Myra giggled like a schoolgirl and began to blush. “Charles, you have made my life very rich, exciting, and rewarding.”

“Ditto, my darling. Now let’s get busy.” Charles took her hand and led her back to the kitchen. “I need help opening the champagne.”

“Did I hear someone say ‘champagne’?” Annie chirped.

“You did, indeed.” Fergus was ahead of them, popping the first cork.

The sisters each took a glass and seated themselves at the table. Charles pulled a large TV screen into the dining room.

“Charles? What is this?” Myra was stunned at the electronic intrusion.

“One moment, my dear.” Charles grabbed the remote and pointed at the TV.

The screen lit up, and Charlotte’s face appeared. “Darlings!”

“Hot damn!” Maggie yelled.

“How cool!” Yoko cooed.

“This is great!” Kathryn bellowed as more sounds of delight came from the others.

Myra touched her pearls as tears filled her eyes. “Charlotte! We miss you!”

“Thank you for the invite!” The camera on Charlotte’s side pulled back, revealing the same roast and accompaniments on her table, including fuchsia peonies.

Myra looked a bit puzzled, until she realized that Charles and Fergus had planned for Charlotte to be a dinner guest via satellite! Since Charlotte was staying at Annie’s flat in London, it had been easy to plan with Annie’s London staff. The camera panned the room. Sitting to one side of Charlotte was Lincoln Gladwell, the gemologist! Myra gasped a sound of delight. “Hello, Lincoln! Nice of you to join us!”

Then she heard the sound of a dog barking. The camera panned to the other side of the table. A big golden Lab sat up and gave a soft “Woof!”

“Who is that I hear?” Myra smiled.

“This is Jewel!” Charlotte beamed. “Lincoln’s dog! Annie said it would be okay for her to visit.”

“Annie, were you in on this?” Myra pretended to challenge her.

Annie couldn’t help but laugh. “Gotcha!”

The evening lasted for several hours, with everyone conversing as if they were all in the same room. At one point Charlotte indicated that she had been wondering about the real Chagall. Had it ever been recovered?

So Annie explained that it had. “Mrs. Spencer from Christie’s was able to locate the original. It was such a coincidence.” She gave Myra a wink. “Lorraine Thompson’s daughter Genevieve Ringwood was at a flea market the Saturday after everything went down and bought it for twenty-five dollars. When a friend suggested she have someone look at it, she phoned the local art gallery, who referred her to Mrs. Spencer. The French government sent her a check for one hundred fifty thousand dollars. It didn’t bring her mother back, but now she has some financial breathing room to help raise her daughter.”