Page 63 of Cayden

She followed the sound of his voice and found him crouched down on a patch of freshly dug dirt. He was wearing worn garden gloves and had on one of his wife’s silly straw hat with a wispy ribbon tied around the brim. A smile touched her lips as she stared at him.

“What are you doing?”

“Trying to revive your mother’s rose garden.” He eased up somewhat slowly and had her smile turning to worry.

“Are you in pain?”

He waved that away and pulled off the stained gloves. “Just a little stiffness in the knees.” He beamed at her. “You look like a million dollars. Or should I say several billion. How are my grandkids?”

“I left them with the family.” She shook her head as she leaned in for the kiss. “Cayden shooed me out of the house. Leesa and the rest had a meeting re the grand summer gala.” She found a clean spot on the garden chair and perched.

“He was right. After the last episode at the clinic with Chad’s ear infection, I needed to go out and start being normal again.”

“As if you could.” He shook his head and poured her a glass of lemonade. “Those babies are going to be fine. Millicent brought over some freshly baked cookies. Let me get some to go with the lemonade.”

Her brows lifted as she gave him a curious stare. “Things are heating up.”

To her surprise, instead of brushing that away, he looked slightly embarrassed.

“I’ll get the cookies.” He escaped before she could say anything else.

“Interesting.” She murmured as she sipped the tart and sweet lemonade and stared out at the patch of land blooming with flowers. He had gotten someone to tend to the weeds and mow the lawn on her insistence.

She had offered to hire someone to take care of the place, and he had finally succumbed, but only after she reminded him that eventually, his grandchildren would be coming around. She heard him making noises about putting in swings and having them build a tree house.

Nostalgia flooded her as she stared out at the lovely space, with the bird house, the sparkle of water from the steam and apples hanging from trees. There were also oranges and lemons, big ripe ones. Part of her mother’s legacy. She turned a smile on him as he came forward with a tray of cookies and another glass.

“I came in from services this morning and just came back here and started puttering around.” He grabbed another chair and sat across from her. “It is always so peaceful and serene, the scent of flowers blooming, the breeze stirring the leaves on the trees. The sound of the trickle of water over rocks.

Your mother used to love sitting out here. She would spend summer days outside, planting and just enjoying the weather. Bugs did not bother her...,” his smile became whimsical. “I used to tease her that it was because of her forceful personality, they wouldn’t dare to land on her.” His smile faded as he took a sip of lemonade.

“I have been faithful to her. It’s silly, but even after she was taken from me, I would think that it was not right to even look at another woman.” He turned to stare at his daughter. “Millicent…,” he cleared his throat, “she is a wonderful woman.

Kind, sweet and giving. We…,” he cleared his throat again and Blair wondered if he was ever going to get it out. “We have been having intimate relations.” He shook his head. “She will never be my wife, and she is aware of it.

She lost her husband some years ago and her son lives all the way in Alaska. He has a job there as a teacher. We have been keeping each other company.’ “We are living in sin and that is not something I am used to.

Would you mind if we get married? It would be something simple, just you and your husband and my grandkids. She wants to meet them and she is afraid that you are too uppity for her, being married to one of the wealthiest man in the world.

I told her you are the same Blair. My same daughter and that you have not changed one bit.” His dark eyes searched her face anxiously. “If you disapprove, I am will not go through with it.”

Just for a second, resentment flared. He was talking about having another woman live here, where her mother had lived and been mistress, but commonsense reared its head. Her father was lonely and had been alone for too many years to count.

He deserved to have someone to talk to, someone to come home to - one who would cook him a decent meal when needed. She had been feeling more and more guilty because she knew he would never agree to coming to live at the manor.

In the past, she had hounded her husband to agreeing to getting their own place, but since having the babies, she realized they belonged there. It was their legacy.

Reaching across, she folded her hand over his. “I am happy for you, and I have known Millicent since I was a child. She is indeed a good woman. Now I can breathe a sigh of relief that you have someone looking out for you.”

He beamed at her and squeezed her hand. “She knows you come first in my life and now those grandkids of mine and she understands.” Leaning over the table, he kissed her on the lips. “You look happy, honey, and that’s all I ever wanted for you.”

*****

The scene made her want to cry. They were all on the patio, the one leading out to the east garden, where a slim white sculpture of a woman holding her child in her arms stood. Water spewed and trickled from the fountain and the scent of flowers blooming filled the air.

Maria had told her where she could find them, and she had hurried upstairs to slip out of her clothes and donned something casual. The rules and restrictions that had been placed on all of them, a tradition that was part of the family had been bent, since the babies were born.

With the approach of the lovely weather, meals were served outdoors, under canopies. White lawn chairs decked the landscaped lawns and all of them were gathered around the babies.

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