Chapter 31

After helping Violet and Aster to their seats he quickly made it to the stage in front of them and stood next to the sign language interpreter, and before addressing the crowd he thanked the middle aged man for being there at such short notice. Violet could hear the whispers behind her as he did. "Is that his wife? I thought he was single? But they have a child…" and as the whispers continued before Leon started speaking she secretly enjoyed what they were saying.

As Leon read from his most recent book and talked about the photos Violet wondered why he said he didn't enjoy speaking in front of people, he seemed like a natural. He was funny, charming, and humble. People were fully engaged. When it came time for the Q&A he asked for a chair to sit in so he could feel a bit more comfortable.

The fist questions were regarding his earlier adventures, people asking for advice for starting out or where to even go and he answered with a kind smile. When the crowd settled from the funny story the last question had opened him up for a young woman near the back rose. "Do you have a favorite place?"

His eyes flicked to Aster and Violet for the briefest of moments that everyone in the room caught. "I've recently found myself falling in love with Lieden." He smiled as a small blush dusted his cheeks and every woman in the room sighed, except Violet who blushed, which Aster took note of.

After the questions there was a line of people asking for autographs to which his manager announced that he would be at the bookstore in town tomorrow morning until the afternoon to sign books. Violet and Aster met him at the front of the stage where he kindly asked the security to let them through and they made their escape through the back.

At the restaurant Leon learned just how well Violet and Aster knew the owners of one of the loveliest restaurants he's been to. Between the romantic atmosphere and the excellent service, who all knew Violet and her little girl well enough to guess their orders, he couldn't help but like the place."You two come here often?" He asked after their drinks came and orders were taken.

"Once a week." Violet admits as she hands Aster the book she'd been holding on for her. "She likes their brie appetizer and I'm a fan of their Halibut."

"I was wondering since the staff seemed to know exactly what the two of you wanted before you said anything. Have you had the lamb before? I always order it when it's on a menu, although I'm afraid I'm holding it to an impossible standard."

"One of the five star restaurants in another country?" She asks with a raised eyebrow.

"Actually, someone I met on the other side of the world." He smiles as memories of Valantia and the village fill his mind with happy memories he is grateful for.

Aster pulled on Leon's sleeve and she got his attentions she signed slowly and with a confused look in her bright green eyes. "Where are your friends?"

His eyes shift from Violet and back to Aster with a soft smile. "I told them I wanted to spend time with my new best friend tonight. I'll see them tomorrow."

Aster turns to her mother with some mischief in her eyes as she moves her hands too quickly for Leon to follow. When he sees the stern look in Violet's face as she signs "no." He's very confused.

Violet looks up from Aster and sees that Leon has no idea what the child said to her. "She asked if your friends not coming meant she didn't have to use all of her manners."

Leon laugh, which caused Aster to giggle and Violet to scowl a little. So when he was finished he looked to the little girl with a slightly serious look about him. "You're mother is right. You still have to use all of you manners." Aster now scowled at him before reaching for her book. Leon signed before her eyes could hide behind the pages. "What are you reading?"

The little miss tilted the book so he could read the spine. "Aesop's fables."

"Wow." He signs. "I like those stories a lot. Are you enjoying it."

Aster tilts her head a little with a smirk and lift of her eyebrows as if to say "I'm still making up my mind." Before she signs and Leon again struggles to follow.

Violet smiles as she interprets. "She says she prefers your books."

Leon blushed, and thanked Aster before the child pulls the book over her eyes.

Violet rolls her eyes at her daughter. "She likes to disappear into a book while we wait for her food, it's the only rude thing I let her do on a regular basis." She bit her lip before looking him in the eyes. "Did you really reschedule your publishers for us?"

Leon started to feel a little nervous, but remembered what he told Gilbert, or at least Gilbert's letter, and it calmed his nerves. "I did. We didn't get to talk earlier at your house..."

Pink filled her cheeks as she remembered the whole encounter from earlier that day. "You said you received a letter from Gilbert— last night..."

He reached into his jacket pocket to pull out the letter and was stunned when a metal hand gently stopped him. When he looked up their faces were close and he swallowed. "Violet?"

There's a strange sadness to her words as he eyes and lips smile when she talks. "I don't need to see it. It wasn't written for me."

"You trusted him that much?" Leon asks as her hand leaves him and she begins to sit back again. He leaves the letter in his jacket and takes a sip of water.

"Yes. I still do." She whispers before taking a sip of her black coffee.

"Violet..." he had pictured this moment too many times to count. He pictured taking her hands and telling her how he felt. He had hesitated before, so he wasn't going to now. "I'm still very much in love you."

"Leon—" how long had she been wanting to hear him say those words, she didn't know. She wondered if that want had been there before or after the letter, which would mean it was there when she was with Gilbert. Maybe it had been there, but she never felt like she was lacking any love from her husband, even since he's been dead she's not felt like she was lacking love either, yet, somehow his words felt like the water the waiter refilled in their cups.

"Your appetizer has arrived" the young waiter announces with a bright smile.

Aster was so focused on her meal that she didn't notice the shift that had happened between the two adults at the table. As they finished their meal Aster asked if he would come to the house with them. Violet signed in a somewhat hesitant manner. "It's starting to get late. When we get home Your nanny is going to give you a bath and then you're off to dream land."

Aster sighed as she rolled her eyes at her mother. "I know all of that mama. I want him to tuck me in to bed tonight."

Leon didn't know every sign but he got the gist. "If it's okay with your mother."

Violet hadn't stopped blushing since his confession at the beginning of the meal, when he agreed to come over to tuck Aster in, when he stood next to her while they waited for their car, when he held the umbrella for them as they got in to the car, and the blush only got more intense when he got into the car with them and sat across from her and Aster.

He stayed as focused as he could on Aster during the car ride. Asking her which fable was her favorite so far, "The Tortoise and the Hare." She had questions for him too, mostly regarding his adventures until she hit him with a question that made him turn a shade of red and glance at Violet. "Are you married?" The girl asked.

He smiled through his blush as he replied. "No. I've never been married."

Aster took full notice of the way her favorite author and her mother were behaving. She'd observed this behavior between her uncle and her soon to be aunt, so she had an idea of what the two adults in the car with her now had been discussing at the table. She smirked and a light flickers in her emerald eyes as she signs her next question. "Do you want to be married?"

Leon smiled, he had only known this little girl for less than two days but felt like she was reading him as easily as she reads her books. "Yes. I would like to be married."

Violet sat there, avoiding eye contact as her daughter took care of questions she had planned to ask, her cheeks a pale rosy pink the entire time.

"Do you want children?" Aster asked with a narrowed eyes and pursed lips as if his answer would determine wether or not he would be allowed to tuck her in tonight.

He smiled warmly as memories of all the children in the village, who are all probably teenagers or married with children, sitting around the campfire, piling into his lap as they all listened to an elder tell a story, or on occasion they asked Leon to talk about his "Village" and he would do his best to not make the observatory sound boring. "Yes. I would like to have children."