Are You My Husband? Pt. 03

"Thank you for that. Your family has had a huge impact on Kathleen's, and by extension, my life."

"Well, I believe that their mother, Amanda, had an equally important impact on my life, and that of my siblings. I'm just glad that we were able to help." Then she smiled at him and said, "Just try not to be too obvious tonight. Many people know, and much more suspect, but there is no need to flaunt you and Kathleen, especially with me around. Okay?"

"Point taken."

She followed with, "But I reserve the right to torment you mercilessly if it's just family around."

Scott laughed. He suspected that he would like Gillian, should he or his family ever have time to be around her. He already liked her.

At that point in the evening, there was a murmur in the crowd, and everyone turned to the entrance where a well-dressed elderly lady entered along with a small entourage.

The museum director and Aimee rushed to greet her, and for a moment the entire crowd was buzzing.

Scott asked, "Should we know her?"

Gillian replied, "I'm about ninety-nine percent certain that is Sofia, the former queen of Spain. Mother said she was going to try and attend. Nobody said anything in case she couldn't make it. She's in her eighties and doesn't travel much anymore, but she wanted to come for this. I'm sure she'll be posing by the painting Amanda gave to her, soon."

He replied, "I hope my wife can get a picture with her."

Gillian teased, "Which one?"

"You really are going to give me a hard time, aren't you?"

"Don't you know it? Come with me. If we get close enough, maybe Aimee or Mother can introduce us."

They all had a great time. During the speaking portion of the event, the museum director fawned over Amanda's talents, Aimee's efforts to pull the exhibition together, and Janie and Kathleen for their support. He also thanked Sofia for her special efforts in attending and supporting the arts.

Dozens of people approached Janie and Kathleen to either compliment Amanda's work or to tell them that they had known their mother and how special she was to them. A few people even asked Ramon if he was the boy in the 'Family' picture. He proudly acknowledged that it was him. Emilia hung on his arm and was so happy that he had been made to feel so included in the event.

It was a good night for anyone associated with the Winters. Many of the paintings displayed received great critical acclaim, and afterwards, the show was having a successful run.

During the time the exhibition was on display, several dealers approached Aimee, who spoke to Janie or Kathleen asking if they would be willing to sell some of the paintings. They asked to wait until the show was complete, and then they would consider it. The painting that was receiving a great deal of attention was the peafowl painting of Janie and Kathleen. They had no intention of selling that one.

Towards the end of the exhibition, Aimme dropped by their house. She had an important question for them.

When she arrived, she asked, "Would you be willing to lend out your paintings for a little longer?"

Kathleen and Janie looked at each other and shrugged their shoulders. Janie said, "I suppose so. Why? Does the museum want them longer?"

"Not our museum. The Reina Sofía museum in Madrid would like to host a three-month exhibit. The former queen, Sofia, made the request herself. Obviously, you can say, 'no,' but we hope you'll say 'yes.' It would build a lot of goodwill between our museum and theirs."

The two sisters looked at each other for some guidance because neither minded the request. Seeing no objection, Kathleen replied, "Sure. Go for it."

Aimee said, "They had one more request. Would you be willing to you come to the opening, dressed as you did for the opening night? I'll be going, too, but they are asking if the two of you can go, and Scott too, if he would like."

This time the sisters looked at Scott expectantly. He'd made a lot of progress since they purchased Stennis' business, but he was always behind, and taking several days of vacation in Spain would not help. He did have one idea though.

"I really don't think I can get away with going. At least and still enjoy it. Not right now. Maybe in a year or two. But Aimee can you see if they are willing to come up with one more ticket. See if they'd let Ramon come with Emilia. I don't think they've ever been overseas. It would mean the world to Emilia. Shoot, I'd pay for Dina to go with you, but I'm not sure mom could handle all of ours and Ramon's at the same time."

Kathleen said, "We'll figure something out." Turning to Aimee she nodded, "We'll come. Can you check on Scott's request for Ramon and Emilia? You know that he was important to our parents also."

"I know, and I'll ask."

