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Mario smiled and left the two of them alone. “Let’s go put our things in my room. I’m sure everyone will be here soon.”
“You never showed me where all your work as a child was,” he said, just thinking of that.
“I guess I forgot,” she said.
He followed her up the massive staircase and to her room. There were paintings on the walls that he knew were hers. “These are stunning. They are of this property. Did you paint them for your father?”
“No,” she said. “They were some of my first pieces. My father bought them at the gallery without me knowing. My agent didn’t know either. He used another name. I came home and saw them and was so annoyed, but he told me they needed to be here.”
He walked up closer to the paintings. Three of them. One of the main house. One of the house she lived in with her mother. The third was the barn with horses in the background.
“I can understand that.”
“He put them here to remind me of the good times of my childhood when I visited. The start of my career.”
“I know you think your father has made a lot of mistakes in life, but it seems to me everything he’s done is for those he loves.”
“He has,” she said, moving over to hug him. “Just like everything I do is for you. For us as a family.”
It was exactly what he needed to hear. There were no doubts now and he hated that he’d had any to begin with.
“For us,” he said.
“Come see the rest of my artwork,” she said. “Don’t laugh at some of them.”
She moved to the door attached to her room and opened it. He assumed it was another bedroom, but now it looked more like a mini art gallery.
“This needs to be shown to people,” he said, walking around. There were paintings and sketches, pottery. He could see the progression in her work without even seeing the dates under each piece on a plaque.
“No,” she said. “It’s personal. It only gets shown to those I love.”
“Then I’m honored,” he said. He started to hear voices below them.
“Sounds like everyone is home. And no, since Stewart is with them, I wouldn’t bring up the conversation from earlier. My mother would know that. My guess is she had Stewart come for that reason.”
“Could be your mother was protecting your father. Maybe neither of them wants to talk about it.”
“You’re probably right. It’s not my business.”
They left the room and went down the stairs to the family room. “The doctors released me with instructions the sameas what Carson said. I’ll follow up with my specialist in the morning.”
“Glad to hear it,” he said.
“Now that everyone seems to be calm,” Laine said. “It’s time to liven it up with some news. I’m having a baby.”
She was doing some dance in place that he’d never seen before. He was positive it was one of those videos she’d seen online. It looked as if she was running backward or something, but she was laughing and her parents were just dumbfounded.
“Two babies,” he added to see their reaction.
“What?” Madelyn asked.
“Huh?” Caleb asked.
“I’m pregnant,” Laine said again, giggling. “With twins. We found out right before Mom called. I asked Carson to give me a baby and he gave me two. Guess he goes over the top like Dad too.”
He wasn’t sure he appreciated the analogy. “You’re pregnant?” her mother asked, smiling.
“I am. And it was my idea,” she said, her hand going to her heart, the other to her belly. “This was planned.”
