Reflections

Reflections

By Joelle Steele

Copyright Joelle Steele 2016

Published by Many Hats Publications/Joelle Steele Enterprises Publishing at Smashwords

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you're reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

ISBN: 978-1-940388-24-3 (ebook)

ISBN: 978-1-940388-25-0 (print)

The figure of a woman used in creating the cover art is from an oil on canvas painting titled Bust of a Young Woman, by Jean Baptiste Greuze French (1725-1805).

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements

Poem

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

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Other Books by Joelle Steele

About the Author

Acknowledgements

Thanks to Gretchen Wilding for her content editing. Also thanks to Liz Hart-Graham for her knowledge of mirror optics; to Martin Erbe for his knowledge of the history of mirrors and mirror-making; and to Michael W. Cuneo for his knowledge of the history of the Roman Catholic Church in 18th century Europe.

Regarded apart from its reflection, the mirror presents a continuous, flat, colorless, unrelieved surface, a thing always and obviously unpleasant.

- Edgar Allan Poe

The Philosophy of Furniture, 1840

We have to recognize that we are spiritual beings with souls existing in a spiritual world as well as material beings with bodies and brains existing in a material world.

- Sir John C. Eccles

Evolution of the Brain, Creation of the Self, 1989

There is no point in using the word 'impossible' to describe something that has clearly happened.

- Douglas Adams

Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency, 1987

Reflections

Do not ever fear the darkness

or the spirits that wander at night,

for the daylight only disguises

what also roams free in the light.

That which you glimpse in the mirror

far exceeds that of your silent face.

Lingering are those of the long-lost

who vanished without a trace.

They ask but that you release them

and set their weary souls free.

They are not devils or demons,

just reflections of what used to be.

Stand fast and do not desert them!

Or their whispers will not fade away,

and they'll rouse you from peaceful slumber

and haunt you by night and by day.

Chapter 1

I can't believe you're going to buy those! exclaimed Emily Renard. They give me the creeps. That's why I've kept them in storage all these years.

I love them, replied Georgina softly. I don't think they're creepy at all.

Georgina Castle loved beautiful things. She was an antiques dealer and collector, and she fell in love with the old gilt mirrors the minute she first laid eyes on them at the late André Renard's estate sale.

Most 18th century mirrors were firmly ensconced in family homes and rarely came on the market, least of all at a price she could afford. And a pair of matching mirrors with their original glass? They were more rare than any single mirror. It was almost a miracle if such a fragile object could survive relatively unscathed for the almost 300 years that these two had. She didn't know where she was going to hang them ... yet. She didn't have a place for trumeau mirrors – also known as pier mirrors – that were usually hung at the sides of a window or other interior structure. But she would move heaven and earth to find a place for them.

She ran her hand gently along the edges of the old frames and over the multi-paned mercury glass panels, sensing the typical yet subtle imperfections. The glass in each was in a rectangular form and some of the lower panes showed signs of deterioration. The frames were carved from solid wood – she thought it was probably walnut or mahogany – in a transitional style reminiscent of the older 17th century Baroque that was popular during the reign of Louis XIV, but with hints of the Rococo that was to come during the time of Louis XV. They were gently adorned with shell-like forms, scrollwork, and filigree, topped with an arched crest of small roses, and all water-gilt in 24K gold. There were two hardly-noticeable areas where one frame had lost some of its gilding and the other had three small places where the gilding, the gesso, and the wood beneath had been chipped. It wasn't unusual to find such damage in very old and delicate pieces. What was unusual was that their original wood panel backings were not raw, but had instead been neatly sanded and stained.

I always felt like I was being watched by them, said Emily absently. She was Georgina's best friend, former cousin by marriage, and owner of the mirrors. She scanned the room and tried to observe what other items from her father's estate were attracting the attention of the early-bird browsers. And I don't like the way they make your face look greenish, she added.

They're beautiful, Em, smiled Georgina. They're French, definitely 18th century, probably made around 1725 to 1735 or so. The greenish cast is caused by the amalgam of mercury and tin that's sandwiched between two thin layers of glass. Over time, it can corrode or detach from the glass and the mercury gets released as a vapor. Mercury is toxic, so I'll have to check them over carefully for leaks and have both of them sealed.

I don't know about them being beautiful, said Emily. I can't even see a very clear reflection of myself in them.

That's kind of typical of old mirrors, Em, replied Georgina. Glass this old is a lot thinner than our modern glass. It usually has a faint yellow or bluish-gray cast to it. Definitely not as sharp in its reflective qualities either.

My father used to stare into those mirrors, continued Emily. I often heard him talking to himself in them – usually in French, which I never learned to speak very well. When I was little I used to think he was crazy. When I was an adult, I figured he was egotistical or that he had some form of early-onset dementia.

Georgina reflected on her friend's words for a moment, wondering if she should comment on the behavior of Emily's father, André Renard. Talking to himself in front of the mirrors? There was always the possibility that he had been exposed to high levels of mercury vapors from the mirrors. Chronic exposure to mercury vapors could result in emotional and cognitive problems, in addition to a variety of physiological problems. Perhaps André didn't know about the mercury or its toxicity since he never had the mirrors sealed to prevent leakage. She wondered how much exposure Emily might have had to the mirrors and how many other things were in storage with the mirrors that might have become contaminated. She didn't want to jump to any conclusions. Not all leaking mirrors were releasing toxic fumes in harmful amounts. But still, she couldn't help wondering about André Renard's mental state and being concerned about her best friend Emily's health.

I don't know what your father saw in the mirrors, but I don't see anything in them but my own rather faint reflection, mused Georgina.

