Love Makes the Difference (Sully Point Book 1)

by Nicole Smith

  "She will in time," Frank said. "Everyone has to learn."

  The news that Maelynne was having a hard time explaining why the movie people had all left gave Anna a twinge of guilt. "Yikes, I never even thought about that. She must be upset."

  "Don't you go worrying about her," Cody said fiercely. "Not after all the gossip she's spread around about you and Sam."

  "She's still doing that?" Sam asked. "I would have thought it had died down."

  "Maelynne watches the entertainment news every night and then embellishes on it. To hear her tell it, you and Anna have run away to get married. That's why nobody's seen you in town all week."

  "Good grief! That woman." Anna shook her head and then after a moment started laughing. "I guess we should be grateful she didn't see us coming out of Tiffany's the other day."

  Frank frowned. "Actually we had a question about that ourselves. He pulled a folded up piece of newspaper out of his pocket. Spread out on the table was a picture of Anna smiling up at Sam--in front of Tiffany's. The caption read, 'Wedding Bells? Spotted at the engagement ring counter, Sam and Anna may have an announcement soon.' "You hadn't seen this?"

  Sam groaned. "No. This is not good. If Patrice saw that--"

  "What should we do?" Anna asked.

  "There's nothing we can do. We don't know if she saw this but we're certainly not going to fight with the paper at this point. They said nothing untruthful--remember how we went past that counter and stopped for a second? It's carefully worded so we can't go after them."

  Cody said, "So why did you go to Tiffany's then?"

  "For some jewelry to go with my dress for tonight. Come on, are you guys done eating? I don't feel like staying here anymore." Anna got up from the table. They made it back to the hotel without any encounters with photographers, and she relaxed as they entered the suite.

  Frank and Cody took off, escorted by security to their hotel. By the time Holly arrived, Anna was feeling more like herself again. It had been too weird to see her picture in a newspaper, but she'd moved beyond it.

  Sam stayed in the living room while Holly worked on Anna's hair and makeup. When Anna appeared, standing in front of the fireplace, he looked up and whistled. "You look terrific."

  Anna gave him a shaky smile and sat down to wait on him to get ready. Before she knew it they were leaving for the gallery and her big night was starting.

  * * * *

  Sam held Anna's hand lightly, and worked hard to disguise the nerves he was feeling about the night ahead. If he was right, Patrice would show up. And on top of that, he was worried for Anna. He believed in her talent, but you never knew how the public would respond. All he wanted was for her to get rave reviews. Was that too much to ask?

  Upon their arrival at the gallery, Stanley met them and drew them into the space. Anna let go of his hand and walked slowly forward, turning from one side to the other. The silence grew as she took in her paintings hanging all around her.

  "Anna?"

  "Marvelous! Stanley, you're a genius. The way you've displayed them, the ones you have grouped together, the lighting--I love it."

  Stanley gave her a knowing smile. "You didn't quite trust me, did you little one? Now you can see that I know what I'm doing."

  She blushed and ducked her head. "Sorry, Stanley, but I have a hard time trusting anyone. What do you think, Sam?"

  He walked around the gallery and was impressed. "Great job. I think your selection of which paintings to show is good, and of course you've displayed everything in a way that shows them off."

  Stanley said, "But you haven't introduced me to your other companion." He motioned to Holly who was standing open-mouthed behind them.

  "That's my sister, Holly Grainger. Holly, this is Stanley Walters."

  Holly seemed to gulp in some air and then shook Stanley's hand. "So nice to meet you. But Anna--you never told me--never showed me--there are so many and they're all so--so--"

  "This isn't all of them, just the beginning," Stanley told her.

  Sam watched Anna as she continued to walk around the room. Her eyes were mostly green tonight, and were sparkling with excitement. She'd trusted Stanley to hang the paintings without any input from her. As she'd told him, her only experience was the actual painting and beyond that she didn't know much about how to show them to best effect. She was clearly thrilled with the result.

  "Sam--come over here. Look." She pointed to a painting, and he realized it was the one he'd bought that had been damaged in the fire. He was pleased to see the restorer had managed to bring it back to its original state.

  Stanley had followed them. "I'm sorry to say the slashed painting was not quite as successful a restoration. Just too much damage."

  "Oh well, I wasn't all that hopeful about that one," Anna said. "But this one is special because it belongs to Sam. Will people know it's not for sale?"

  "Yes, there's a tag to the side."

  "Ah, right. Why are there all different numbers next to each one? 'Fifty, Eighteen, Eleven' what does that mean?"

  "That's the money part of things. We're never so crass as to put an actual dollar sign up next to a painting. Everyone knows the pricing."

  "So it's like, five hundred, eight hundred, etcetera?" Anna asked.

  Stanley laughed. "No, my dear. That would be fifty thousand, eighteen thousand, etcetera."

  "Stanley! Surely that's too much."

  "Not at all. I could probably get more, but it is your first showing."

  "Now I'm nervous all over again."

  Sam put an arm around her shoulder. "Don't think about the money, let's just enjoy the evening."

  Frank and Cody arrived, dressed in new suits that Holly had provided. They both looked as shocked as Holly had when they saw the paintings. Sam and Anna walked up to Frank to discover him looking a painting filled with light, as tears ran down his cheeks.

  "Dad, are you okay? What's wrong?" Anna gasped out.

