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I laugh. “Sure. I've never had anyone who wanted to paint me before.”
“Thank you for indulging me. I love painting people and landscapes. I obviously love sculpting too, but it requires more work and effort. Painting for me is like breathing. Not a day goes by when I don’t do it.”
“Really? That’s so impressive.”
“Thank you. Knight tells me you're a writer.” As she looks at me, I wonder if this is the part where I'm going to have that one-to-one with her where she tries to get more information out of me about who I am.
It probably is, and I couldn’t fault her for it. I don’t know how much she knows about Knight and me, but even if she knew the truth, I would still look like some girl who’s hitched up with her son who’s worth billions. She’s bound to be inquisitive.
I’ve been preparing for this conversation, if it’s that, but I don’t want to lie to her.
“I want to write for a lifestyle magazine,” I tell her.
“He told me that too.”
I wonder if he also told her about my pen name. Probably not. He seems to have kept that as a saucy secret between us.
“I had a look at some of your old articles. I thought they were wonderful.” She touches her heart as if to show she really means what she’s saying. “Please tell me you’ll be writing for some fabulous magazine soon.”
“Hopefully. I'm applying for a writer position withPeople Magazine. Here's hoping I get it.”
Her face brightens, and she gives my shoulders a gentle squeeze. “That would be fantastic. I pray you get it.”
“Me too. It would be a dream come true.”
“Then I hope for it to happen even more. Come, let me show you some of the pieces I just finished this morning for the show. You'll get a first view of them.”
She takes my elbow and steers me through the doors to the gathering of her masterpiece sculptures.
There are fifty of them. All a little bigger than life-size.
Standing this close gives me a firsthand view of what Knight meant when he was talking about his mother’s talent.
She does the same bronze sculptures of living figures like Knight but has a Renaissance-meets-contemporary edge to her work.
Most of the sculptures are of women with long flowing hair and see-through dresses that look like air caressing their bodies. I was already blown away when I saw Knight’s work, but this has a different opulence to it that borders on legendary.
“My God, wow.” My voice comes out in a reverent rasp. “These are astounding.”
Elodie smiles. “I’m glad you think so. I went for something different this year. I tend to do figures of women anyway, but not so much like this. I call this collection Dance of the Sea Nymphs.”
“I’m in love.”
She laughs heartily and brings her hands together. “I guess my job is done, then.”
I walk around each piece, admiring the craftsmanship in her work. Everything is so precise and perfect.
“How long does it take you to finish them?”
She sighs and looks at each one. “Sometimes, it can take me a day, sometimes months. It depends on what I see in my mind and the inspiration behind it. This was the quickest one. I had it done within a few hours.” She points to a sculpture of a girl with a flower in her hair. The girl is smiling and reaching out like she’s about to touch someone. “This was inspired by a girl I saw in the park who’d just met her father for the first time.”
Of course, I think of myself the moment she says that. The girl also looks to be about the same age I was when I met my father.
The radiance in the girl's eyes reminds me of that light that sparked in my soul when my father came into my life.
“It’s absolutely beautiful.”
“I tried to capture the moment as best as I could. I don’t know her, and I’ll most likely never see her again, but she inspired me that day. I was simply sitting in the park and happened to hear their conversation. This was how she looked when she first saw him.” Pride fills her voice. “These, on the other hand, are the kind that took me months.”
