Page 118 of Sherry and Sunflowers
"Oh." Faye's eyes grew wide. "Is he going to…?"
"I think so. I think trying to keep up the pretense is killing him."
Faye laughed. "I can see that. Well—get on out there. Your dad and Alara are on the terrace. I'll catch up with you in a little while."
"Is there anything I can do to help?"
She reached up and pressed a kiss to his cheek. "Just keep being you."
He wrapped her in a hug. "You do the same."
She pushed him off. "I wouldn't know how to do anything else. Oh—and don't forget to water the sunflowers, will you?"
"I'll do them now, before we eat."
Out on the terrace, his dad and Alara were sitting in the wicker chairs while Zia scampered around them, telling them all about her visit with Homer.
He went to kiss Alara’s cheek before asking, "Wanna come help me water the sunflowers, Z?"
She turned to stare at him for a moment, tilted her head to the side, then looked back at her mom and Charles. "I'll be back," she told them, before running to Reaves.
As they made their way down the side of the house, she skipped in circles around him. "Did you know that people eat sunflower seeds?"
He was about to say that yes, he did—he liked them himself—but he decided to wait and see what her take on it was before he committed. "I have heard that," he said. "Do you like them?"
Her little eyes narrowed. "I do like them. But I like them because they're going to grow up to be sunflowers. If someone doesn't come along and eat them first."
He couldn't hold back a laugh. "Yeah. I didn't think about that."
She looked up at the large golden heads of the sunflowers they were watering. They were starting to fade now, and he scooped her up to point out the seeds.
"They're not ready yet. But when they are…"
Zia's eyes went wide. "When they are, we'll have hundreds and hundreds of sunflowers!"
He bit back a laugh. "Yeah. We might need to talk to Grandpa Grape about that. He likes them—but I don't know about hundreds and hundreds of them."
He had to hold her steady as she leaned back suddenly, peering around to see if she could spot his dad. But he was out of sight from here.
"I'll ask him," she said. "We must save the seeds. We can't let people eat them. Maybe we can scatter them—or take some to the Cornflower Kingdom and the Bluebell Kingdom. Everyone should have sunflowers, don't you think?"
"Yeah. I think they probably should."
He set her down when he heard Faye calling them to come eat.
~ ~ ~
Alara could barely contain herself while they ate. She couldn't wait to see Charles's face when she showed him the two paintings. She'd managed to set them up on easels in his study when she got back and had recruited Faye's help in making sure he wouldn't go in there before she was ready.
She loved listening to Reaves talk to him about the winery. She'd loved the relationship they had right from the beginning, but it seemed even sweeter now—now that Reaves was so engaged with the House of St. James.
When Charles finally set his napkin down, she couldn't take it any longer. She glanced at Faye, who nodded encouragingly. Reaves took her hand and held it on top of his thigh, and Zia grinned at her.
"Did you finish it, Mom?"
She laughed. She could hardly expect to keep anything secret for long with Zia around. Although, to be fair, she hadn't given away anything about the two new paintings yet—not even when Alara had presented Charles with the finished canvas of the view from here, the house lit by the setting sun. It had taken her a while to make the greenhouse gleam just the right gold, but she'd known it was worth it the moment Charles laid eyes on it. To say he'd been moved was an understatement.
Reaves squeezed her hand. "I think it's time."
