“I’ll be fine,” she told him bravely.
She faced the door to the nursery as he walked away and didn’t turn around until the three Daddies had left the house.
Suzette set a hand on her shoulder. “It’s hard the first time they leave. I hated it. Jezebel and I will play with you, though. We’ll have fun.”
Jezebel took her hand. “What would you like to do?”
Olivia smiled at them. “You know what I’d really like to do?”
“What?” they both said in unison.
“I’d like to color or paint.”
“Really?”
Olivia nodded. “It’s been years since I’ve done anything like that. I used to love it. My parents stopped buying me things that required sight, and Daddy doesn’t have anything like that in thehouse either. Who cares if I can’t stay in the lines or I get paint off the side of the paper? We can put something under it, right?”
“Of course,” Suzette said excitedly.
“It doesn’t have to be pretty,” Olivia stated.
Jezebel stroked her arm. “You don’t have to try to stay in the lines. You can use a blank paper and create anything you want. I bet you can paint anything with a little help.”
Olivia grinned. “That sounds like the most fun ever.”
Chapter Sixteen
“Outside?” Elias questioned, his voice leery when the three women went to him, arms full of supplies.
“Yes,” Suzette said, “That way we can make a mess, and it won’t hurt anything.”
“You’re going to paint?”
Olivia couldn’t see him, but she had perfected the art of narrowing her gaze and staring someone down hard enough that they felt like she could see them. She knew it was freaky, but she used it to her advantage at times. “Do you think just because I’m blind I can’t paint pictures?”
His breath hitched. “No. Of course not. I just…” She could scent his nervousness. She’d gotten to him.
“I can do anything anyone else can do,” Olivia informed him, laying it on thick. “You wait and see. My picture is going to be amazing.” She didn’t honestly believe she could paint anything that would be remotely recognizable, but she didn’t care. The freedom lay in trying.
“Okay, okay. I didn’t mean to offend you, Olivia.”
She smiled sweetly and shrugged, cutting back on the snark. She didn’t want to hurt his feelings. “It’s okay. I’m not offended.But Suzette is right. It’s better if we take the supplies out to the picnic table just in case I make a mess.”
Elias sighed. “Outside…”
She was pretty sure he turned and stared out the sliding glass doors that led to the deck.
“I guess it can’t hurt anything.” It sounded like he moved toward the door, and he must have opened it because Olivia felt the slightly cooler air waft against her bare legs.
“You all have on tennis shoes, right?” he asked.
“Yes, Elias,” Jezebel told him.
“Good, good. I wouldn’t want you to get a splinter on your feet or something.” He was grasping at anything.
The three of them were totally running him over like a freight train, and Olivia thought it was pretty darn fun. This was her first foray outside of the house to meet new people, and already she felt like she was part of a conspiracy. Somehow she knew there was a good chance they were going to get in trouble for this stunt.
Daddy hadn’t specifically said she couldn’t go outside, but Olivia figured it was implied. After all, he certainly didn’t let her go outside unattended at home.
