Chapter 158: Plein Air Painting
Edrick
As soon as I saw the hurt expression on Moana’s face, I knew that I messed up by taking her tooth. Obviously I still couldn’t tell her about the Golden Wolf, but I realized that maybe I should have asked if I could take her tooth ahead of time; I could have simply told her that I wanted to take it to have some tests done, or anything to not make her panic. She clearly had been frantically searching for the tooth when I came home, and I instantly felt like a jerk for making her feel that way.
Even though Moana said that it was okay, and simply told me not to do that again, she was distant for the next couple of days. I noticed that she was being much more quiet than usual, and whenever she came to bed at night she would simply lay down and turn away from me. Maybe a combination of taking the tooth, getting upset with her over what happened with her ex-boyfriend, and not being there when she woke up for two days in a row made her feel upset.
So, I decided to make it up to her.
One morning, Moana was busy giving Ella a bath when I found Selina in the kitchen preparing breakfast.
“Selina,” I said, walking into the kitchen and pouring myself a cup of coffee, “can you help me with something?”
The housekeeper looked up from the fruit salad she was mixing and furrowed her brow. “What is it?”
I chewed my lip for a moment. It was a bit embarrassing to admit that I needed to find a nice way to make things up to Moana, but it had to be done.
“I think I really hurt Moana’s feelings lately,” I said. “I want to make it up to her, but I don’t know how. Has she mentioned anything to you?”
Selina stared at me for a moment, then shrugged and returned to stirring the bowl of fruit salad. “She doesn’t complain much,” she replied. “But she has been a little cooped up since the media attention started. On Saturday, Ella begged her to go out for breakfast. I think they’re both feeling a little stir crazy.”
I nodded slowly, considering what Selina had said. Maybe I needed to find something that Moana, Ella, and I could do as a family. Summer would be ending soon, and it wouldn’t be long after that before winter came and we would be spending a lot more time inside. Maybe it would be nice to do something outside in the fresh air.
As I sat down and began to drink my morning coffee, I opened the newspaper and started to read it front to back, just as I always did every morning. I rarely paid any attention to the advertisements, however. At least, that was until something suddenly caught my eye as I was reading.
It was an advertisement for an outdoor art class. It was called “plein air painting”, which meant that students would be painting landscape scenes out in the fresh air. And, it was family friendly. I remembered that Moana had brought her plein air easel to paint at the mountain estate, but that she had never been able to get any painting done due to the fact that we had to leave so suddenly. Moana loved drawing and painting, and I knew that going to a class to paint outside with Ella would make her happy.
I also thought back to the day that we painted at the orphanage. Even though Moana’s lesson that day was geared toward children, I had still had a lot of fun that day. It made me want to try painting some more, and so I decided to cut the newspaper advertisement out and slip it into my pocket just before Moana and Ella came out for breakfast.
“Daddy,” Ella said as she sat down at the table, “do you have to work today?”
I nodded. “I do, Princess. Why?”
Ella let out an exasperated, almost theatrical sigh. Meanwhile, Moana poured syrup onto Ella’s pancake and tucked a napkin into the front of Ella’s shirt without a word before sitting down next to her. The entire time, Moana didn’t so much as look in my direction.
“I just wish we could have some playtime,” Ella finally said. “Playtime outside of the house. It’s stuffy in here.”
I couldn’t help but smile. This only solidified the fact that the plein air class would be good for everyone, but I decided not to say anything right away. I wanted it to be a bit of a surprise.
The plein air class was set for the day after the next, so I decided to give a little hint to get Ella excited as well as to see how Moana would react.
“Well, I’ll take the day off of work the day after tomorrow,” I said with a smile. “Then, maybe all three of us can go out and have some fun.”
Ella gasped. “Really?” she squealed excitedly.
Moana didn’t say anything, but I caught her quickly glancing up at me with wide, sparkling eyes; that was all the confirmation I needed. I knew that this art class would make both of them happy.
“Really,” I replied, reaching out and pinching Ella’s cheek.
…
Later that evening, I decided to sneak into my bedroom just before dinner and place the art class advertisement in an envelope on Moana’s bedside table. I even added a little note on the front of the envelope that said to get her painting supplies ready, and couldn’t help but smile when I set the envelope carefully down for her to find later.
As we ate dinner that night, I felt as though I could hardly contain my excitement. Even though I had never been particularly interested in painting, I had to admit that I enjoyed it now after my little art class with Moana at the orphanage. Not only that, but I was even more excited to make Moana and Ella happy.
Hopefully, I thought to myself as we ate dinner together, this art class would show Moana that I truly was sorry for hurting her feelings. I didn’t want her to be stressed, and I also had to admit that I felt lonely without her affection. Already I had become too used to feeling her snuggling up to me in the middle of the night, and it hurt a bit to only ever see her all the way over on the edge of my large bed every night.
But, that wasn’t the only reason behind why I wanted to make Moana happy.
Since the Mother Witch gave me the special potion to keep Moana’s wolf from emerging, I had been too nervous to try using it yet. I was worried that it would not only be potentially dangerous for Moana and the baby, but also that she would be too suspicious of me after the way that I had disappeared so much for two days as well as the fact that I stole her tooth that day.
Hopefully, this painting class would help Moana relax enough for me to start putting the drops in her morning coffee, just as the Mother Witch said.
After all, I did need to make sure that her wolf wouldn’t emerge for her own safety.
