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#Chapter 443: No Place for a Woman

Author: Caroline Above Story
last update Last Updated: 2024-10-29 19:42:56

Olivia

“Dianna?”

The name escaped my lips before I could stop myself. The door had creaked open, revealing an older woman with wisps of gray hair framing her face. She wore a pair of paint-covered overalls, beneath which she wore an equally-paint-stained orange sweater.

Her eyes, wide with shock, were fixed on the painting I held in my hands. As our gazes met, a moment of silence passed between us, heavy with unspoken questions. Somehow, something about this painting that had been hanging over my mantle at home had struck a chord within her.

I just hoped that it was a good chord.

“Where... where did you find that painting?” The artist’s voice trembled as she spoke, betraying a vulnerability that contrasted sharply with the reclusive, almost mythical figure the town had painted her out to be.

I swallowed. “My husband... He got it at a yard sale,” I explained, still somewhat stunned by her sudden appearance. “It’s been hanging over our mantlepiece for ages now.”

She scoffed. “A yard sal
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