Page 16 of Audon

“Did you like painting before? I just realized that I’ve never seen any of your work.” He pulled out his phone and showed her some of the things he’d done. He was especially proud of the murals that he’d done at the hospital. “Then there is the work you did in Lizzy’s bedroom. I’d forgotten about that.”

“Yes, so did I. I didn’t remember it until recently either, until you sent me the check. I had forgotten about it even before then.” She told him how she’d found the bill on Robert’s desk under some paperwork. “Yes, that’s what Burno said.”

They talked for hours. Just as she was yawning for the third time in so many minutes, she looked at the clock. It was nearly one in the morning, and they’d been up since five-thirty. Locking up the house, the two of them held hands as they moved around the lower levels, making sure that the house was as safe as they could make it. He would stop her a couple of times and kiss her, and she knew then that he wanted her. As they made their way upstairs, she asked him about the master suite.

“I’m sure that she meant for us to use it.” He looked in the room as they walked past it. “It’s a lovely room. If it makes you feel better, we can get a new mattress to put in there so it’ll be all ours. I think that would be the best way to go.”

“I agree. We’ll sleep in the room after we get that taken care of.” Closing the door, she said that she’d go through it again this week to make sure that all of their things were moved out. “It might be hard on me, but it really needs to be done. I’ve moved out all the clothing that was in there of theirs, but their personal things will be hard on me.”

“We can hire someone to do it if that’s what you want.” She said she’d get it. “All right. But if you change your mind, it’s no problem getting someone in there to make sure that we have a good place to start our lives in. It’s going to break your heart to have to dispose of the things that they had in the room. I know for a fact that it would me.”

She looked up at him and began to think about how hard it would be for her. When she’d taken out their clothing, that had been hard enough. She knew that getting their personal touches to the room would just about break her heart.

“You’re right. I’ll go through their jewelry and personal things like that, but you’re right, we need to have someone go through the rest of the room so that we won’t be bothered by what’s left in there. I’ll have it donated like I did their clothing. That was hard enough.” He told her that he’d take care of it in the morning. “Thank you. I know that it’ll be easy on me to know that someone else is going to be doing that for me.”

They were getting ready for bed when she realized that her room was very much her own. She’d been living in the room since she’d found out that she was going to have their baby, and she’d forgotten that the room really didn’t belong to her. Now that it did, she was going to have it cleaned up as well. She’d only brought a few things from her house and put the rest in storage when she’d moved out of her house. It had only been a temporary thing, and now that it was more permanent, she was going to have the room redecorated so that it was ready for guests that they might have over. Just as soon as they were in the big room. The master suite was a great deal bigger than the one that she was sleeping in.

It had only been a few months, but she was ready to move on. Milly would have been pissed at her for not using the master suite when she was married. She wished her sister was here with her now so that she could tell her how happy she was. And how well Lizzy was doing.

“I think I’m going to go to the cemetery tomorrow and talk to Milly.” He said that he’d watch over Lizzy, but she had to be careful. “Yes, the Jacobsons. I’ll be extra careful. I’ll take Burno along with me so he can be there in the event they show up.”

“I’d feel better going with you too. Why don’t we have the nanny watch Lizzy for us? I won’t interfere with your talking to your sister, but I can keep an eye out for the other two while you’re there.” She hoped he’d say that and was glad that he had. “I don’t know what I’d do if something happened to my family. Especially to my parents. I love them both so much that I’m not going to be good when they pass on.”

“I love your parents as well. Your dad is wonderfully nice, and he gets around really well.” His dad had had a stroke a few months ago, and he’d been recovering while the boys, as they were called, went on with their lives, making sure to go to their house daily. “He said you guys took very good care of him while he was laid up.”

“Dad is my hero. My mom? Well, she and I have a special relationship that has a lot to do with my art. She’s the first person that encouraged me to go to another country to show my paintings. Without her, I’d still be at craft shows trying to hustle a few bucks out of people for my work.” He laughed. “She even signed me up with my agent so that I had no excuse but to do what he wanted. And it worked out for me ever since.”

