Alice-Miranda In New York 5 (23 page)

‘Of course.' Cecelia looped her arm into Gerda's and the two women headed off towards the handbags.

‘Well, I think I should go and see how everyone else is getting on,' said Hugh before also making a retreat.

Alice-Miranda put an arm around Lucinda's shoulder. ‘Are you all right?'

Lucinda nodded.

‘Let's go upstairs,' the tiny child directed. ‘You simply have to see the toy emporium. It's amazing. There's a full-size tree house and fairies that fly too. And there's a pirate ship. You can go aboard and there are dress-up clothes and a huge box of treasures.'

‘Slow down, Alice-Miranda. I want to see the whole store. Remember, I've never been here
before.' Lucinda smiled and squeezed her friend's hand.

The four girls were about to head for the elevator when Quincy's palm hit her forehead. ‘Oh no!' she exclaimed.

‘What's wrong?' the trio asked.

‘Look up there.' Quincy pointed to the mezzanine level where Granma Clarrie and Mrs Oliver had discovered the Arabian themed party in the ladies' shoe department. Finger cymbals chimed and the strains of a
zummara
led a harem of dancers, resplendent in their rainbow of costumes, prancing across the floor.

‘Tell me it isn't true,' Quincy groaned.

The girls giggled as they watched Granma Clarrie and Mrs Oliver making some rather audacious attempts at belly dancing.

‘Granma!' Quincy wailed. ‘Stop!'

‘No,' Alice-Miranda smiled. ‘Let them go. I think Granma Clarrie's amazing. I hope I'm still belly dancing at ninety-seven too.'

'L
ast night was amazing wasn't it?' Alice-Miranda slipped her hand into her father's as the family walked along Fifth Avenue towards the Met.

‘Wonderful, darling,' her mother replied. ‘Granma Clarrie's certainly energetic. That dance-off with Dolly was something to behold.'

‘And surely there had to be a certain amount of satisfaction in seeing your old enemy get his comeuppance, Cee?' Hugh grinned at his wife.

‘I thought I must be going mad with all the
things that were happening at the store. I'm just glad that Morrie's been brought to his senses. But I wish you'd have told me about Ruby Winters last week when you found out, Alice-Miranda,' Cecelia finished, looking at her daughter.

‘I tried to, Mummy, but you were so busy. I didn't want to worry you with anything else,' Alice-Miranda replied.

‘Speaking of busy, your mother and I promise, Alice-Miranda, no more running off to meetings and other things – we're going to make the most of our last week together,' Hugh grinned.

‘And no more secrets?' Cecelia glanced at her husband.

‘I promise, darling, no more,' Hugh replied.

‘Is it really true, Daddy, that Uncle Xavier didn't die all those years ago?' Alice-Miranda asked.

‘Yes, sweetheart, the evidence seems to suggest so,' her father replied.

The happy trio reached their destination.

‘You know, the man I met when I was drawing the Degas – the one who was admiring that picture from Pelham Park,' Alice-Miranda explained, ‘he lectured our class last week.'

‘Was he any good?' her father asked.

‘Yes, he's wonderful. He has some paintings here in the gallery. I think you might be very interested once you see them.'

The family reached the top of the steps and headed into the cavernous foyer.

‘Wait here a moment,' the tiny child instructed. ‘I just need to do something.' Alice-Miranda rushed over to the information booth.

After a short exchange the young woman at the booth picked up the telephone. ‘He'll be here soon, miss,' she said after she finished the call. ‘He'll meet you in the gallery.'

Alice-Miranda skipped back to her parents.

‘Well, why don't you show Mummy and me this mysterious painting from home?' Hugh asked.

‘I will, but there's something else I want you to see on the way.' Alice-Miranda led her parents through the Grecian antiquities and the Indigenous exhibits upstairs to the west galleries.

‘It's in here,' Alice-Miranda explained. ‘Over there.'

‘Oh my goodness.' Hugh frowned and rubbed his temples. He stared at the intricate painting in front of him.

Alice-Miranda looked at the citation and
read aloud. ‘
Dragons and Knights
by
Edward Clifton.'

Alice-Miranda looked up at her father, wide-eyed. He was mesmerised.

‘That picture. And the name. That's my mother's maiden name,' Hugh whispered. ‘Is it possible?'

‘Daddy, I think there's someone you should meet.' Alice-Miranda stared at the tall man with the thick shock of salt-and-pepper hair who had slipped silently into the gallery.

Hugh looked at his daughter and then to his wife. Alice-Miranda pointed behind him.

Hugh spun around and Ed Clifton stepped forward and offered his hand.

‘Hello little brother.'

On that sparkling Sunday afternoon in Central Park, two men who had been lost to one another as boys began to get to know each other properly for the very first time.

‘Mummy, come and look at this,' Alice-Miranda called to Cecelia, who was lying on the grass reading a magazine.

Cecelia stood up and went to see what her daughter was looking at.

‘We're gonna miss that kid, Harry,' said Lou Gambino, as he watched the family from behind his hot dog cart. He smiled at Alice-Miranda, who was darting in and out of the trees chasing the squirrels. ‘But you know, I have a feeling she'll be back.'

