“My Angelo,” she had said. Not “Michelangelo,” but “my Angelo.” Had her real wish been to have Caroline complete the life that had been denied to her? Find Angelo? Find happiness? Had she maybe known about Luca and hoped . . . Caroline smiled to herself.

“I did it, Aunt Lettie. It’s all working out as you wanted,” she whispered.

She reached under her seat for her backpack and brought out the folder containing Great-Aunt Lettie’s drawings. She was still curious why these particular sketches had been precious enough to hide them away, when others, equally good, had been left in plain sight. She turned them over, one by one, until she stopped, staring, frowning. This was not Great-Aunt Lettie’s work. Even though it was a rough sketch, it had been done by a much more skilled hand. Was it a copy? A print?

But no, she could see the impressions of the ink and where it had dried on old paper. And it was signed in the bottom corner. Picasso.

“The sketches,” she whispered to herself. Aunt Lettie had sent her here to find the sketches. She had no idea how her aunt might have acquired such things, but she realized the implication. If they truly belonged to her great-aunt, Caroline might now be exceedingly rich. And then she remembered that brief mention in the diary: Contessa Fiorito saying that in her youth she had modelled for some of the great artists and they had given her sketches as a thank-you gift. Was this one of the same sketches? Had the contessa given them to Great-Aunt Lettie? Hadn’t she mentioned leaving them to Juliet in her will if anything happened to her? There would be some digging to do, but Luca could help with that.

She couldn’t wait to show them to Luca. She couldn’t wait to see Luca again. And she pictured Josh’s face when she arrived in New York with Luca at her side, to bring Teddy home.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

My thanks, as always, to Danielle and my brilliant team at Lake Union, and to Meg, Christina and the equally brilliant team at Jane Rotrosen Agency. Also heartfelt thanks to Clare, Jane and John, who always provide such thoughtful insights and suggestions.

Thanks to the librarians at the Correr Museum Library in St Mark’s Square, who enthusiastically provided me with more research materials than I could ever tackle.