Grace and I have done it.' What he'd done
instead was so much more intimate. And the
endearment
melted her heart.

Grace took a breath. 'The paintings . . .' she
said at random, with no idea what she was going to say about them.

Fortunately for Grace, Demi appeared. She
looked as ruffled and sleepy as a toddler picked up out of a cot. What's going
on?' she said.

As Grace had a very confused expression, Ellie
took over. 'Demi! What happened to you? Are you all right? Your face!'

‘
I cut it when I fell over,' said Demi.

‘
Yes,' said Grace,
pulling herself together. 'How are
you? Have you got a headache?'

‘A bit.' Demi frowned at Ran, confused. 'Sorry,
should I know you?'

‘No,' said Ran firmly. 'I am not generally
considered
someone that young women in
oversized T-shirts should
know.'

‘
Don't
tease her, Ran! She's been ill!' said Ellie, jealous
of this flirtatious
remark. 'Let me make you something, Dem.'

‘
There's no bacon,' said
Grace. 'But there are some eggs.’

‘
There is bacon,' said Ellie. 'I got some a couple of days
ago.'

‘
We ate it,' said Grace, trying not to blush all
over again.
'Oh.' Ellie continued to rummage in the refrigerator.

‘We've got
lots of milk, you could have cereal.'

‘Mrs Ravenglass
. . .' began Ran, not wanting to be party to a conversation about Coco Pops.

‘
Grace, please,' said Grace.

‘
The
paintings. I think I should tell you, I consider them
to be very fine.
I'm not an expert about value, of course,
but
they should definitely go to an auction house or some
thing to be
properly valued.'

‘Was it really necessary to take them away?'
asked Grace. 'It was a bit of a shock to see them missing like
that.' She frowned; she'd suffered so many shocks
in such
a short time she seemed to have lost her ability to form proper
sentences.

‘It must have been, and I'm terribly sorry, but
I could do very little with them in situ, and the dry rot situation
can't be ignored. Until that's fixed, you couldn't
really
put them back again.'

‘I'm going to have to sell them anyway, I
think.'

‘It seems a shame. After all, they've obviously
been in the house a very long time, and were possibly painted here. That's
where they should stay.'

‘But I need money to pay for the dry rot,' said
Grace. 'And the insurance would be astronomical,' agreed Ran. 'What sort of
security system do you have here?'

‘Minimalist?' suggested Demi, who, after a few
spoons of sugar-coated puffed rice, seemed to have perked up quite a lot.

‘Which isn't a problem if the paintings aren't in
the house,' said Ellie, wondering about Ran's own locks and bolts.

‘
The thing
is, I can't pay you,' said Grace. 'At least, not
until I sell the
paintings.'

‘I'd do them for nothing—' began Ran.

‘I'm going to be his apprentice,' announced
Ellie.

‘
So I'm perfectly
happy to wait for a bit for any money,'
Ran continued. 'Now, if you're quite happy for me to
have the paintings and to do what I can to
preserve them,
I'll go.’

Grace was finding it hard to think straight.
She didn't know if she was happy or not. Supposing he left the
country with them and she never saw them again?
Unable
to express these fears, she said, 'As you've already got them,
and I know nothing about picture restoration, I
suppose I am happy.' She gave him a rueful smile. 'But
I don't
know very much about you, either.'

‘
I could
give you some references, if it would make you
happier. I have worked
for some quite major museums and stately homes. These places can't afford their
own conservation studios in the way they once could.’

Grace's earlier doubts faded to nothing. 'I
don't need references. I trust you.'

‘That's good,' said Ran. 'Without being too
modest, I
am the best.' He smiled, and
Grace realised why Ellie had
chosen
this man to have a last fling with: he was gorgeous.

Ellie got up. 'I'll see you out.'

‘There's no need.'

‘But I must!'

‘
No, you mustn't. I'll give
you a ring in a couple of
days and arrange about you coming.’

Then he was gone. The three women who lived in
Luckenham House watched the space he had left by the door for a few seconds,
each drawing breath to question
the others
about what had happened to all of them since they were last together, but
before any of them could say
a word they heard voices and footsteps
coming along the corridor.

‘Oh fuck!' breathed Demi as the kitchen door
opened. 'It's Mum!’