The two of them came inside the living room and Lucas stopped Grace, putting finger to his lips and making a shushing sound.
Grace looked curiously at him and he smiled, showing toward his Mother with his eyes.
Ever elegant and poised Helen Bouchard was sitting among kids on the floor, listening to them explaining their drawings… Well, all except little Anna, Tanya and Mary. They stared at Helen completely enchanted.
"Awe you fwom Oz?", little four year old Tanya asked, eyes wide opened in wonder.
Helen gave a little, curious smile.
"Oz?"
Little Tanya nodded.
"Yeah. You awe Wucas of Oz' Mum. You must be fwom Oz too", Tanya seriously explained, eagerly watching at Helen for an answer.
Little Anna conspiratorially whispered, eyes never moving from Helen's face:
"She is so pwetty, she must be Glinda", she smiled.
Helen's eyes sparkled and she leaned forward to hug three little precious girls, her heart completely melting. The girls hugged her back and insisted that she goes with them to see their dolls in the bedrooms.
"Now, girls, don't bother Mrs. Bouchard that much", Lillian warned, but Helen smiled gently.
"Please, it's Helen", raising her eyebrows she added "Or, actually, no. It's Glinda, apparently", she winked at the little girls who giggled in delight "And don't worry. They could never be a bother. Excuse me", getting up from the floor, she accepted their little hands and slowly followed them upstairs.
Lucas smiled watching his Mother walking away with three little girls.
Grace smiled, heading further inside the living room, Lucas right behind her.
Martin nodded.
"I have a feeling that, except for attending the Ball, your Mother will spend most of her time here", Martin smiled at Lucas.
Lucas smiled back as he sat down.
"Well, I can't say I blame her. I also visit them as much as I can. They make even the hardest days easier in a matter of minutes", Lucas smiled at his Father, but Lillian noticed his quick glance at Grace as he said those words, causing Lillian to hide a smile behind her teacup.
Martin noticed it too and he also saw Grace's cheeks flaming up a bit, but she quickly hid it by pouring some tea.
"Well, I can see why you made this one of your projects, Lucas. The kids are precious. And from what I heard", he turned to Lillian and Grace "You two are doing an excellent job. It can't be easy to take care of all these children".
Grace gave a small smile.
"Perhaps not, but we love it", she replied.
Martin was about to ask the sisters how they ended up doing this when Helen came back, smiling.
"Here comes our Glinda", smiled Martin taking his wife's palm and kissing it gently as she sat down next to him.
Helen's smile grew.
"Oh, they are adorable! And so full of love!", she sighed "It breaks my heart that they don't have a family", she raised her eyebrows looking at Lillian and Grace "But, it's obvious they adore you", she softly smiled "How did you ever come up with idea to do this?"
Lilliand and Grace shared a look, filled with so many memories and so many lost time…
Lillian started to talk how they lost their parents and stayed for a while together in one orphanage…once Lillian started to talk about how she got adopted and Grace didn't, her little sister fidgeted nervously in her chair, looking down at her hands in her lap.
All of a sudden, Grace surprised everybody when she got up.
"Excuse me, I am just… I am just going to change.. ", she absently wiped chocolate frosting from her dress, still not looking up.
Then she turned away and ran upstairs.
For a moment, silence prevailed.
"I am so sorry", whispered Helen "I never meant to upset your sister, Lillian", she gently said.
Lillian nodded gratefully.
"I know. Thank you", she took a deep breath in before continuing "Even after all this time, Grace can be so hard on herself. Like it's her fault nobody wanted to adopt her. That pain is still deep in her heart", she shook her head, her eyes full of sadness "I don't think that she will ever believe in herself completely".
Helen was about to say something, but was surprised to hear Lucas' voice.
"That's why she needs people around herself to show her that they believe in her", Lucas said silently.
Helen took a long, careful look at her son and then casted a meaningful glance to her husband.
Martin acknowledged it with a light squeeze of his fingers on Helen's palm.
Lillian gratefully nodded.
"Yes. And I am trying as much as I can", she swallowed and took a deep breath in "Anyway. We didn't know anything about each other for the next 12 years."
"Twelve years!", Martin silently gasped.
Helen was speechless.
"How did you find each other again?", asked Martin.
As Lillian explained her painful search for her long lost sister, Helen stole another look at her son.
He didn't ask any questions.
He knows the whole story.
Helen raised her chin a bit as she noticed Lucas' eyes escaping toward the stairs… looking for Grace.