Sofia did agree to pay for Ramon and Emilia, and the Parkers decided that they would take Dina anyway. Connie knew someone that could help Beverly with the children during the day, and Scott would stay with them at night and just let the kids, including Ramon's stay there while everyone was in Spain. It would be a little challenging, but they'd manage.

They had a great trip and used video calls with those back home to try and share some of the experience. The traveling party was the guests of honor on the opening night of the exhibition in Madrid, and they wore the same formalwear from the opening night in Atlanta, with positive comments regarding them and the paintings.

The former queen arranged for visits to several tourist attractions in Madrid as well as some of the royal palaces in and near Madrid. Thanks to Spain's high-speed trains, they were able to take a day trip to Seville, to the courtyard inside the royal Alcazar that was the basis for the painting Amanda completed for Sofia. Several peacocks and peahens were strutting around in the gardens behind the main building.

Upon their return, the Parkers that stayed behind were hugged and thanked repeatedly for making allowances for them to go on the trip. Dina and Emilia were especially grateful.

The first night back in bed Kathleen said, "Husband of mine, you owe us a trip to Spain one day. I wish you could have shared that experience with us."

"I'd love to. Now just wasn't the right time. Maybe when the kids are a little older. We'll take them if we can afford to. If not, just the three of us will go."

"I'm going to hold you to that."

Scott was just happy to have everyone home safe and sound.

After the Madrid exhibition finished and all the paintings were returned, they gave a few away to Ramon and Aimee and sold a few more. One nice thing about the Madrid exhibition was that it seemed to increase the prices offered for many that they sold. They put the proceeds in the kids' college fund. The business had grown enough that they could afford to do that since they were beginning to pay down their loans at a rapid pace. The windfall of unpaid bills from the bribery scandal which flowed to them had really helped.

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Chapter 6 - ANSWERING THE QUESTION

Kathleen's pregnancy was wonderfully uneventful, and they were blessed with a little girl which they named Constance Dina Parker. They would call her Connie.

This time Kathleen could take her time returning to work because the business hired someone, Olivia, to help her since she was so busy with their growing customer base. With the extra help, she could spend more time with their kids and spend a little more time drawing on nonwork-related things.

She did a large drawing for Constance Jackson which continued the theme of Amanda's owl drawing. In it were now a parliament of owls, with four distinct groups of owls representing Connie and Winston's children and now their families. In a high tree sat Connie overlooking her brood and soaring above them all was Winston.

In the bottom left corner of the picture were two small peahens, and behind them was a sleeping male lion. In the bottom right corner, she signed it by drawing the eyespot of a peacock feather and used the initials KWP inside the eyespot.

Connie cried when Kathleen delivered it, unsolicited, to her the way Amanda had done all those decades ago.

Connie asked, "Are those initials for Kathleen Winter Parker or something else?"

"I'll always say that the 'P' is for peacock, but I think we all know what it really means. I hope you don't mind my small inclusion of the three of us in a corner. You and your family have meant a great deal to us."

"My dear, I'm so very pleased that you did. Amanda meant a lot to us, and so do you. I have to ask, why a lion for Scott?"

"Because he has the heart of a lion, and his first thought is always to watch over his family. We couldn't have a better husband or father to our children."

"I'm happy for you. I'm sure your mother would be also."

"Thank you, Connie."

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Time clocked along for the Parkers and the business grew as did their family. They talked it over and they wanted one more child. They didn't need more but simply felt the desire to have one final one. They didn't try to space it out to maximize the benefit that pregnancy seemed to have in reducing Kathleen's visions. She was determined to simply live her life, which was currently wonderful, and let the visions do what they do.

They had another girl, naming her Andrea Winter Parker, and everyone oohed and aahed over her.

When little Beverly and Franklin started school, they wondered if the administration would have any issues or challenges since Scott was listed as the father of each, and they had different mothers. However, given the number of divorced kids in school, it was just another day at school for them.

As time moved along, Kathleen shifted more of her responsibilities to Olivia, so she could spend more time with Dina, Beverly, who was aging, and the children. When she did have time, she spent more time drawing for herself and less time on the business, and most of her works were very good.

