Infinity Chapter 97 - Painting & News

[itztigress3]

Chapter 97 – Painting and News
POV:  Emily
Word count: 5103


October 3, 2014

  We were headed to Maysville for the weekend. I knew Maddi had moved, she was still in Maysville but her and Cody moved out of Max’s house and into their own place. I hadn’t seen the house yet but she had sent me photos and said it needed some work done, but not much. We were going down for a late celebration of Riley’s 2^nd birthday, since we were in Australia when her birthday came around. I was riding in the back with Alexander and Isabella, while Zac, Casey and Robert rode in the front. Casey must have felt weird being between them because he tried to get me to change spots and I refused. He and Robert seemed to be getting along very well and in fact they were staying with Max and Ryan who now had a few extra bedrooms.

“So, how do you feel being at Max’s house Robert?”

“Max and I get along really well actually, he’s a nice man and I’m glad he was there to help Casey when he did.”

“I cannot argue that point.” 

I giggled from the backseat. “For the love of Pete, if you four have some weird and random orgy I don’t want to know!”

Robert just sat there completely stunned, Zac blinked but said nothing and Casey slowly turned to look at me.

“Where the hell did that come from? No one said anything about orgy’s or sex.”

“Just saying, if it leads there I don’t want to know.”

“Noted…the same applied to you four I don’t want to know if anything weird happens.”

“Nothing weird will happen at Maddi’s, there married and don’t swing. Added, three kids? Pft. We’ll be lucky to come out of this weekend
alive.”

We arrived at Maddi’s new house about 11:45; she assured us lunch would be waiting when we arrived. The house was one story with a second level game room that had gabled windows; the entire house was surrounded by a porch except where the garage was. She hadn’t done much to the outside yet but they were planning to redo the yard and didn’t want to have to redo the porch again. Zac parked in the empty space and the three of them piled out of the car. Alexander was wide awake and dying to be let loose and Zac obliged that idea and he then got Isabella out as well. Riley met Alexander half-way to the house with Cody hot on her tail.

“Riley!”

“I’ve got her!” Zac called.

“Hey! I didn’t know you’d made it already.”

“We just got here actually.”

He came to help with bags and Casey and Robert wrangled the two wild ones. Riley had gotten so big! She was actually able to keep up with Alexander which was impressive; his own cousins hadn’t been that successful to date.

Maddi met me at the door and basically just took Isabella; she hadn’t really seen her since she was a week old.

“God she’s gotten big and heavy!”

I smiled. “She eats quite well, believe me.”

“How is breastfeeding the second one?”

“Oddly, easier. I don’t guess what to do, I just know.”

“Come in and see the place!”

She let us inside and the house was impressive in size, she gave us the grand tour. There master bedroom and bathroom was huge and currently just had a bunch of boxes in the corners and a bed, the great room was also large with a fireplace and the only thing on the wall currently was the drawing Zac had done for her. The rest were stark white.

“We are so painting soon and even renovating some places, but with work and taking care of her we haven’t done much thinking at all. We also wanted to save up some money.”

“It’s ok, when we bought the place Casey has we did months of renovations and colors was the last thing on our minds.”

The kitchen was absolutely huge and there was a breakfast area with a dining room.

“I love this kitchen; it has this country feel to it. I like more clean lines and modern but I also like this style.”

“I haven’t decided yet.”

I giggled and we continued to the bedrooms which were a nice side and then the outside which was huge, she had plenty of room to do what she wanted. She had the smallest room as a guess room at the moment and Zac was just dropping our bags off. We sat down in the dining room for lunch, which she’d gone simple with soup and sandwiches. Alexander sat with Casey and had his lunch.

“I see Alexander still likes you.” Maddi said.

He giggled. “He does, I’m his Asey.”

“No matter how many times we say Casey.” Robert said.