  "Nothing's wrong, kiddo. It's all right. Your talent--so like your mother's yet different, all your own. I'm so proud of you, I don't know what to do."

  Sam watched them hug and felt a glow of satisfaction. This was how life should be, filled with happiness and meaning, and love.

  Within the next fifteen minutes the gallery began to fill up with people. Anna stood with Sam and was introduced over and over again by Stanley. Sam stood behind Anna and could always tell when someone recognized him. Each time he gave a little shake of his head right when the person would have said something, and prevented any distraction of interest from Anna to him.

  From the bits and pieces of conversation around them, Sam thought he was hearing a positive reaction to her work. He glanced around and saw two security team members, dressed in nice suits, standing close to them. There were others scattered throughout the crowd and near the door.

  Stanley whispered something to Anna that made her eyes go wide. Hmm, a sale? More than one? He leaned forward to ask when a screeching voice cut through the noise of the gathering.

  "Get away from him! I told you that you'd pay and now you will!"

  It was Patrice, in disguise, waving a gun, as the security team beganlunging for her.

  Too late, Sam thought, and dove in front of Anna even as Patrice fired the gun.

  Chapter 13

  Anna's world narrowed to her view of Sam's body jerking once and falling to the floor before her, even as Leo threw her to the ground.

  "Let me up! Sam! Oh God, is he hurt? Please let me get to him."

  Leo kept her on the floor for a moment longer, then said, "All right. Patrice is secured. Police on the way."

  Anna scrambled up to her knees to see Sam on the floor before her, blood staining his suit on the left side.

  "Sam, no, please, don't leave me. Hang on, we'll get help." She looked up at the people around them. Leo was already opening Sam's shirt to assess the damage.

  Looking down at Sam, she cradled his face in her hands, even as his eyes fluttered open. "There you
are, oh Sam I've been so stupid. I want you to know this--I love you. I love you so much."

  Sam looked directly into her eyes and said, "Now you tell me? Anna, I'm not dying. I think it's just a scratch."

  "I don't care. I mean, I do care that you aren't dying. But that doesn't change what I'm saying." She leaned over and kissed his mouth gently, hearing in the background the clicking of cell phone cameras. "I've always loved you. And I always will." She turned to Leo. "Is he really going to live?"

  Leo chuckled. "Yes, it's just a scratch. He'll be fine."

  "I love you Sam Carter, and I don't care who knows it." She waved a hand at the people around them.

  "And I love you, too, Anna Grainger." As she leaned down to kiss him again, she felt his right arm coming up to circle her neck and pull her down to him. The crowd around them began applauding.

  * * * *

  The romance of Sam and Anna, and the perfidy of Patrice, was well-documented in newspapers and online for several weeks after the shooting at the gallery. Anna's paintings sold like hotcakes at phenomenal prices, while the public clamored for any news they could get about the couple.

  Anna finally suggested they give an interview to a TV show host, and Sam agreed, hoping it would quell some of the interest. That tactic apparently backfired and brought them even more fans.

  Patrice was locked up in an institution for the criminally insane. She'd fallen apart completely after trying to kill Anna.

  Sully Point was a huge benefactor of the shooting and subsequent notoriety of Sam and Anna's romance. Tourism that year was huge as everyone wanted a photo of Anna's building and the place on the beach where Sam's house had burned down. But the real draw was the bakery. Holly had hired more help, and no fan felt complete until they'd sampled cookies, muffins, or donuts from the bakery.

  As for Sam and Anna, they disappeared for a while. Sam rented a villa in Italy and they stayed in seclusion, writing and painting and loving. Anna remained in touch with her family by phone and Skype, as did Sam. Norm called Sam regularly to ask about the book's progress, and so that Sam could yell at him and let off steam. Stanley held another showing of Anna's works without her and called them reveling in the triumph of the event.

  * * * *

  Anna stood next to Sam on the beach at Sully Point. No longer known as Wally's place, the sight of the burned house was now just Sam's beach house. She looked out at the ocean and a clear blue sky, wispy clouds high up floating by. "I've missed this place. Italy was wonderful, but I'm glad we decided to come back here for autumn."

  "Are you still okay with the idea of building us a place here at the beach?" Sam asked as he stood behind her and wrapped his arms around Anna.

  "Yes, I think it will be great. Especially if we make it larger for my studio. I'll still keep the building with the loft, but I think I'd like to work out here so close to the elements."

  Sam cleared his throat. "Anna, there's something I've wanted to talk to you about for a while now."

  "Hmm? What's that?"

  He turned her around to face him. His dark chocolate eyes looked very serious to her and she wondered what was going on. "The thing is, love, I want to spend the rest of my life with you. I love you madly. Will you marry me?"

  Anna felt her mouth drop open for a moment and then shape itself into a smile that grew. "Marry you? Yes! Absolutely! Oh Sam!"

  As her arms slid up his shoulders, and his encircled her body, she felt an explosion of happiness inside her. He pulled away after a long passionate kiss and pulled a box out of his pocket--a Tiffany's box. He opened it and inside was a ring with an emerald-cut large diamond, surrounded on either side by actual emeralds.

  "To match your eyes," he said softly.

  "It's gorgeous," she said. He slipped it onto her ring finger and it fit perfectly. "Do you think a person can be too happy?"

  "Never."

  "That's good," she said. "Because I think this kind of happiness goes on forever."

  "Let's start our forever right now."

  # # #

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  Table of Contents

  Copyright

  Dedication

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13