He told her of his brothers Lanny and Pere, who worked in the family car business. He talked of how the development of Shamus’s artistic abilities was of major concern to their family as they wanted the best possible art schooling for him. “Our mother interviews universities as though she’s a general planning a battle. So far, none of them are good enough for her precious baby.”
Lastly, he spoke of his sister, Ariel, who would soon be returning to Edilean to work as a doctor. Colin’s chest seemed to swell in pride.
“I envy you,” she said when he finished.
“What about your family?”
“I have a mother and a sister and they’re exactly alike. They laugh over the same things, call each other every day. They’re a pair.”
“How do you fit in with them?”
“I don’t,” she said. “My father and I were best buddies, and after he died when I was twelve, I . . .” She shrugged. “Unhappy memories. The good news is that my sister married a rich man—he has his own plumbing company—and she sends me truly lovely gifts. All I have to do to repay her is babysit for whole weeks at a time.”
Colin laughed. “So what kind of gifts does she send you?”
“A Kindle, some sports equipment, top-of-the-line laptop, and my BlackBerry. She said if I got this job s
he’d send me an iPad.”
“It sounds like she cares about you,” Colin said.
“It’s mutual, but we aren’t chummy. She has two children and wants a third. She and Mom are worried that I’ll never get married.”
“Whatever you do, don’t let her talk to my mother. My poor sister got so tired of my mother’s constant talk of having babies that last year Ariel swore she’d have her tubes tied.”
“A drastic threat.”
“My sister is the epitome of a ‘drama queen.’”
“So who is your ‘favorite little man’ and isn’t Merlin’s Farm the place where those paintings were found last year?”
Colin’s quick laugh nearly made him choke on his sandwich. “You really listen, don’t you?”
“I read about the farm on the town Web site, and I like to find out things. Is it?”
“Yes,” he said. “As you seem to know already, Merlin’s Farm—”
“Built in 1674, wasn’t it?”
Colin shook his head at her in wonder. “I have a feeling you could tell me who the English king was then and what was going on in the world.”
She could, but she wasn’t interested in what she already knew. “The paintings caused a stir in the historical world, so of course I heard about them. They belong to the owner of Merlin’s Farm . . . I don’t remember her name.”
“Sara Shaw, my cousin. She married the detective who found the paintings. They were hidden away in a secret room in the old house. You’ll have to see it. The way the room was built behind the fireplace was really ingenious.”
Gemma’s eyes lit up, but she said nothing, just willing him to tell her more.
“Anyway,” Colin continued, “Mike and Sara still live in Fort Lauderdale. They’ll stay there until his retirement in a couple of years, then they’ll move back here permanently.”
“The paintings . . . ?” she prompted.
“Oh yeah. They were done in the 1700s by an ancestor of ours—”
“Charles Albert Yates,” Gemma said.
“I’m sure you’re right,” Colin said. “Joce—the woman who owns Edilean Manor—thinks they were painted by a woman. She—”
“Wow!” Gemma said, her eyes wide. “A woman went down the San Juan River in 1799 and made paintings of the flora and fauna? What an extraordinary find!”