She giggled and we finished eating and then settled in the living room, Zac went and got the items we’d brought for Riley and let her open them. We hadn’t gotten a ton of stuff some stuffed animals from the different Zoo’s and parks we visited, she basically had every animal that Australia had to offer in a soft plush form. She also got several shirts from different areas and the patented ‘my friends went to Australia and all I got was this shirt’, which Zac insisted on. The thing Zac had he gave to Maddi.

“Why me?”

“Consider it an early birthday present.”  He said.

She opened it to the sketch he’d done when Cody called and asked. Maddi wanted Riley’s room to be special and she wanted a Tinkerbelle theme and while Cody said he could do some base painting really well, he couldn’t for the life of him do anything else. Because we had no idea what to get her, Zac agreed. He was here this weekend to paint Riley’s room.

Maddi looked at that sketch stunned. “What is this?”

“It’ll be Riley’s room when I’m done. I really hope you like that design because the paints and everything I need is in the truck.” Zac said.

“You’re…wait… you...” She stumbled upon words and Zac just smiled.

“I’ll be painting her room this weekend with help from Cody, Casey, Robert, Max and Ryan. They’ll be over tomorrow but we’ll be starting today.”

“You don’t have too.”

“He doesn’t no, but he agreed and he will. I am sure Alexander will help, he did with her room.”

“No…I brought a baby gate this time.”

The guys really did stick to that, once lunch was done I sat down at 1 to feed her and Zac and the other three began to bring in the paint and set up. His first objective was to protect the carpet because it was new and they were keeping it. With the guys occupied Maddi and I sat with the kids outside, it was nice that Alexander could play without problems. Maddi was antsy wanting Isabella back, but she was slowly nursing covered under the newest shawl.

“I didn’t think you used one much.”

“Honestly, I didn’t. But Ian told Zac that it was wrong of me to do that. Granted during the tour I was a little bit too free, so I’ve been covering up unless it was just Zac at home.”

“That man I really hate him, I don’t even know the full details but I could see when you came for pictures that one time he was really fighting internally. I wished I’d have some vision or something to help.”

“You and I both, it’s been rather difficult but he’d made huge improvements since he stopped talking to him.”

“Has he stopped?”

“If Zac has replied he hasn’t told me but he tells me when messages come in and Zander told me to randomly check too, because of what Ian did. So, we’ve done very well. I’m glad Zander knew what to do.”

“So you’ve said something about Glen, what’s his deal?”

I adjusted Isabella some and sighed. “Glen is Adam’s brother; none of us ever knew he had one really. I thought he was an only child. Apparently Glen is upset that Adam is dead. He also says that David wants me to suffer for everything.”

“Is there proof that David has told him anything?”

“They monitor everything, they claim to not have evidence that Glen and David ever talked. Either he’s using David as some way to hurt me or they found a way to talk without the guards knowing.”

“Did Glen say what he was going to do?”

I nodded. “You know what Adam wanted, Glen wants the same. Me confined in some basement away from everyone, trained to be some mindless sex slave to him. A man who is apparently more interested in men himself. He’s not as bad as Adam was with his messages, Adam gave some chillingly detailed ones but I think that’s because of Ian.”

“What do you mean?”

“Zac said that Glen was there and had more freedom, but clearly Ian is in control. I think Ian is not letting him send what and when he wants, he wants Zac and if things get too bad then he knows we’ll buckle down even more. Not that we can go much farther, I mean really agents are there 24/7.”

“Shocked there not here.”

“They are, Cody didn’t want them close and he’s a detective with rights. There still watching the driveway and patrolling the property I am sure.”

“Least I know we will all be safe.”

“We should be.”

“So, have you started potty training yet?” She asked.

“We are purchasing the potty for his birthday and Zac’s been taking him with him so he kind of has the idea already, but we haven’t actively started yet. Have you?”

“We plan to as soon as we’re unpacked; she’s already showing signs of wanting to be trained, so we’re going with that.”

“It’s that going every so often because we’re so busy that reminding myself to take him is hard. But he seems to kind of understand.”

“Is he saying more words?”

