Page 37 of Daddy, Take Me Away
Her, holding Daddy’s hand, marveling at the strength and size that had so effectively reduced her to tears each time he took her across his knee.
Hamish, taking off his belt by the hearth, the roaring fire behind him, the sultry shadow doing nothing the hide the burning hunger in his gaze.
Her, hugging her knees to her chest while he washed her hair.
Them together, lying in tangled sheets, staring into one another's eyes.
And then she spotted it, the one portrait in the collection she refused to part with–them, on the flyboard amid the splashing of the lake water as they danced on the surface, her back to his chest, her arms flung out wide. Kate Winslet in the arms of her very own Leonardo Dicaprio.
This time, Maddy stopped to gaze on it before her. “My favorite piece of the lot,” she said. “Apparently, at least one other collector thinks so too.”
Smiling, she handed Chloe the first sold sign, and just like that all excitement within her died.
“This one? No!”
Surprised, Maddy stared at her. “What do you mean no?”
“This was the one I didn't want to sell! I can't let it go, Maddy. I can't!”
“Oh for heaven's sake, darling!” Maddy finally sighed in mild irritation. She clasped her cool hands to Chloe's cheeks, giving her a gentle shake. “Wipe all that sadness from her eyes! This is the grandest moment of your entire life. Act like it! Besides, you didn't just find this gorgeous piece. You made it! Just paint another one. God knows you've got the skill.”
Tsking, Maddy rolled her eyes, shook her head, and moved on to schmooze with more cheerful collectors.
Chloe wilted. Maddy had sold it. The only one of her works she'd brought that she’d really wanted to keep–her last, best tie to Hamish and all the time she'd spent with him. And just like that–poof–she'd lost it.
Tears flooded her eyes as she stared up at it, needing to walk away and unable to so much as blink.
Snap out of it, she hopelessly scolded. Nobody bought art from a crying artist.
“Damn,” a familiar voice behind her breathed, and Chloe gasped, her eyes widening in disbelief. “You made me look good.”
Hamish!
No… it couldn't be. It just couldn't.
Chloe turned slowly, unsure of what terrified her the most–being wrong about who it was, or being right.
Slipping his hands in his pockets, Hamish stood beside her, fully decked out in a dark gray suit and scarlet tie, staring up at the painting.
“You're good,” he finally said. “This is beautiful.”
“Hamish?” she whispered, stunned.
He slipped closer, wrapping one arm around her shoulders before pulling her in to stand under his arm.
She almost burst into tears. Clapping her hands over her mouth, she squeezed her eyes tightly shut, bowing her, fighting back the hot, sting drops now flooding her eyes no matter how hard she bit her lip to keep them back.
“How?” she breathed. “Why… wh-what are you doing here?”
“I came to support the woman I fell in love with, nevermind how stubbornly I fought against it.”
Her jaw dropped, her head snapping up as she stared at him.
“I've been haunting you online,” he admitted. “And there hasn't been a day gone by that I haven't thought of you at least a dozen times an hour.”
It had to be at least two dozen an hour for her, but her throat was too tight to speak.
“I knew I'd made a mistake the moment I left you at the airport. But, I guess it was the kick in the butt I needed to do what I should have from the start.”