Over time, she did several works for her family, often with the peafowl theme and their children as little baby peafowl, with her and Janie as the two adults and sometimes Dina was included, too. An observant lion usually wasn't too far away in the picture. Sometimes she had the lion sleeping, which would usually get a chuckle from Scott and Janie. One time she even had the two peahens riding on top of the lion.

A different type of drawing had a young girl pushing her much younger sister up onto the back of a horse. There was no difficulty understanding the symbolism there.

Another was more realistic and showed Kathleen hanging, head-down in a ravine, with Janie hanging onto her ankles, and Scott holding onto Janie's ankles, pulling them back to safety.

Upon seeing that one, Janie asked, "You've been doing so well. Why do you feel the need to paint something like that?"

"Because, my sister, before I could slip into the abyss, you jumped in head-first after me, and Scott wasn't going to let you go. I have a wonderful life, and it's because the two of you wouldn't give up on me. I will be forever thankful. I don't dwell on it, but from time to time, usually when I'm holding one of our kids, I remember and am glad that both of you love me as much as you do."

"We're sisters. I would do anything for you."

Kathleen chuckled, "I think by this point that is quite clear. I love you all the more for that."

Janie pleaded, "Please don't dwell on the bad parts of the past. You've brought so much happiness to our family and our lives. I cannot imagine not having you with us."

"Well, good, because I'm not planning on going anywhere."

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The Parkers and their extended family had really enjoyable lives. They lived in good neighborhoods. Their children attended good schools. They had a fulfilling church life, even if a few people would give them odd looks from time to time.

As the youngest Parker and Diaz children eventually started school, Gabe married Olivia from work, and they quickly had a couple of little ones, twins, giving Dina grandchildren. She was thrilled because Abril hadn't had any yet, though she was engaged. She and Beverly were happy to have those two little ones, but they knew that they were the last ones they would be caring for.

In the afternoon, the Parker and Diaz kids would take the bus to Wade and Beverly's house where they would spend the afternoon until time to go home. Eva had just started driving and would graduate in two years.

At this point, Wade and Beverly had been involved in the business for ten years and had recovered all of the money they invested in the business, and were still being paid a little each year from their original investment. Wade was beginning to step back from the nursery some, and Beverly spent more time hanging around him or puttering in her backyard garden until the kids arrived there from school.

Having taken over Stennis' buildings, Kathleen had her own office, and Scott and Ramon were usually in the field but would share the main office on days when the weather was too bad to work outside.

It was one of those days that started sunny but was rained out when Scott walked into Kathleen's office and caught her staring into space.

Softly, he spoke, "Kathleen? Kathleen?"

She didn't respond, and he moved one of her extra chairs next to her to hold her hand until she came back from her 'vision.' He sat with her for less than two minutes, though he wondered how long she had been 'out.'

Kathleen was having a familiar vision. She and Janie were peahens and were riding on the back of a lion. Sometimes they would walk beside him, but he was always with them.

The lion was walking along a stream, and she was trying to urge the lion to go faster, but he wouldn't comply. She wasn't sure why she wanted him to go faster, but she did. Even so, she was very happy to be with her lion and the other peahen.

On the other side of the stream was a grizzly bear, wearing lipstick, matching them step for step.

When she came back and saw him sitting next to her, holding her hand, she smiled and said, "Hey, Babe. Been there long."

He gave her a sad smile and replied, "Not too long. How long have you been having them?"

"A few years. This is the first time someone has seen me, I think, but they're still fairly rare, so I'm surprised you caught me this time."

"I wish you would have said something."

"Why? It doesn't matter. It's not like it's cancer or anything."

He asked, "How often do you have them."

"Maybe two or three times a month for two or three minutes at a time. So, about what I experienced before Franklin was born. It's funny, back then I was terrified, but now, to me, they are no big deal."

"Really?"