“For a two year old he jabbers a lot, but some of the words aren’t full, like Casey’s name. He calls Eliza, Iza and unch, eep, he says baby really well though.”

“Has he given her a nickname yet?”

“Not yet, speaking of her she is done if you want to continue holding her.”

“Please?”

I moved her and fixed my clothes, then handed her to Maddi. We spent most of the afternoon on the porch talking about the kids, watching them play, and tending to occasional booboo’s or disagreements. She and I fixed dinner that night and because they wanted to get it done we got us and the two kids fed. I was settling down to feed Isabella when they came out. They cleaned up some and then sat down for dinner; it was good for Zac to be around other men and ones he trusted. I was covered though because Cody was here.

Alexander tugged at the shawl though long before she was done.

“Alexander, we don’t do that.”

“Mama.”

“You can’t feed baby right now, mommy is.”

He pouted and Maddi raised her brow but didn’t comment, eventually though he climbed up onto the chair with me and sat down. Before long, Riley was also sitting beside me but she didn’t want to feed Isabella, she just wanted to see the baby. The guys joined us for some conversation and Cody got to spend some time with Isabella and Alexander. We went to bed rather early, Zac was planning to get started as early as possible.

October 4, 2014

Isabella woke us both up so we went ahead and got up, he’d brought paint clothes so he put those on and then headed to fix breakfast. I got Isabella fed and changed for the day, opting to go with a one piece sleeper. Maddi kept her house at a comfortable temperature but if we stepped outside it may get chilly. While I waited on Alexander to wake up I went ahead and pumped too, it would help during the day and for the ride home Sunday, because we were planning to stop and see Dad. Zac was just really starting when I brought her out in her bouncer and sat her down with him.

“He’s waking up some, this way she can coo at you as you cook.”

“Already giving daddy orders? You’re not even three months old yet.”

She cooed and even smiled some at him and I swore I saw him light up at that.

“Pancakes, eggs and bacon ok?”

“Far as I know, I would assume they all eat that.”

“Casey and Robert are eating with them; I have no idea when they’ll get up.”

“Morning!” Cody chirped.

“Morning.” We said.

“You don’t have to cook Zac, you’re a guest.”

“It’s the only meal I can do really well. Humor me. But, how do you like your eggs?”

“Sunny side but Maddi prefers over easy.”

“Done.”

I stepped into the bedroom where Alexander was just sitting up in the bed and rubbing his eyes.

“Morning sunshine.”

He generally needed a few extra minutes to get woke up before he was willing to lay down to be changed but once he was he let me easily change him and put the overalls on, the onesie was a solid green. He then went to find Zac, who was having an interesting conversation with Isabella.

“Is she telling you what to do or fussing at you?”

“Fussing, I wouldn’t give her pancake batter.”

Cody brought Riley out about 8; she was dressed in a pink onesie with pink and white striped pants and since they were both up, Zac fixed theirs first and then started ours. Cody was watching him amazed, juggling bacon, pancakes and eggs. I saw Maddi come out of the bedroom and she made it as far as the kitchen doorway, Zac had dropped a few eggs not two minutes before and the moment she inhaled in the kitchen I saw the look, she bolted back to their bedroom. She came back about fifteen minutes later and still looked quite sick.

“How many eggs do you want Mads?” Zac asked.

“None.”  She replied.

“Maddi?” Cody asked.

“I’m ok, just nauseas. I was fine until I smelled the eggs.”

Zac and I both looked at her and she sighed. “Don’t give me that look.”

Zac went back to finishing his own eggs before he delivered plates to everyone else. Riley and Alexander were slowly working on their plates and he moved Isabella to the floor beside him where she bounced a bit then seem to drift off to sleep. We had breakfast and about 10 the other’s showed up; Zac was already laying out the design. Max had not seen Isabella yet so after he spent a few minutes with Riley and then he nabbed her from me.

“She just finished eating, so be warned.”

He smiled. “I don’t think Zac had much to do with her, she looks so much like you.”

