Chapter 50

• “As you already know I was impressed with the view of Mr. Maximilian’s house. I finally understood how he could afford to take care of my mom and me…”
• The house was huge, at that time the gazebo was still under construction. Rachel’s car drove up the long drive to the front of the house where a maid welcomed both Heather and her mother. The interior was the house was quite impressive for a small-town girl like Heather. Immediately they arrived the maid ushered Rachel into the study where Maximilian was waiting for her. Heather was taken to a separate room where a TV was turned on and a show was running. She wasn’t as interested in the show as she was in the ornaments that adorned the room. There were ceramic figurines of ballerinas, shepherds, and sheep on a shelf, polished bronze and gold sculptures and some beautiful paintings were arranged on the wall. The maid who brought her to the room appeared with a tray of juice and chocolate chip cookies that smelled delicious. As soon as the maid left Heather stood up to examine the paintings. Some of them were huge and some were the size of a postcard. They seem to be done by professionals but there was one among them that stood out, it wasn’t an oil paintwork like the rest of the paintings, it was a pastel drawing of a landscape and age recognized it as the woods they passed on their way here. It was incredibly beautiful and the colors caught the details of the trees that breezed past her mother’s car as they drove past them. She reached up to touch the painting when a shuffling movement by the door stopped her.
• “When I turned around to see what it was I found Tyler standing by that door, watching me. That was the first time I met him. Up until now, I didn’t know that Mr. Maximilian had a child. I had heard rumors about his wife cheating on him, a social scandal, the divorce but I never heard about Tyler so when I saw him there I was caught by surprise…”