Restoring Grace (18 page)

‘Yes,' said Grace.

‘
Really
quite attractive in a rugged, rough-hewn sort
of way.'

‘
You should
definitely go for it, Ellie,' said Grace, delib
erately misunderstanding.
'And I'm sure he'd love a ready-made family. He didn't mention any children.
I'm sure you'd be just what he needs.'

‘Not for me, idiot! For you!'

‘He's not nearly as good-looking as Dad,' said
Demi,
glancing crossly at Ellie. 'Besides' -
she suddenly sounded
tired and
potentially weepy - 'please don't fall in love!
I'm so pissed off with
watching people being in love with each other.’

Grace
stopped halfway down the stairs and turned to
confront Demi. 'I promise you, there's absolutely
no
chance that I am going to fall in love with anyone ever again. So
don't worry about that. I'll always be here for you.'

‘Even though I'm not really your stepdaughter?'

‘
It doesn't
matter who you are. I'm off men for life.'
She shot a sly glance at Ellie, who was, as she'd expected,
looking disappointed. 'So no matchmaking, Miss
Summers!’

Ellie shrugged. 'OK. I don't want you falling
in love
either, or you might throw me out
so you can share your
love nest.'

‘Oh, for goodness' sake!' But Grace laughed,
despite
herself. 'Come and look at this
picture, although we'd do
better to wait until morning.'

‘We can't do that,' said Ellie, 'not now you've
told us about it. But we must eat as well. I'm starving.'

‘Yeah,' said Demi brightly. 'We bought a Chinese
takeaway. It'll only need heating up.'

‘
Lovely!
Takeaway - so decadent.' Aware that Demi
and Ellie were looking at her
strangely, she explained. 'Edward—'

‘Didn't approve of takeaways,' Ellie finished
for her. 'Come on, let's see the painting and then we can hit the food. I have
an awful craving for prawn crackers.’

Grace collected the torch and then led the way
to the
dining room. 'It may not be anything,
really, but I was
just in here drawing the curtains—'

‘
I thought
you said you never drew the curtains in
here,' said Ellie. 'The material
was too fragile.’

Grace made a face. 'We
never used to, but I forgot and
it all came to pieces. Then I
thought I saw a ghost.'

‘Why?' asked Demi, thrilled and horrified.

‘Because of that,' said Grace, shining the torch
at the window shutter.

Demi gave a little scream, suppressed it and then there
was silence.
The moon shone in through the window and
the single bulb glowed dimly. The torch
highlighted the painted figure.

‘
Wow,' said Ellie after a few moments. 'I can see why you
thought it was a ghost. It looks really old.' She went
closer. 'I think it's Eve, or something.' She frowned. 'I
can't
quite see if the panel has been painted, or if it's on a board stuck on top.'

‘Oh my God,' said Grace softly.

‘What?' said Demi, obviously still spooked.

‘
Nothing.
I've just thought of something. I—' She
changed the subject. 'Listen, why don't we go and eat
and have a
proper look in daylight? We don't want the Chinese to be ruined.'

‘What's the matter, Grace?' asked Ellie.

‘Nothing. It's just—'

‘Come on, Grace! Don't leave us in suspense!
You find
what could be a wonderful painting
and you're not
jumping up and down with excitement. I did a bit of
History of Art on my course. It could be really
valu
able!'

‘That's the problem,' explained Grace. 'What
will my bloody sister do when she finds out about it?'

‘You mean she'll try and claim it as hers?’

Grace nodded. 'She could.
She and Nicholas. They
could do just that.'

‘
I'm really
hungry,' said Demi, who had been staring
at the painting and not really concentrating on what Ellie
and
Grace had been saying.

‘
Let's go and
eat,' Ellie agreed, hungry herself and
aware that Grace was distressed.

Grace stood by the light switch and waited
until Ellie
and a slightly tipsy Demi left
the room. Then she shut
the door on the moonlight-flooded painting,
wondering what on earth she'd discovered. If it was nothing but
^s
omeone's home-painted mural, all
would be well. If
it
was as old and interesting as Ellie seemed to think, it
could create all kinds of problems. Or, possibly, solutions.

*

'Well,' said Grace the next
morning, watching Demi
spread butter on a piece of toast
she had previously cut into tiny squares. 'What first?’

Demi yawned. 'I might go back to bed for a bit.’

Grace, suspecting that
Demi had got up at roughly the
same time as
her and Ellie only out of politeness, felt that
bed
might be the best place for her, if she did have a
hangover. She'd certainly had more wine with the Chinese
last
night than Grace had wanted her to have.

‘Headache, Demi?' she asked.

‘No, no. Just tired.'

‘Well,' said Ellie, 'I really want to have
another look at the painting.’

There was a moment's silence. 'Oh, yes,' said
Grace. 'Of course. The painting.’

Grace hadn't exactly forgotten about the
painting, but
she had filed it in the
section of her mind where she kept
things
she didn't want to think about. She kept trying to
stuff Edward in
there, but he was too big for the space available.