“She has his nose and appetite and she’s a boob girl too.”

He giggled and Ryan got to see her, they also saw Alexander when he came in but then Zac banished them to the Riley’s room to paint. His plan
wasn’t that complicated, but had a lot of little stars and butterflies, so he was glad for the help. I nudged Maddi once they were all in the bedroom.

“Can I assume little Miss Riley is about to not be the only child?”

“Not sure, I have felt a bit off and I did miss a period but all tests have said negative. I made a doctor’s appointment for next week because I think I am.”

“Cody know yet?”

“He’s seen the negative tests but I told him that I felt like I was. He’s aware and happy about it.”

“That’s good.”

“He wanted kids. It’s also why we got the larger house, extra rooms.”

“Maybe not for long, our up-stairs filled up pretty quick.”

“Plans for more in the future?”

“We have not decided yet, but we are ok if we have more. I don’t want like seven or eight, but three or four is fine.”

She smiled and we spent the first part of the morning just catching up, it was chilly outside early and we were letting it warm up. Isabella napped and the two wild ones played there in the living room. Isabella woke up for her lunchtime feeding around 12:30 and Alexander whined when I picked her up, when he completely ignored the toy Riley had dropped I knew he wasn’t going to simply take no for an answer.

“Mama, baby.”

“Ok. But you have to be good.”

Again, Maddi gave me a confused look, like she didn’t have a clue which not many did. I went and fixed her a bottle and came back, I sat down in the floor and held her, he was patient until she was taking the bottle well, then he’d get the bottle and hold it.

“Is he actually feeding her?”

“Yep, three weeks he lasted before the jealously got to him. First time Zac got to feed her he was having none of that. He was acting jealous but I had them up-stairs and he kept whining and crying and wouldn’t stop, so I called Zac’s mom for help. She said to let him help, so I did. Later that afternoon when he got cranky again, I let him feed her. He doesn’t do it often, but it’s like he just wants to be included. This seems to be the best way because it’s hard to hold her in his lap and watch the bottle too.”

“Yeah, he’s just tall enough to be comfortable too.”

“He rarely makes it through the whole feeding, she’s a good eater but she seems to be a slow eater.”

“Riley was that way for a bit.”

“I don’t mind, little moments like this remind me what I have. Speaking of, Alexander’s birthday party is the 18^th; we’re doing it before instead of after. My brother’s are coming back out and we’d like to know if you can stay and do some good picture either that afternoon or Sunday, depends on the kids.”

“Didn’t Taylor get some?”

“He did but they want like family ones too, like what we did with both families. We couldn’t get Zac’s in town to repeat and it’s only been a year for them and aside from Isabella, no new additions. My side however, quite a few additions. I also need her first set and some of them together his second birthday. Which, I can do those on his birthday at home.”

She got her phone and did some checking. “I have one appointment Saturday but I can reschedule or have Rachelle take it.”

I smiled. “It won’t be as bad as the last one I promise. Although, Eliza will be there.”

“Oh? How is that going?”

“Pretty good actually, she was my guard in Australia, did a good job. She got fans to leave us alone, she was polite, and we got to talk about
David. So, she’s fully aware of why none of us talk about him.”

“Did she take it well?”

“Pretty much, she was shocked by how bad he was and then surprised that Christmas was the only good times.”

“That’s good, how are the kids with her?”

“Isabella is fine, she is aware she’s not mom so she doesn’t tolerate her or anyone when she wants me. But, Alexander just…he’ll interact with her and if she’s close he’ll take some comfort until one of us are there but then he’s over it. He doesn’t just go to her like he does Casey or even you and Max.”

“It’ll take some time probably; did he improve any while she was there a lot?”

“Yeah, I mean before we left he wanted nothing to do with her, least he will tolerate it now.”

“Then maybe he really does just need some time to adjust to her being there. I mean, she looks like you and he does only know one of you.”

