Chapter 13: Replacing the Portrait**
Back at the Sterling mansion, the house felt lighter, as though the heavy shadows that once lingered in the corners had dissipated in the warm sunlight.
Arthur stood in the grand foyer with a screwdriver. Julian held a ladder steady as Arthur unhooked the massive oil portrait of Charles Sterling from the wall.
Eleanor and Lily watched from the foot of the stairs.
"Are you throwing Grandpa away?" Lily asked innocently.
Arthur stepped down from the ladder and knelt beside his daughter. "No, sweetheart. We're moving Grandpa's picture to the library, so we can remember both the good he did and the mistakes he made."
"What's going to go up there instead?" Lily pointed to the empty space above the marble console table.
Eleanor stepped forward with a framed photograph taken the previous weekend at the groundbreaking ceremony: Arthur, Julian, Marcus, Eleanor, and Lily, all wearing hardhats, holding shovels, and laughing together under the open sky.
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"This," Eleanor said, smiling warmly. "A reminder of who we are today."
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