Wicked Forest (DeBeers 2)

"Amou?"

"Yes. I'm so excited about it."

"I can't wait to meet her. Your father spoke so highly of her and so often, I feel I've known her for years." she said.

"I know."

We hugged and she went off to rest. I went to the kitchen and had the maid prepare Linden's dinner. Then I took it up to his room myself He was sitting up in his bed, his eyes half-closed, still looking a little pale, with a small bruise on the bridge of his nose. When I appeared, his face took on some color and he tried to be more animated.

"I guess I made a fool of myself last night." he said. "I've told Grace how sorry I am. and I am telling you."

"It's all right. Linden. As long as you had a good time. But you knew with your medication, you shouldn't drink at all, much less drink too much. It could have been far worse for you."

"I didn't take my medication."' he confessed, "I'm tired of feeling like a leper.'

He looked at the food.

"I'm not very hungry."

"Eat what you can," I said.

I glanced back at the dresser and saw that the pictures were gone. I couldn't imagine Mother having seen them and not mentioning- them to me.

I watched him eat and saw that every bite he took looked painful.

"How did you fall and smash your nose. Linden?"

"I don't remember," he said. "I'm sorry if I made a fool of myself and embarrassed Thatcher."

"That's not what I care about. I'm sure at a bachelor party, everyone makes a fool of himself'"

He nodded.

"Including Thatcher." he said, "I was surprised at some of the things he and the others did."

"I don't care to hear about it. Linden. but I do want to talk to you about something else." I said, and pulled the desk chair up to his bed. He ate a little more, then put the tray aside.

"What?"

"This morning when I looked in on you, I saw the pile of photographs on the dresser."

He nodded, showing no signs of apprehension. "I was surprised at how you invaded my privacy. Linden. Do you think that was right to do?" I asked. I felt like Daddy speaking to me when I was just a child and my adoptive mother had brought some minor infraction to his attention,

"What do you mean? I told you I was going to take candid photographs of you. It's not like you didn't know," he defended himself.

"Candid is one thing. Linden. invasion of someone's most private and personal moments is another. How did you do that?"

"I'm an artist. I don't think of that as invasion of privacy. I wanted to get a complete image in my mind, and I've got it now. You'll see."

"I hope you're not painting a portrait of me sitting on a toilet, Linden," I said sternly.

"Of course not, but everything we do reveals another aspect of who we are This is how Arliss Thornbee went about it. I told you that."

"I never heard of Arliss Thornbee. Linden, and even so, just because he did it doesn't make it the right thing to do, or even the artistic thing to do."

"I'm an artist. I don't think of you as a naked woman when I paint you. I see the beauty in you, and that beauty appears in everything you do, even when you go to the bathroom."

"I'm embarrassed by that. Linden. I hope you