A small smile curled up her lips just for a second.
He cares.
Lillian took a deep breath in.
"You probably noticed that we have lots of children. That's because Grace and I set up a rule for adoption that, unfortunately, often means that kids won't get adopted", she said.
"What kind of rule?", asked Martin.
In her peripheral vision, Helen noticed a change in her son's posture.
And, just like she thought, Grace's voice was heard.
"That siblings cannot be separated for adoption. Either the couple adopts them all or they stay with us", she smiled sadly before adding "The children are calm and happy because they are certain that nobody will pull them apart", she ended silently.
Martin took a deep breath in and leaned in his chair. After few moments, he glanced at Lucas.
"I am going to say it again, son; This is the most noble project you could pick up", he said, pride and approval of his son's decisions and actions evident in his voice.
Grace smiled happily at the praise Lucas received.
"Oh, Lucas helped us so much! And the kids adore him!", the words bubbled out from her and she caught Lucas' grateful look.
Helen took a sip from her teacup, hiding her smile.
Placing a cup back on the table, Helen crossed her palms in her lap and smiled at her son, one eyebrow raised.
"So we heard", she looked intently at her son "Lucas of Oz?"
Lucas chuckled.
"That would be me", he smiled.
"The kids call him like that ever since Grace and him put on a show with 'The Wizard of Oz'", grinned Lillian. At the questioning glance from both Helen and Martin, Lillian explained "It was like a role play. They shared the parts between the two of them. Lucas was Cowardly Lion, Grace was Tin Man, Lucas was Scarecrow, Grace was Dorothy".
As Lillian talked Helen caught the most unusual sight - both Grace and Lucas were trying hard not to burst out laughing.
"The kids were the munchkins, of course. And everything was going splendid…", Lillian shook her head, remembering that day "However, a problem arose when we needed to have Dorothy put out a fire that the Wicked Witch of West set on the Scarecrow", she raised her eyebrows at her sister and Lucas.
Grace swallowed hard, not daring to look up in Lucas' direction. She knew if she steals just one glance at his face - she'd burst out laughing.
"Oh, you two still think that it's funny, do you?!", Lillian asked.
Lucas hid his eyes with his palm, his shoulders shaking from laughter.
Grace put a chin on her palm, covering her mouth with her fingers, trying to hide her struggle...
And that was when she made a colossal mistake.
She looked at Lucas.
And he peeked at her between two fingers.
And they both burst out laughing!
Lillian shook her head in disbelief.
"Unbelievable. The things I put up with", she mumbled.
"What on Earth did they do?!", asked Helen, unable to take her eyes off her son, her heart swelling at the sight and sound of him laughing his heart out
She didn't hear him laugh like this for months!
Lillian huffed.
"Well, Miss Grace here said that there was a scene where they required a third person jump in seeing that she played Dorothy who tried to put the Scarecrow, played by Mister Lucas, out of fire…", she glared at both her sister and Lucas "and managed to melt the Wicked Witch of West in the process. It was supposed to be a glass of water, but Duo Fantastico here thought it would be more dramatic and reslistic if they poured a huge bucket of water on me!"
By now, Lucas was sitting on the floor, slipping from his chair from laughter and Grace stood up from her chair and tried to catch a breath, while making a small walk behind the table.
But the moment Lillian mentioned a bucket of water, Grace laughed so hard that she stumbled on the carpet and lost her footing, landing right next to Lucas who was in absolute hysterics!
One second - that was all that it took for them to look at each other to lose it once again!
Back at the table, Lillian rolled her eyes.
"When they get like this it takes forever for them to become normal again", she huffed "This is exactly what they did to poor Gustave two weeks ago!"
Martin barely managed to take his eyes away from his son and amazing young lady sitting next to him to look back at Lillian with a smile.
"Oh, no... what did they do to Gustave?"
As Lillian talked to Helen and Martin, Grace put her face in her hands, her sides aching from laughter. She couldn't stop.
Lucas wasn't able to sit up straight on his own from laughing too hard and in order to avoid laying down on the floor, he leaned his head on Grace's shoulder, feeling her entire body shaking from laughter.
"I can't breathe", Lucas managed to say through laughter.
Grace wiped at her tears, gently nudging her shoulder in his neck.
As he looked at her, she couldn't resist
"Want some water?", she breathed out and their eyes collided for a millisecond - before they burst to laugh once again!