5
Ianto was both relieved and grateful to return to the homestead and find the little studio not only cleaned out but already lined and a little wood stove being installed in the far corner so in winter it might keep the occupant warm.
Damien was bent over checking the flue was in the right place before clicking it all in when he heard the Hover cycling down, turning to find Ianto in the doorway with a look of surprise. "Shit Ianto, you move like a bloody wild cat stalking me. Silent and deadly, right?"
"Why Jack calls me Tiger sometimes I think" Ianto said distractedly, looking around the room "Did you paint?"
"Just a whitewash … didn't know what colour to use and the timber looks so pretty with the white." Damien answered, and then stalled out as Emma entered the little cabin to look around with interest.
"Oh, it has a little sink and food prep area too?"
"I put the stove in with the cook top here so you can have a kettle on the back at all times when the fire is lit … and a bathroom off here" Damien found himself saying "Once we extend the walkway and little sheltered roof along, this will be a cosy little retreat."
"Oh!" she sighed happily, looking up "Oh I love the timber… look at those beams. Sturdy."
"Yes Ma'am" Damien said with interest moving closer to the pretty lady who seemed to be in her early forties maybe? Plump and comely, not in a frumpy kind of way… voluptuous is the word he was looking for, her waist cut in so nicely so her arse… oh shit… he looked over at Ianto to find him staring intently at him like he knew damned well he was lusting. Damien tried not to look too guilty, Ianto's sudden soft smile a relief.
"Damien here did this for you" Ianto offered "and he is going to get some men to help boring the bed and things off the Hover for this room, you decide where you want them."
Damien rushed to do Ianto's bidding as she turned slowly in the room "It even has a little wardrobe there… so cute."
"It was my studio. Back when I still painted" Ianto said softly, his paints long since dried up, gone and ruined hen his wife died. He touched a piece of wall panelling and it spring open to reveal canvasses packed away inside the walls "Here are some of my works still hiding that I didn't' burn in rage."
"Oh! RUBY!" she cried out as one of the canvases was pulled out, her sister sitting in a shaft of light with her head back, her smile so soft and loving. Her youth and beauty was breathtaking, so slender and dainty. Clearly where Pearl gets her little Elvish features from. Dressed in a white flowing gown, the rocking chair leaning back as her feet sat up on the windowsill, her bare feet cute. She looked like she would be comfortable anywhere, any time. I guess the word 'Timeless' suits this picture, Emma transfixed as she saw the little girl that became a handsome woman. Her sister. Oh. Ruby.
"She was just pregnant there… maybe three months? I wanted to catch that glow" Ianto smiled "She sat over there, by that window. Gods, she looked so angelic. It was going to go in the hallway once Pearl was born. Charlie was playing on the floor with his little toys on a blanket just over there… so I could watch him while I painted and she snoozed between giggling. Gods, she was such a giggle monster, wasn't she?"
Emma knelt and reached out , almost touching the canvas "It's so real."
"Thank you." Ianto replied politely, "would you like it in here? We can hang it over there by the window, so the light will always be there on her like that."
"Oh… I would … really?" she gushed, then looked around more "Wait. I am moving in aren't' I! This is not... you stinker … I am moving in."
"Yes Emma. I need another woman about the place for Pearl's sake. You are her Aunty... the closest thing she can have now to your sister, you tended her well when she was growing up, tended your bother… now come tend her children." Ianto said, her face lighting up as the watched the furniture coming in "Oh my."
"You know.. I was just finishing that bracken sofa I was making for the market…. I whitewashed it already, just needs some cushions." Damien suddenly blurted, "Would go well over by the fire."
"Would match the two chairs you made already too" Ianto agreed, "You said a full two Silver credits for the set, right?"
"No… I can't take your money Ianto, not after all you've done for me" Damien said with horror as Ianto reached into his pocket.
"Nonsense, you made them to make money. I have money. Emma would like them… done deal. Maybe Emma can needlepoint some nice cushions for them herself."
"Oh, lovely" Damien said before his brain was engaged "I like cushions."
Ianto left before the giggling started.
A bit of a giggle monster his own damned self.