The Mistress(16)
“I’ll be back soon. I thought I’d spend a week here and see what Marie-Claude has been up to. She signed a flock of new artists.” In recent years, he had become barely more than a silent partner in the gallery he had founded. Lorenzo’s affairs still took up all his time—the estate was huge, and more intricate than ever to manage. He wanted to make sure that Maylis would be in great financial shape forever, in case anything happened to him, and he also advised Theo and managed his finances for him. Theo was more astute about his affairs than his mother but preferred focusing on his painting. “I had a call this morning that I want to discuss with you, Maylis.”
“Oh, please don’t tell me they’re raising my taxes again, and how you want to manage it. It always gives me a headache.” She sounded instantly nervous as she said it. “Can’t you just take care of it for me?”
“Not this time. It’s not about taxes—you have a decision to make. I got a call from an attorney in London, representing a client. He wishes to remain anonymous but is an important art collector. He wants to buy a painting he saw at the restaurant.”
“Don’t bother going any further,” Maylis said brusquely. “You know I’m not selling. There are ‘Not for Sale’ signs on every painting in the house.”
“He’s offering an important price, Maylis. And I had to at least relay the offer to you. I didn’t want to turn him down without your consent.”
“You have my consent. Tell him Lorenzo’s work is not for sale.” She didn’t even want to hear the offer.
“They did their homework. And they’re offering the same price the last of Lorenzo’s paintings sold for at Christie’s. That’s a very handsome price, and this is just their opening offer.” Although the price was high, Gabriel guessed from the lawyer’s tone that they would go higher.
“It was seven years ago, and they would go for more now. If I were selling, but I’m not. Just tell them no. Do you know who it is?”
“No, I don’t. The prospective buyer does not wish us to know.”
“Well, it doesn’t matter. Tell him nothing is for sale.”
Gabriel hesitated for a moment. They had offered an enormous price, although she was right, and if she put a painting of Lorenzo’s in a current auction, it would bring even more. But the prospective buyer knew that too. It was a shrewd initial bid. “I think you should discuss this with Theo,” Gabriel said quietly. He thought her son should at least know, but he had wanted to call Maylis first, and if the painting in question was on display in the house, it belonged to her. But Theo would give her good advice, and Gabriel was tempted to encourage her to sell it, to establish a new value for Lorenzo’s work, which would inevitably be higher than what had been established before. He was prepared to negotiate for more if she agreed to sell, and told her which one the offer was for.
“That painting doesn’t belong to Theo. And he doesn’t want to sell anything either. We don’t need the money, and I’m not giving up any of Lorenzo’s paintings.” She had a modest lifestyle, and made a handsome living with the restaurant, aside from what Lorenzo left her.
“Just let Theo know. I’d be interested in hearing his opinion,” Gabriel said gently. He never pushed her, or forced her to do anything. He advised her.
“All right, I’ll tell him,” she said grudgingly, and went on to discuss other things of more importance to her, like their margin on great wines at the restaurant. She wanted to know if Gabriel thought they should raise their prices. He advised her on everything, and she relied on him to be there for her. She followed all his suggestions, except about selling her late husband’s work, at least from time to time, but before they hung up she promised again to call Theo. She finished what she was doing with the restaurant ledger, and then called her son.
As always, he took forever to answer, which meant he was painting. He sounded totally distracted when he picked up the phone and said, “Yes?” He could see that the call was from his mother, and he just hoped she wasn’t asking him to work at the restaurant again that night, and that Jean-Pierre was in good health and back at his post as ma?tre d’. “I’m painting.”
“Obviously. When aren’t you? Gabriel told me to call you. I’m sorry to interrupt.”
“Is something wrong?”
“No, everything’s fine. He had a call from an attorney in London, representing an anonymous private collector, who wants to buy one of my paintings.”
“Did you tell him it’s not for sale?” Theo couldn’t see the point of the call, and he hated losing his train of thought while he worked. For him, painting was an intense business.
“Gabriel knows that. Apparently they’re offering our last Christie’s price, which is too low now anyway. But Gabriel thought you should know. And he said he could negotiate a higher price if we want to sell, which I don’t.”
Theo hesitated for a moment before he answered, and frowned.
“That was an inflated price at the time, driven up by a bidding war between two buyers. They paid a lot more than they should have.” Still, Maylis and Theo had been pleased with the result at the time. “And this anonymous buyer is willing to match that as an opening bid?” He sounded surprised.
“That’s what Gabriel said. I told him to turn it down, but he wanted me to discuss it with you first.” Theo could understand why. It was an enormous price for his father’s work, and would prove its market value, even more so if the buyer would go higher.