Gates of Paradise (a Blue Bloods Novel)

“Class is almost over,” Ivy said. “She’s taking a grad class on Kandinsky. Such an overachiever.” She rolled her eyes.

Well, they had Kandinsky in common, Schuyler thought. Finn’s taste must have been influenced by Decca. And Ben, of course. She remembered that he’d been some sort of artist.

“We’ll catch her on the way out. Come on.”

Oliver and Schuyler followed Ivy down a long corridor to a seminar room. Through a window in the door, Schuyler could see a group of students sitting around a table. They were arguing animatedly, and she felt a pang of jealousy at the thought of Finn as a normal college student, passionate about art, oblivious to the fact that the world might be a horrible and dangerous place, where your love could be ripped away from you.

“Sky? You with us?” Oliver asked.

“Just watching,” she said.

The students began packing up their books and heading toward the door. Schuyler jumped back and wondered why she felt as if she needed to hide. Nervous about meeting her sister, she supposed.

A tall blond girl with her hair in a ponytail, her face framed by a pair of severe black eyeglasses, left the room. Schuyler had expected Finn to look sporty, somehow, from the photos of her on the ski slopes and the tennis courts; and while the girl certainly had an athletic gracefulness about her, she carried herself with a serious mien. Finn Chase, Schuyler realized, was a bit of a nerd. A cool nerd, of course—a hipster with her vintage glasses and the polyester blouse and the bell-bottom jeans—but a nerd nonetheless.

Ivy stood by the door and grabbed Finn’s arm as soon as she exited the room. “I have the craziest thing to tell you,” she said.

Finn rolled her eyes. “Crazier than the time you said your calculus tutor was hitting on you, except he just had a spastic eyelid? Crazier than the time you thought we all had bedbugs because you actually had poison oak from rolling around in the bushes with that random freshman? Crazier than—”

“Okay, I get it, enough already,” Ivy said. “Yes, crazier than all of that. Legit crazy.” She dragged Finn over to where Schuyler and Oliver were waiting. “Finn, meet Schuyler. Schuyler, this is Finn. Also, this is Oliver. And they’re totally not dating.”

Finn gave Ivy the kind of look Schuyler suspected she’d given her many, many times before, then turned and smiled at Schuyler and Oliver. “Nice to meet you,” she said politely. “What’s this all about?”

“GUESS!” Ivy was bursting with excitement. She practically bounced up and down, trying to drag out the moment. “You’ll never guess!”

Enough already, Schuyler thought, ready to interrupt. Finally, Ivy squealed, “She’s your sister!”

Finn frowned. Uh-oh. “Don’t be ridiculous,” she said. “I don’t have a sister. Or a brother. Or any siblings. Who are you guys, really?”

“She’s not kidding,” Schuyler said. “I know it sounds crazy, but I actually am your sister. I just found out a few days ago. Ben was my dad too. He was married to my mother but he died before I was born.”

“You’re kidding,” said Finn, shocked.

“She isn’t,” Oliver said. “Not even a little bit.”

“But I thought—and he and my mom never even—are we the same age? I’m so confused.”

“I think you’re maybe two years older than I am,” Schuyler said. “It’s kind of a long story. If you want to hear it.” She still couldn’t tell. Finn was looking at her with such skepticism, and Schuyler was struck by how much she looked exactly like Decca—wary, guarded, reserved—that she was prepared to be dismissed as an opportunistic crackpot.

“Um, hello?” Finn asked. “Of course I want to hear it!” She broke out into a broad smile. The one Schuyler recognized from the photographs of her father on the mantel. Ben Chase’s dazzling, generous, light-filled smile. “Come to my dorm and tell me everything!”





THIRTYFOUR


Mimi


ow it was just a question of which city the Lennox brothers and their new brides had moved to. Mimi didn’t think it would be that difficult to find them: if she’d fallen into a completely improbable romance and run off to Europe, there’s only one place she would go.

Paris.

They’d be in hiding, of course, but no one could hide from Mimi for very long. She had better contacts in Paris than in London, even among the Red Bloods, and a married pair of twins couldn’t be completely inconspicuous.

It only took her a few days to find them. They were living in the 3rd arrondissement, in Le Marais.