Getting ready for bed, she went into the bathroom to change. She’d been wearing one of Audon’s shirts around the house lately and his T-shirts to bed. They were large on her, and she had plenty of room, but they were cottony soft and smelled like he did. Getting into bed, she realized that Audon was already asleep.

Looking at him, she fell in love with him even more. His soft snores were wonderfully sexy, and she wanted to curl around him and go to sleep herself. Just as she was getting under the covers, Lizzy woke up. While she knew that the nanny had her, she went to the room to feed her the last bottle of the night. She was just being changed when she entered the room.

“How’s momma’s little girl?” She smiled at her and Lizzy smiled back. Since she had only just woken up, she realized that she wanted to go back to sleep. Holding her in her arms, she rocked her. Lizzy snuggled up under her chin and closed her eyes. Trin watched her go to sleep and realized that she had to treasure these moments, as Lizzy was growing up so quickly and she was afraid of missing the milestones. Holding her tighter, she squirmed a little from being held so tight, so she let her go a little. Just as she was falling asleep again, Trin decided that she wanted to have a lot of sisters and brothers for her daughter so that she’d never feel alone. There was no feeling like that. She missed her sister more every day.

“You and I will have so much fun, little girl. We’ll go shopping and have our nails done.” She whispered things to her that she wanted to do and realized that she could do that with her. “Momma has worked very hard so that you won’t have to. Daddy will be there for you too. I know it.”

Putting her to bed, she went back to her bedroom and got into bed with Audon. They didn’t make love on their wedding night, but they had all the rest of their lives to do that. She snuggled around Audon and closed her eyes. Sleep was quick in coming to her, and she was glad for that.

~*~

Gilman was up before the sun. Since he had to work most of his hours outdoors, he made sure that he got up early enough that it was cooler outside than in the middle of the day. Today he was working on a grid that was working hard to keep the houses powered during the hottest part of the summer. They were all worried that with the extra drain on the grid would cause power outages throughout the town. No one wanted that.

“Gil, you have a message here. Your mother said she’s been trying to reach you for three days without success. She said for you to call her.” He smiled. “She’s not happy that she had to call your place of work either; she said to tell you.”

“Tell her that I’ve lost my phone again but have one ordered that’s supposed to come in today.” While the message was being relayed, he gathered up his tools to go home. His phone had been delivered an hour ago, and he’d not had any time to go there and get it. “I’m going home now to get my phone.”

Driving back to his home, he thought about how he’d been avoiding his parents. Not because he disliked them or anything, but he didn’t want them finding out that he’d bought a house and that it was being worked on. This was a surprise that he wanted to keep from them until he moved in. Not that it was such a big deal, him buying a house, but it was the house that he bought. He’d managed to get the Manchester Estate.

The estate was a large one. Nearly one thousand acres. A house sitting on a hill that looked down over the town. The house itself was huge in that it had twelve bedrooms and that many baths. He’d been working on the deal for the past five weeks and only just now closed on the deal. It needed some work, not a lot, but the kitchen for sure.

As soon as he got home and opened the box for his phone, he called his mom. She was pissed off, but he knew how to drag her out of that mood. He told her that he loved her and that he’d purchased the estate.

“What do you mean you’ve bought the Manchester Estate? I had no idea…do you know how long I’ve wanted to tour that house? And you own it?” He said he just signed off on the deal the other day and was going to surprise her with the tour that she wanted tomorrow for lunch. “How much did you pay for it? I’m betting that you took all your savings to put down on it.”

“I didn’t really. You remember Mr. Manchester died some years ago and the house has been sitting empty? He didn’t have a will.” She said she remembered there being a big fight about it that no one in the family could afford it. “Yes, well, the bank was selling it for what they thought it would be worth if they sold it on today’s market. But it needed work.”

“How much work?” He told her about the kitchen and the bedrooms. “Oh, Gil honey, that’s going to cost you a fortune to replace.”

“Not really. I got the house for a song.” He told her how much he paid for the house, and even she was impressed. “They just wanted it off their books and didn’t mind coming down on the price so that they could do that. I was even able to get a good loan to do the work on the house so that I can move into it while it’s being worked on. I’ve already put my condo on the market so that I can use that as a buffer while I’m working on it.”