Fred had turned toward the voice long before Rose had. She didn’t notice right away the way the woman tensed up at the sound of the voice or way she seemed frozen in place by it. Instead, she was listening to the man’s odd little monologue, a bemused on her own face as he spoke of the Mona Lisa. This man sure was a character!
And then Rose was speaking, sounding quite upset and hopeful at the same time and the connection hit. Fred looked between the man and Rose and back again as she considered the kind of relationship she had. “I see him,” she said encouragingly. “I don’t think the mansion is playing with your mind. Unless it’s trying to trick both of us, but I don’t see what good that would do with me.”
She looked between the man and Rose once again, smiling. Hm. Merry Christmas, after all.