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The entire house was done a full week earlier than expected. As the final furniture and accessories arrived, everyone pitched in to make sure everything was perfect. Nancy and Elizabeth were very proud of their work. They admired the bedding and had moved to fluff the pillows in the chairs when a voice spoke from behind them.
“Very nice, ladies,” Garrett said. The two turned to see him nodding as he looked around. They’d chosen earth-tone paint for the walls. Various soft lighting illuminated the room, with deeper jewel colors in various pillows, vases and artwork on the walls providing splashes of color. He told them he knew the clients would enjoy the set of chairs facing the fireplace, along with an extra-large ottoman covered in burgundy leather, arranged so that the couple could share it and put their feet up.
“Thank you, sir,” Nancy said, and then grinned, remembering the whispers the girls had shared about other possible uses of such an elegant piece of furniture. Elizabeth saw where Nancy was looking and flushed, quickly leaning forward to place her pillow back onto the chair.
Nancy took pity on her friend. “Wait until you see the mosaic.”
If Garrett had seen the flush on Elizabeth’s face, he was gracious enough to remain quiet. Instead, he nodded and motioned for the women to precede him into the huge master bath. This room was also done in subtle tones and looked both elegant and calming. Nancy motioned for him toward a huge walk-in shower that had been built in a corner of the room. There was no door; the shower area was deep enough to have a rainfall showerhead hanging from the ceiling without fear that any water would escape out onto the bathroom floor. A bench seat had been built into the back wall and would provide an area to sit and shave, or simply allow the various jets angled toward it to massage away a day’s care.
As Garrett turned to face the wall opposite the seat, he gasped. The entire wall had been framed to accent just the center section. What appeared at first to be a magnificent scene of nature in intense, tropical colors proved something far more complicated, as he looked closer. Various animals peeked from behind leaves of dense foliage. The varied hues of the water seemed to not only be reflecting light, but gave the impression of other, hidden items. Turning his head one way and then tilting it to the opposite shoulder, he smiled unaware that Elizabeth was standing behind him. When he let out a laugh, she released the breath she’d been holding.
“If I look one way, I’d swear I can feel someone looking at me, but when I look away and then back, everything blends into a magnificent whole.” Stepping closer, he studied the tiny individual tiles and then turned to smile at Elizabeth. “Is this really supposed to be Benjamin and Helen?”
She nodded and reached out to lay her fingers on a small frog that was being held in the open palms of a beautiful fairy. The frog, a small crown on the top of his head, appeared to be smiling up at the girl.
“Helen told me she often felt like she had kissed a lot of toads before she found Benjamin. I thought it terribly romantic when he smiled at her and took her hands. He kissed her fingers and thanked her for turning him into her prince,” Elizabeth said, and then drew his attention to what appeared to be a flower. Garrett watched her trace around the design and smiled when a small bunny, sleeping on a purple pillow, was discovered.
“Their daughter, Barbara?” he guessed, knowing they used to call the girl Bunny when she had been a small child. She nodded again, and he spent several minutes searching the tiles until he found another hidden animal crouching behind a log. “This is Logan,” he said, grinning at the small, sleek tiger. Elizabeth nodded again. “He’d like being thought of as a jungle cat.”
Before the renovation, Helen and she had been packing away the frames displayed on one of the walls of the master suite. Elizabeth had listened as the older woman gave her a brief history of those in the photos. The look in Helen’s eyes told of her love for all of her loved ones. In most of the pictures of her son, Logan, he’d seemed so intense as if he were thinking the deepest thoughts. However, in this one photo he was smiling brightly, his arms clutching a stuffed tiger.
“They used to call him Tigger when he was young,” Garrett went on. “Not that he was always bouncing around as if he couldn’t settle, but because he could stand as still as a statue and find great contentment in the happiness of others.” He chuckled and added, “That and the fact that everyone knew he’d tear apart anyone who threatened those he loved.”
“You seem to know the family extremely well,” Elizabeth said with a smile, and he nodded.
“Yes, I’ve known them for years,” he said, moving his eyes over the mosaic again. Behind a small rock under the water, a fish smiled, his fins exaggerated, his scales shimmering in bright colors. He turned to her again with a grin on his face that reminded her of the one in another photo Helen had shown her. “Please don’t tell me that funny little fish is supposed to be me.”
She smiled and nodded. “Including you was necessary; I know how much you mean to the family,” Elizabeth said.
“They used to tease that I had to be part fish. I was swimming before I took my first steps. Ariel was also a water baby. If there was a pool, pond, lake, river, or ocean nearby, you could bet that’s where we’d be. It is kind of you to include me, as well.”
He turned back to the mosaic, breaking into a huge grin a moment later. He had found the small depiction of a mermaid under the water, and he knew she represented Ariel, the Dietrichs’ youngest daughter.
All of the family pets had their own places of honor scattered among the mosaic. Garrett’s smile only faltered when he finally noticed a tiny angel, who was peeking out behind a cloud in the blue sky at the top of the mosaic. He reached out and touched the small painting and Elizabeth saw him go still.
“Rebecca,” he said softly, in a strained tone.
Tears welled in Elizabeth’s eyes, and she was terrified she had made a huge mistake.
Garrett turned to look at her and seemed to sense her distress. He reached out and placed his hand on her arm.
“No, don’t be sad, Miss Adams,” he said. “You could never leave someone they loved so much out of this magnificent gift. While it is terrible that she died so young, it would hurt far more to think she had been forgotten.”
She closed her eyes and forced back her tears.
He allowed her to compose herself, as he turned back toward the wall. “I’ve been in the business of building and designing my entire life and I’ve never seen such a thing. I am truly impressed. You’ll have to tell me how you managed to tell a story Helen and Benjamin will be instantly able to read, while it would be no more than a fascinating mosaic to anyone who didn’t know them.”
Elizabeth nodded and assured him she could explain how it was done.
“I’ll look forward to hearing about it. Excellent job, ladies. I could not ask for anything better,” he said, as he turned to leave. Right before he left, he turned and spoke again.
“Congratulations on your recent marriage, Nancy,” he said. She nodded and thanked him. He saw her hand drifting toward her neck and smiled. “Lovely collar,” he added, and she thanked him with a smile. He looked pointedly toward her neck and then toward the leather ottoman that now seemed to dominate the room. “Good furniture choices as well,” he grinned, and then stepped into the hall.
As he left, Nancy immediately grabbed Elizabeth. “Oh my God,” Nancy squealed. “He loved it! He loved your mosaic, Liz. I bet he will direct more clients to us. We are definitely on our way. We kicked all sorts of butt!”
Elizabeth stared at her as if she had sprouted horns out the top of her head. “Are you out of your mind?” Elizabeth asked, her entire body flushed. “Nancy, he knows!”
“What do you mean he knows? Knows what?”