Harry Geronimo pulled the chess board from the small cupboard on the side of his cart. ‘I think you might be right. You know, Lou, this is a good life, a very good life indeed.'

L
ucinda returned to school on Monday. She and Alice-Miranda finished their Science project in time for the fair and came in a credible second place behind Alethea and Gretchen, who had produced an outstanding experiment on how to identify counterfeit bank notes. Gretchen convinced Alethea to leave
Alice-Miranda alone, on the threat that she would unfriend her immediately if she didn't. Alice-Miranda hadn't given up altogether on her and Alethea being friends one day – but she was smart enough to know that it might take a little while longer to get there.

Lucinda's mother invited Ava, Quincy and Alice-Miranda to the salon on Saturday afternoon, but Lucinda suggested they go for frozen hot chocolate instead. Out on bail, Morrie agreed and accompanied the girls himself. Mrs Oliver insisted that she go along to make sure that he behaved himself. Morrie couldn't remember having so much fun in ages.

Gerda Finkelstein told her husband about her visit to Louisa. He suggested she go as often as she wanted. Gerda said she wasn't asking his permission.

Morrie Finkelstein turned over a new leaf. In fact, he raked a whole lot of leaves when he nominated park duty for his community service. A judge sentenced him to one thousand hours which, strangely, he found quite enjoyable. Morrie wrote a formal apology to Cecelia and offered to terminate the contracts with the suppliers he'd stolen from her. Cecelia said the suppliers could make up their own minds about that. After all, there was more than
enough room in New York City for both of them.

Callum Preston adored his job as Ed Clifton's assistant. In his spare time he painted and drew as much as he could. Gilbert Gruber saw the picture of Alice-Miranda and the tamandua and invited the young man to hold his first exhibition,
Zoo Creatures
, at Highton's on Fifth. It was a sell-out.

When Alice-Miranda had seen the little book with the drawings in her father's study alongside those mysterious notes, she'd written to Mr Clifton via the Met and suggested that he might like to meet her family. She didn't know for sure if he'd come but she'd had to take the chance.

The man now known as Edward Clifton spent several days with his younger brother, filling in the gaps for forty lost years. Ed explained how he had fought bitterly with their father when he told him he wanted to study art. Henry Kennington-Jones said that if he walked that path he would walk it alone. On a wet winter's night Henry banished his son from their home. But his mother Arabella couldn't bear to see her beloved boy disowned. She took a painting from the wall in one of the guest bedrooms, one she especially loved. It was a mother and her son by Renoir. She told him to sell it and use the money
to take care of himself. But just the next night, there was the terrible car accident. Edward couldn't bear to part with the only thing that linked him to his mother. He worked three jobs to put himself through art school and gave the painting anonymously to the Metropolitan Museum of Art so he could look at it whenever he wanted to. And everyone else could too. His father hated art, so Edward wasn't concerned that he would ever find out where the painting was. Xavier used his middle name, Edward, with his mother's maiden name and over the years made a life for himself in New York, too angry to look back. His mother had always said ‘no regrets' but Edward wasn't so sure about that. He had no idea that his father had told everyone he'd died alongside his mother. As far as he was concerned, he thought his younger brother mustn't have wanted anything to do with him.

Then when he met Alice-Miranda he knew it was fate. And if his own brother was anything like this tiny child, with the cascading chocolate curls and brown eyes as big as saucers, he knew he had nothing to lose, just a family to gain.

The Highton-Smith-Kennington-Jones Household

Alice-Miranda Highton-Smith-Kennington-Jones – Only child – seven and three-quarter years of age

Cecelia Highton-Smith – Alice-Miranda's doting mother

Hugh Kennington-Jones – Alice-Miranda's doting father

Dolly Oliver – Family cook, part-time food technology scientist

Cyril – Pilot

Gilbert Gruber – General Manager of Highton's on Fifth Avenue

Seamus O'Leary – Chauffeur

Students and Staff at Mrs Kimmel's School for Girls

Miss Jilly Hobbs – Headmistress

Mr Felix Underwood – Fifth grade teacher

Miss Andie Patrick – Sixth grade teacher

Miss Cynthia Cleary – Receptionist

Mr Whip Staples – Doorman and handyman

Lucinda Finkelstein – Fifth grade student

Quincy Armstrong – Fifth grade student

Ava Lee – Fifth grade student

Gretchen – Sixth grade student

Thea Mackenzie – Sixth grade student

Others

Morrie Finkelstein – Lucinda's ambitious father

Gerda Finkelstein – Lucinda's mother

Ezekiel and Tobias Finkelstein – Lucinda's elder brothers

Aunt Heloise – Lucinda's great-aunt

Granma Clarrie – Quincy's great-grandmother

Eldred Armstrong – Quincy's father and a famous musician

Maryanne Armstrong – Quincy's mother

Isaac Armstrong – Quincy's elder brother

Dee Dee Lee – Ava's mother and a NYC detective

Lou Gambino – Hot dog vendor

Harry Geronimo – Pretzel vendor

Callum Preston – Young artist

Ed Clifton – Artist

Hector – Private investigator