Chapter 160
Chapter 160: A Scene Worth Painting
Moana
On the day of the painting ss, E and I were both ted. Edrick kept his promise and took the day
off of work, and after breakfast we were on our way.
The ss was held in a beautiful park in the uptown area of the city by ake. Edrick parked the car on
the street and we each held one of E’s hands as we walked over. I couldn’t help but smile as we
approached, with my plein air easel folded up and tucked under my arm. The air that day was beautiful
with a nice breeze, and as we approached the littleke I could see that it was teeming with all sorts of
wildlife: ducks swimming around in search of breadcrumbs, little frogs jumping off of lily pads, and
turtles sunning themselves on floating logs. Theke was surrounded byrge weeping willow trees
whose long fronds swayed in the breeze. It really was like a picture straight out of a storybook.
As we approached, there was already a group of other families gathered by the pic area. A woman
was standing at the front of the group and setting up a demonstration easel facing theke, and while
she did, I noticed that the other children were running around like wild little animals.
I didn’t me the children for acting so rambunctiously. There was a spreadid out on one of the
tables filled with all kinds of fruit and sweets, and it seemed as though the children already had their fair
share of sugar. Even E, who normally would have been excited to y with other kids, halted in her
tracks and looked up at Edrick and me with an apprehensive look on her little face. Even she was a bit
taken aback by the sheer amount of energy surrounding the ce; it seemed like some of the parents
were genuinely trying to wrangle their children, but some other parents also seemed to be ignoring their
kids as though this was more of a romantic date for them to go on while their kids could run amok
around theke.
“Hello!” the teacher called, waving at us excitedly as we walked up to join the group. She looked down
at my easel, and her smile widened. “It looks like you brought your own supplies! Are you a painter?”
I felt myself blush as the other attendees turned to look at me. A couple of werewolf women gave me
snide looks. I could only imagine what they were thinking about a family of a wealthy and famous CEO
with his supposedly human fiancee, their half-breed daughter and the half-breed baby growing in her
belly. With our security guard standing a little ways away and the fact that our faces had been stered
all over the news recently, I knew that the other couples recognized us. The teacher, however,
thankfully treated us just like everyone else with kindness and warmth.
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I shrugged in response to the teacher’s question. “I wouldn’t consider myself much of an artist, but I do
draw and paint sometimes,” I said, wanting to be humble.
“That’s a lie!” E suddenly chimed in. “She’s really good at art! She even teaches me how to make art
sometimes!”
The teacher grinned. “Is that so?” she said. “Well, maybe if I get tired today I’ll let your mommy step in
to teach the ss.” She said it in a joking manner, but it made me blush even harder; not to mention
the fact that she referred to me as E’s mother. I still hadn’t talked to Edrick about it just yet.
I set up my easel, and the teacher gave Edrick an easel with supplies to use. E even got her own
miniature easel, which was ced next to Edrick’s. I was slightly behind the two of them, which gave
me the perfect view of them. The way that they looked was more stunning than just the view of the
lake, in my opinion.
However, the other children were still too rambunctious. The teacher patiently tried to get their
attention, but it didn’t seem to be working since most of the parents weren’t paying much attention. I felt
a little bit bad about it as I watched her get somewhat frustrated as she tried to get them to settle down
so she could begin the ss.
Finally, when Edrick and E both shot me a concerned look almost in unison, I decided to step in.
“Hey, kids,” I said, approaching the group of children who were now on the verge of wrestling in the dirt
next to theke, “it’s time to start painting. Don’t you want to have a souvenir to bring hometer?”
The children suddenly stopped their y-fighting and looked up at me, c*****g their heads as I spoke. I
could already see that they were listening more to me than even the teacher, which was no surprise; I
had always been good with kids. I didn’t know why, although now that I knew I was a werewolf I had
begun to wonder if it was an ability of mine. But pacifying children wasn’t a werewolf ability that I had
ever heard of, so I simply figured that it was just because of my experience with children. I had, after
all, been the one child to help Sophia around the orphanage a lot while I was growing up and I had
always enjoyed taking care of the younger kids.
“Come along,” I said with a smile. “Let’s go paint.”
The kids seemed to be listening. They calmed down and made their way over to join their parents, and
as they did, the teacher, Edrick, and many of the other parents looked at me with shock. I felt a bit
embarrassed by the attention as I made my way back over to my easel, but I was just d that we
could start painting now.
The teacher began the lesson, which was to paint a scene of theke in front of us. She began by
teaching everyone how to paint the perspective of theke, using simple terminology to exin things
such as foreground and background.
As she taught, however, I just couldn’t get my eyes off of Edrick and E. They were both focusing so
hard on their paintings, and I noticed now for the first time that they were both left-handed. Between the
little bow on E’s sun hat and the way that Edrick’s white shirt rippled in the breeze, it was too
beautiful of a scene for me to ignore.
And so, I added a little something extra to my painting.
The art ss was a lot of fun. The other children turned out to be little angels now that they were calm,
and E even seemed to make friends. When we were finished, the teacher came around and looked
at everyone’s paintings. She stopped in front of everyone’s easels and pointed out to the ss how
beautifully they did — she even did the same in front of a toddler’s easel, which was just a giant splotch
of color. It made me smile, and it made me want toe back to another one of her sses.
At the end, she came to look at my painting. Her eyes widened a bit as she looked at what I had
painted; I had painted theke, of course, but I also added E and Edrick in the foreground, standing
together as they painted on their easels.
The teacher looked over at me.
“This is gorgeous,” she said. “You were being too humble earlier. I love how you added something
special to you.”
Edrick seemed to get curious. He c****d his head and came over, and when he saw my canvas, he said
nothing; instead, he only blushed a deep, scarlet red.
I couldn’t help butugh a little.
On the ride home, I gingerly held my painting in myp while E chattered nonstop about how much
fun she had.
“Can we hang up our paintings together?” she asked, her voice practically a squeak from her level of
excitement.
Edrick nodded, and I noticed that he nced over at my painting again. “We can even get them
framed,” he said with a warm smile. I felt my face turn red, and was reminded of what Olivia had said
about him. I was believing her less and less; why would he go to the trouble to frame and hang our
artwork together if he just nned on kicking me out once the baby was born?
E seemed pleased with this, and let out a satisfied sigh.
“I hope I can go to lots of sses someday,” she said, staring winsomely out the window. “I had so
much fun with the other kids.”
E’s words admittedly made me feel a little sad. She really had so few chances to experience what it
was like to be a regr student. Even her weekly training sessions were one-on-one.
When I looked over at Edrick, he seemed to be looking at E thoughtfully. I hoped that he wasing
to the same realization that I hade to.