Yeah, I know. It was probably just an eccentricity of his. I put them in storage along with his other belongings in case he should ever return from wherever he disappeared to.

Even though her father had now been gone for almost 30 years, Emily had long harbored a sliver of hope that he was quietly and happily living somewhere in the world, possibly somewhere in the south of France.

That was because André Renard was born in Marseille and visited there often. He came from a dying line of a wealthy family that had built great wealth from a shipping business in Marseille. He first visited America when he traveled to San Francisco for the wedding of his younger sister Giselle to Basilio Rossi, a scavenger from another prosperous family, one that made its fortune from a shipbuilding business in Genoa, Italy. André intended to return to Marseille following the wedding, but when he met Enes Conti, a cousin of his new brother-in-law Basilio, he was smitten and stayed in The City to woo the charming Enes. After two years, he married her, and Emily was born a year later.

A well-known art collector and philanthropist, André was also a widower who raised his daughter Emily from the age of six, after Enes died of breast cancer. He was a devoted father, and he and Emily were always very close, so it was a great shock when he disappeared suddenly in 1987. Emily was 18 at the time and simply awoke one morning to find her beloved father gone, vanished without a trace.

Emily often told Georgina the many stories about life with her father and about the circumstances surrounding his disappearance.

At first the police suspected foul play since he didn't leave a note and it didn't look as if he had packed up and left. All his belongings were right where he left them. Nothing was missing, and his bank accounts hadn't been touched. After the police finally deemed it a cold case with no leads of any kind, and after years of hiring private investigators who were also unsuccessful in locating him, I had him declared legally dead. That was in 1996. I waited until a year after my Aunt Giselle passed away to do it.

It was at this time that Emily enrolled at the San Francisco Art Institute, and that was a year after Georgina had also enrolled. Both women were working on their master's degrees. When Georgina heard the name Renard, she recognized it because her father – her then soon-to-be partner in Castle Antiques – had sold Renard some paintings when she was still a child. The two women became almost inseparable after they bonded over being raised by their fathers following the untimely deaths of their mothers. And it was Emily who introduced Georgina to her cousin Lorenzo 'Renzo' Rossi. Georgina and Renzo hit it off immediately. They dated for two years before they married, and they stayed married for almost ten years before they divorced. And the two had managed to stay on friendly terms ever since.

Emily was petite with olive skin and dark brown eyes. Her facial features were delicate and framed by chin-length wavy hair so dark it was almost black. She had a figure that, despite her small stature, could display clothes beautifully, and she spent her money freely on the best and most stylish apparel she could find. But she wasn't a spendthrift. On the contrary, she was good at managing the money that had come down to her from generations of wealthy ancestors, and she had a good head for real estate. She owned two apartment buildings in the Marina District and she lived in a quaint Italianate house on Santa Clara Avenue in Saint Francis Wood. Through her real estate ventures and other investments, she was able to spend a good deal of her time in a variety of philanthropic pursuits, most in the arts.

After Emily completed her master's degree in art history in 1999, she had met, married, and divorced gallery owner Ronald Church. It had been very difficult for her to accept the fact that with her father's fortune, she would always be a magnet for men who wanted her for that money, and money was at the very top of Ron's agenda. Fortunately, Emily figured it out within a few months of their marriage – unfortunately not sooner – and he was out of her life for good. And while many men found her attractive, she didn't trust them and had become independent and accustomed to being on her own.

You know, said Georgina. I could probably hang these in the foyer of my loft once it's remodeled. Maybe I could have a space built just for them, you know, like under the skylight just before the two steps that lead up to the living room?

I suppose so. But I think if they're producing toxic fumes, fixing them should probably be your top priority.

Yeah, you're right. I had Renzo seal my other two mercury mirrors with Mylar – museums are using that technique nowadays. So, I'll just take these to Renzo too.

She knew it was important to get the mirrors sealed, and even after she had her other mercury mirrors sealed she used vapor indicator cards to measure any mercury levels near those old mirrors – just in case. But Georgina's aesthetic mind was fixed on finding a place to hang them once they were sealed. The foyer was a good spot for sure. They would stand out there, make an impact, and they wouldn't have to compete with the many other antique mirrors she had collected over the years, especially her other gilt ones, like the early 18th century Queen Anne with its original oak back and iron hanger. Or the early 19th century Louis XVI with its ribbon crest and birds, original paneled back, and mercury glass – until now the largest of all her mirrors at 51 inches tall by 23 inches wide.

Oh, I almost forgot to tell you, said Emily. While I was cleaning out the storage locker I found a whole bunch of genealogical files. It seems that my father had been researching our family. Turns out that Renzo and I are not only first cousins through my father and his mother, but we're also second cousins through a pair of our shared great-grandparents. Interesting, isn't it?

Yes, it is, replied Georgina. I don't seem to have any cousins in my tree at all.

Maybe not, but you've got quite a few antique and junk dealers in your tree, she laughed.

That's for sure. All the way back to that dinky little town in Italy. I remember visiting there when I went to Europe after I graduated. It was called Trivolzio. It was on the southern outskirts of Milan, and the family inn and home were still there on via Rusca. It had become a private residence at some point, and I knocked but no one answered. But that's my Dad's side of the family. We haven't found anything at all on my Mom's side of the family.

Well, more genealogical information shows up on the Internet every day. Some day you'll probably discover her roots too, commented Emily. Oh, I forgot to tell you. I think these mirrors are somehow connected to my family. I haven't gone through all of the genealogy stuff back far enough to say how. I'll let you know if I turn up anything interesting.

"Oh Em, are you sure you want to part with them? I mean, seriously, if they're part of your heritage, maybe you should keep them in case you someday want to pass them down in the family. I know