"Yeah. Really. I mean, exactly how could my life be any better than it is right now? I have wonderful children. I have a job that I love with tons of flexibility. I own a portion of a nice business. I live in a great home in a great neighborhood. I live with a sister that would do ANYTHING for me, and she has." Then she whispered, "I have a wonderful husband that would do the same. If the price I have to pay for that is six to nine minutes per month where I zone out, I'm good. Hell, Mom would zone out for over fifteen minutes at a time."

Scott could tell that she wasn't just placating him, she really meant it, which relieved him, but he wished she would have told them.

"I had hoped that three kids would have provided a little extra immunity, but I guess not. Don't shut us out from this, okay? We want to be there for you if you need us."

"I know, and I love you for that. Unless I'm on the telephone, I'm just not sure that it really matters, yet. Maybe one day it will, but not right now. Since I've started having them again, I'm usually in one of mom's paintings, or something similar. Today, I was with you and Janie. It was actually kind of pleasant. If I could predict when I was going to have them, I'd love for them to end like today with your holding me."

"I love you, Kathleen. You know that, right."

"Of that, there is no doubt. Even when I first moved in with you and was a royal pain in the ass, I could tell that you loved me. I know. I'm not worried, so I hope you won't worry, either."

"I'll try."

"Good."

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Over the next decade, Wade and Beverly progressed through their seventies and completely stepped away from the business. Having sufficient money, they traveled a little more, spent a little more money spoiling their grandkids, and spent time preparing dinners, when they were home, for the entire family. While in good health, they knew that in their eighties, anything could happen, so they were enjoying their family time as much as possible.

The business did well and had long paid off the debt they had taken on to buy out Stennis. As Scott had promised, they were not rich, but they were quite comfortable.

Janie was a VP at her company now and was planning to ride that to retirement in a few years.

Their kids transitioned from high school into college, and Eva and Noah were even out of college with good jobs of their own.

Kathleen's visions slowly increased in length and frequency, but she didn't let them bother her as there wasn't anything unpleasant about them, though they were becoming frequent enough that she would say a small prayer before each business call hoping she wouldn't have one while talking to a client or prospect.

One morning, Beverly was making coffee in the kitchen, and she could hear Wade turn on the shower. Twenty minutes later the water was still running, which was unusual for him. She found him on the bathroom floor. He was eighty-seven.

Pastor Leo, who had long been retired, performed the service at the funeral. Leo still got around, though not as much as he did, and was saddened to lose Wade who had become a good friend.

Dina moved in with Beverly so she could look after the woman she considered a second mother. Kathleen, feeling the same way, was over there often, too.

_________________

When Janie turned sixty, she decided to retire. All of their kids were out of college, and Kathleen's visions were now frequent enough and long enough that she retired also.

Janie spent her days with Kathleen, who spent most of her time drawing or, now, painting, which she had taken up.

Like Amanda, she was using her visions to fuel her creativity, with striking results.

With no help from the doctors, the direction of her mental health was becoming clear. Knowing this, every week, in bed, she would tell her husband and sister, "I love both of you so much. Thank you for giving me this life."

For ten years she had a flurry of activity, creating up a storm and investing time and energy in all of their children's lives. If she couldn't work for the business anymore, she was determined to work for her family as much as she could. Janie was beside her the entire time, and soon, Scott retired, and joined in, too.

One day Kathleen said, "You know Scott, you never did take us back to Spain."

"I'm sorry about that, but I'm glad all of you got to go. The only thing I feel like I missed about that trip is that I was away from both of you for a week. I don't care where we are. As long as I'm with the two of you, I'm good."

It did sadden him that it was unlikely the three of them would ever get to go to Spain together.

The fearsome trio poured themselves into their family and community. Kathleen fought every day to give her remaining life meaning...until Beverly passed away.

It was crushing to all of the adults since Beverly had been such a loving presence in their life.

Dina was devastated, because having taken care of the children side-by-side with her for decades, Beverly was her best friend.

For Kathleen, Beverly was the woman who had welcomed her and loved her equally as she did Janie. Beverly had given her blessing to her current arrangement with Scott and was another mother to her. She even slept next to her several nights after Janie gave birth.