“True. I think he’s kind of figuring out that while she looks like me, she’s not going to be trying to replace me or something. I hope soon he warms up more and is kind of more like he is with our brothers. They are all kind of warming up to her as well.”

“That’s good. Everything was like a clusterfuck when she first met you.”

“Being pregnant did not help. My reactions were way the hell off. She can mention David now and I don’t want to kill her.”

She laughed. “But your pregnancy with Isabella was way different than with Alexander, right?”

“Yeah, for one the let me throw everything up, I got sick a few times. Nothing like it was with him, I got to eat! I didn’t seem to crave anything with her, but Casey commented once that I was eating more fruits than normal, so I guess I was craving fruit. The only major issue, which was no issue, was the excessive horniness, which was only a problem after he came back, I wanted too so badly but it just wasn’t right. Made up for it later on though.”

She smiled at me and giggled. “I bet you did. I think if I am, I’d enjoy having Cody here.”

“You will, trust me. He may not ever sleep, but it’s worth it.”

Alexander was getting antsy so I took the bottle and he ran off to play, his craving to feed her gone.

“I hope if we are expecting that Riley is that good with the new one.”

“She probably will do better, Alexander was like 18 months, he’s so good at the house and he does help. He liked helping with the diapers too, even if he sometimes brings me his and not hers.”

“He’ll be a good big brother.”

“I think Riley would be a good big sister too.”

“Hungry.” Riley said.

Her sweet little voice was so pleasant and velvety. Maddi took the hint and got up, both of them trailing after her and she fixed them lunch. Once Isabella was done I changed her diaper and played a bit, I was sitting there when the phone beeped and I checked it, could be anyone but it was Glen.

I do hope enjoy having children around now, once you’re with me there won’t be any. No cuddles, no little voices. You’ll just be there for me when I want you, be there when friends want you. I’m counting down the days, are you?

I knew I shouldn’t reply, what good would it do? Instead of bothering to reply I just pushed the message out of my mind, focused on the little girl smiling at me and cooing at me. When it was clear she was done and wanted to nap I laid her down in the portable bed I’d used before. She was asleep pretty quickly.

“Sleep like your daddy too.” I whispered.

I got myself some lunch as well and at some point I think slave driving Zac allowed them to come out for fresh air and food. But it wasn’t long before they were all back painting, Maddi looked amused by the array of colors on Zac’s pants and hands.

“Is he always that messy when he paints?”

“Oh yeah, he has several pair of jeans in which I don’t wash with anything else. He wears them when he paints.”

They weren’t letting her into the room until it was done, since it was her birthday present. I got a peek late that afternoon and loved it. She and I again fixed dinner and I made Zac come and eat with us, because he was driving them hard to get it finished, which they were almost done with it. We sat down together to eat, Casey and the other three headed out after dinner and he asked Maddi and Cody to watch them, apparently he needed my help with something. Turns out he needed someone to make sure the words were spelled right and matched what
Cody wanted before he painted them, but I did stay and help him for about an hour until Isabella wanted dinner too. After that he stopped, letting what they did dry and also gave him time to actually visit with Maddi and Riley.

I didn’t tell him about the text until we were alone that night, settled in bed with two sleeping children. The most upsetting part was that he was counting down days, because we didn’t know what number he was on or what the final outcome would be.

October 5, 2014; Sunday

By the time I woke up Zac had done been up, kids were both up and dressed and even fed. He and Cody were sitting in the living room with the three kids playing with them. Isabella was laying in the floor on her blanket laughing at whatever Cody was doing.

“You could have woken me up.”

“Naa, we don’t have much to do. I just need to finish the letters and he’s got to put the furniture in.”

“Well, by all means.”

I fixed breakfast and was just about to eat when Craig called.

“Morning.”

I could hear Jasmine in the background, screaming bloody murder. I could hear Christopher telling her it’s ok and Craig’s voice when he said hello sounded strained.

“Talk to me, what’s going on?”

“I don’t…I…She won’t stop Emily. She’s been crying for hours and she just won’t stop.”