‘Us looking at it won't cause a problem, and
the more we know the better. "Information is armour", or something.'

‘
You're
right. Let's go and see it. Are you coming, Demi,
or are you going back
to bed?'

‘
Oh no. I'll come if there's something good
going on.’

‘Come on
then,' said Grace, but she lacked what Ellie felt was the appropriate
enthusiasm.

*

Ellie carefully removed the remnants of curtain
still
hanging and bundled them up with the
rest of the fabric
on the floor. Then she allowed herself to look at the
painting.

The figure which had given Grace such a fright
was a
naked woman, that much was clear, but
a lot of the detail
was obscured.

Ellie came close. 'She's awfully mouldy, poor
thing! I wonder how long she'd been hiding behind the curtains.’

Demi giggled. 'Perhaps she was playing sardines
and no one came to look for her.'

‘
She's in a
really bad state,' said Grace. 'Look, there's
a hole. I wonder what did
that?'

‘A mouse, possibly,' said Ellie.

‘As long as it's not a rat,' said Demi.

‘But look at the details! Those wonderful
flowers and animals. Look at this little rabbit!' Ellie was ecstatic.

‘She's not wearing a lot,' said Demi. 'I
thought they always kept their hands over their rude bits.'

‘You're thinking of Botticelli,' said Ellie.
'But you're right. This is quite . . . explicit.'

‘And hugely damaged,' said Grace. 'I don't think
she can be remotely valuable, do you, Ellie?’

Ellie glared at her.
'You've got to be kidding! I think
this could be an old master!'

‘
Looks more
like a mistress to me,' said Demi helpfully.

Grace regarded her
ex-stepdaughter. 'You never would
have said anything like that when
you stayed with us before.'

‘Sorry'

‘No! It's great. Jokes are good. Aren't they,
Ellie?'

‘Do stop wittering, you two. I think there's
probably a matching painting on the other side. I don't think this lady has
been alone all these years.'

‘She definitively looks on the pull,' said
Demi, getting into the spirit of things.

Grace suppressed a sigh.
Ellie ignored it. 'She is lovely.
And look at
the way this fern leads the eye up to her .
'Pussy?’

Grace shuddered at Demi's choice of word. 'What
would Edward say?' It was a rhetorical
question and was
duly ignored.

‘Can I look behind the other curtain?' asked
Ellie. 'I
think this might be Eve. See?
There's the serpent. You can
hardly see him. The varnish has bloomed
horribly. Gone milky,' she added, seeing her companions' confusion. 'I bet you
Adam is behind that curtain.'

‘Eating the apple, probably,' said Demi.

‘
I'll get a
chair and take the curtains down,' said Grace.
'It would be nice to save
the silk if possible.’

Ellie didn't comment, but
going on what had happened
to the curtains covering Eve she
suspected there was no chance of saving the silk. She watched as Grace slowly
detached the fabric. When it was all safely in Grace's arms, and she had got
down from her perch, Ellie saw what she was hoping to see.

‘
It's covered
in dust and grime,' she said, gently
stroking it with her finger. 'But
he's there. Look.’

Adam was even more salacious-looking than Eve.
His member stood proud and upright with not a fig leaf in
sight. He was leering, there was no doubt about it,
and
a couple of extra nymphs – certainly not present in the
traditional Bible story – cavorted behind him,
their hands
flirtatiously over their faces.

‘
Wow,' said
Demi. 'I didn't realise old paintings had
stuff like that in them.'

‘It's antique pornography,' declared Grace.

‘If it's old, it's considered art,' said Ellie.
'They must have been here for centuries. Did your aunt know about them?’

`If she did, she never
said anything. Perhaps she didn't
like them much.'

‘Have you got something we could dust them
with? A really soft cloth? I'd like to have a better look.’

Wishing that she could say no, Grace sighed.
'I'll go and have a rummage in the rag bag.' She didn't move.

‘
What is it,
Grace?' Ellie asked, concerned. 'You should
be thrilled. These are beautiful paintings, possibly painted
by
some really important artist.’

Grace sighed deeply. 'Yes,
but you don't understand.
If they're old and by someone
important, they'll be valuable. And if they're valuable, my sister and brother
will want some of their value.'

‘
I didn't
think you were serious last night. Do you really
mean they'd want you to take them down and sell them?'
Ellie was
outraged.

Grace nodded. 'Everything
that wasn't tied down, they
inherited. I got the house, so
obviously my inheritance
was much more
valuable than theirs was. They can't get
past that. If they knew I had a
valuable old painting—'

‘Two,' Demi interrupted.

‘Two valuable old paintings on my walls, they
would
g
o—'

‘
Ballistic?'
suggested Demi, interrupting again.
'That
would probably describe it,' Grace agreed.
'Well, let's have a good look at them,' said Ellie. 'There's
no
reason your brother and sister would find out about them, is there? How often
do they visit?’

Grace sighed again. 'Not
all that often, but my sister is
on my case at
the moment. She thinks that now Edward
has left
and the roof's been repaired, I should sell the house. She can't believe I'm
happy to live here on my own.'