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He nodded and she walked back over and sat down, spending the next five h the pictures He couldn’t speak—only watch as his sister went through the sae she closed the album and held it close to her chest She stayed that way for a few seconds then stood up and walked over, wrapping her arms around his neck
“Thank you,” she whispered “Thank you for going back to the house and finding this for me”
Her swollen stoive a little kick He jumped back in surprise as Brianna smiled and put her hand on her stomach
“My little one is grateful too Now, he or she gets to see pictures of their past Pictures of the people we love”
Matteo gave a slow nod He knew she was right But everything just seeain “Are you going to tell me what happened?”
He felt a chill all over his body Of course Brianna wasn’t talking about their mother She couldn’t possibly know His brain tried to rationalize “About the album?”
She reached down and picked up the piece of paper “About this? What did you do to her, Matteo? What did you do to upset the girl who has finally put a little sparkle in your eyes?”
He blinked “What?”
“You heard me You like her I know you do You’ve been different these past feeeks”
He threw up his hands in frustration “I’s to deal with We have two houses to sell”
Brianna gave a nod of acknowledgeht find this stressful You were the oldest You saw much more than Vittore or I did But” she looked up at hiht” She took the crumpled paper from his hand “And I think it’s because of this I think it’s because of her” She glanced at the figure at the bottoain and smiled and shook her head “And it looks like you better start apologizing soon Otherwise it will be a very long flight to Rome”
Phoebe looked around She’d thrown herself into finishing this place, bringing down so the last few nights here She’d hired extra staff and yet another cleaning crew to achieve everything she wanted
The last person had left half an hour ago So, she’d taken sorubby clothes into so fresh, and probably far too cold for a winter’s day But Phoebe didn’t care There was a paycheck on the horizon Her bright yellow dress was a signal of triumph
The drapes were hung, the light fittings all changed, the beds remade The recovered chairs and sofas were exquisite The leather was soft and tactile, thetouches were in place The lamps, the vases, cushions and throws New prints and ht streamed in every
She walked froe and lemon in the main rooms, clean linen candles in the bedrooms, and lavender and rose in the newly finished kitchen She wiped a cloth across the deep white Belfast sinks They were gorgeous Just perfect in the old-style kitchen
There was an aura about this place So special She’d felt it the moment she’d arrived And now, finally, she was finished
She pulled her phone from her pocket and stared at it a few seconds The realtor had already visited thishundreds of photos Her overeagerness at the possibility of a sale was palpable Phoebe looked around How much would a place like this be worth? It had to be over fifty million dollars It had to be
Everyone had left now She was entirely alone The scented candles started to gently fill the air around her She drifted back down the corridor to the eous atrium and curved staircase
Ies floated into her mind of her favorite childhood cartoon movie She started to hum one of the tunes and dance a little around the bottoown Her yellow dress only reached her knees, but it was floaty enough She lifted her hands as if she had achanged to singing Phoebe had never really been a singer, but who could hear? Right now, this was her palace In here, her mother had never been sick There were no bills Jason had never died
She started to dance up the stairs That was the favorite part of the movie for her She didn’t need a partner It was much easier if it was all just in her head She’d probably never get the chance to do so to just enjoy every minute