“Does she have a fever?”

“No. No fever, we checked that first. She doesn’t want a bottle, she’s dry and clean. No diaper rash, no obvious signs of rashes or anything.”

“Is she wrapped up?”

“Yes.”

“Does her tummy area feel hard or soft?”

I was sure it stumped him but he asked and Christopher indicated her abdomen felt kind of hard not soft.

“Do you have the gas drops I gave you in the diaper bag? If so, try that and lay her down and gently rub your thumbs down her abdomen. It’s probably constipation or gas.”

He relayed instructions and I was sure Christopher knew, he’d seen me do that with Alexander when he was younger. He said he’d call back in
thirty if that failed, I sent a quick text to Aaron to see if he could go over, he asked why and I simply said because he was calm and not upset. Turns out, Aaron took Zander over there to make sure and Uncle Zander got her calmed down and it was gas, just uncomfortable. Maddi had heard the last half of the several conversations with them and so did Zac and Cody.

“Those poor guys.” Maddi said.

“I think there just so damn nervous she’s going to break. I guess I need to visit them this week and see what I can do.”

“First time dad’s are always that way, wasn’t Zac a little afraid too?”

“Not really, I mean he had experience with babies. I think he was more nervous during the pregnancy itself.”

“I don’t know how Cody would be.”

I giggled. “He’ll be fine.”

She and I ate breakfast and then relieved the boys of their baby duties, we then got down in the floor too and it was a good time to really just spend time with them all. Riley was so sweet and Cody had actually braided her hair which had gotten so long. Zac came in about 1 and dragged me to the room to make sure it was set up right. Apparently Riley had gotten to climbing out of her crib so, when Cody put it back together he left the front off and made it a day bed.

Zac had painted the entire room in lavender and then around the entire room were whimsical swirls of stars, with butterflies every few feet in different pastel colors, above the bed he’d hand-written words one line was in pink, one was in purple they were all outlined in black, the words said: Like stardust glistening on fairies’ wing’s, little girl’s dreams are of magical things.

“She’ll love it I am sure.”

I stayed here while they got her and sure enough she saw the room and cried, happy tears of joy. Riley got to see it too and you could tell she loved it, everything about the room. While they explored I went to feed Isabella and Zac came with me.

“This kind of feels normal.”

“It does, but is it going to stay that way?”

He kissed my temple. “Yes, eventually Ian and Glen will get caught.”

“Are you trying to be sneaky and peek?”

“Am I that obvious?!”

“Yes. Is Casey meeting us here?”

“Yeah, we’re going to do dinner here and leave late. There meeting us for dinner. Ace called and said he got called in, so they won’t be home after
all.”

“Ok.”

She came back in and when she hugged Zac, it didn’t bother me. Of course, I knew Maddi’s intention was a friendly hug and nothing more.

“I love it! I don’t think I could have asked for anything better.”

“You probably could have but hey I’m glad you like it. Not bad for a weekend.”

“The Tinkerbelle on the light switch, adorable. But none of you signed your names.”

“Hey, she won’t always like Tinkerbelle.”

Maddi sighed. “Yeah, when she’s older she may change her mind. I don’t like to think about her being older.”

I giggled at that one and for the rest of the day it was nice. It was nice to feel safe and not worry, but it didn’t stop them from sending messages and oddly Ian’s message to him also mentioned counting down days, which didn’t sound right.

If Glen was counting down days until I was with him, then Ian must have been counting them down for Zac. Either way, the implications of those words felt wrong, so I made the call to have an agent follow us home when we left Maddi’s. I also requested they inspect the house because no one had been there all weekend. Everything checked out at the house and the drive home was easy going, saying goodbye to them had been hard. But they’d be up for his birthday party soon; they’d be staying with Casey though, as most of our rooms would be occupied by brothers.


**Riley's Room**

An example of the design Zac and company painted...


These are the words and the way it's painted on the wall.
The colors were revised in the story...