‘I’ll put it on my list of things to tackle,’ said Amanda with a laugh.
Diana moved to the next door. ‘I have some funds for the house, not enough for a full renovation, but there should be enough to get things up to scratch where you see fit.’
She pointed at another door. ‘This one leads to the kitchen and the breakfast nook.’ She opened it for Amanda to peer in and see a clean but very old-fashioned kitchen.
‘I didn’t spend much time in here. I was a toast and tomato soup sort of a lass, would rather be gardening than cooking.’
Amanda laughed. ‘You sound like my mom. She always said she was very good at heating things up.’
Diana smiled and moved to the last door.
‘And this is the living area and dining room.’ She opened the door wide and Amanda stepped through and onto a deep rug with a pattern of roses and crested moons in pale pink and cream.
The walls were also cream but they looked to be fabric, not wallpaper. Amanda moved to the side of the ornate marble fireplace and touched the wall.
‘Silk damask,’ Diana said. ‘Nothing has changed here since my mother died. This was her favourite room.’ She pointed with her stick to the painting hanging over the mantel. ‘That’s Lillian, in the pearls,’ she said.
‘The pearls?’ Amanda asked.
‘The Moongate pearls. And this is me wearing them on my eighteenth birthday.’ She pointed to a painting on the other side of the wall of a young Diana in evening dress with the pearls around her neck.
‘A family heirloom. That’s cool,’ said Amanda, looking closely at the painting of Diana. ‘I don’t have much of jewellery collection but I do have my mother’s brooches, which I love.’
‘I like brooches too,’ said Diana pointing to her chest where a small, jewelled bird sat on one side of her blouse.
Amanda looked at the jewel on Diana’s clothing and smiled. ‘My mom would have loved that.’
She turned her attention to the painting and Diana was silent as she studied the artwork.
‘These brushstrokes are so deliberate. It’s very carefully painted; the artist was very good.’
‘He was the person to have your portrait done by when I was young. Now everyone takes photos on their phones.’
Amanda laughed. ‘Guilty as charged, but I do paint as well. I went to art school.’
Diana nodded as though she knew but Amanda couldn’t imagine how. ‘You must show me your work.’
Amanda shrugged. ‘It’s probably too childish for your tastes. I mean, I draw a lot of animals but doing human things.’
‘Oh?’ Diana moved to one of the large sofas. Overstuffed with tassels around the bottom hem, they looked very comfortable. ‘What sort of things do these animals do?’
Amanda realised Diana was waiting for an invitation to sit down. ‘Let’s sit, please, I’m tired,’ she said to the older woman.
‘Tell me about your anthropomorphic animals,’ said Diana, placing her stick beside her.
Amanda put her head in her hands. ‘It sounds crazy when I try and describe it to people.’
‘Try,’ said Diana, and Amanda knew this was an instruction not an encouragement.
‘I see people as animals, and they have jobs. Like the man on the corner where I live in New York, Arnold. He makes me coffee and bagels and, to me, he’s a badger. He has a streak of grey in his hair and he’s kind of portly and he’s very kind. Badgers look kind, you know?’
Diana laughed. ‘I have never thought about it but I suppose they do, yes. So what was your mother?’
Amanda threw her hands up. ‘My mother, she was easy. She was an orangutan – you know the ones with a baby on their back, being regal and beautiful in their red-headed glory? That was my mom. She was the mother superior and the best mother of all time.’
Diana swallowed. ‘She sounds lovely.’
Amanda nodded. ‘She was, she really was. The funniest, most adventurous person. I mean, she was really creative also. I had the best costumes for dress-up days and she always gave me these really cool birthday parties. One year she did a sleepover in our tiny apartment for five girls and me, and she set it all up like we were in the Elizabeth Arden Day Spa. She did manicures and facials with cucumber on our eyes, which we thought was so glamorous. And we all got these cute robes from the discount store and she sent the guests home with little bags of nail polish and hand cream. It was considered the best party ever.’