"Yes, cupcake, that's exactly what he means. Violet looks very sexy like that. Makes boys have bad thoughts."
She giggled. "Dad!"
"What? I said boys. I'm too old for that."
"Lies," Cy coughed out. "She's a professional. She's selling that bathing suit."
"Well, I'd buy my girl one if she didn't already have it."
And Violet's lips split into a grin. "You're not helping!" Then she splashed a wave of water at us.
The whole time, Ash just kept taking pictures. I was pretty sure I was the only one who noticed that not all of them were of the models. Then, just on impulse, I pulled off my boots, jogged over for my hat, and waded back in.
"Wanna have a splash fight? You already got me soaked."
"Kiss her, Dad!" Faith yelled.
"Yeah, kiss her," Cessily encouraged.
Soon enough, they were all saying it, so I gave in. Spinning Violet around so she was facing Ash and her back was against my chest, I leaned in to kiss her shoulder. She reached back, clasping my arm, and her head fell against my shoulder.
The camera clicked, and I decided I'd ask Ash for a copy of that one. The woman of my dreams, so fucking perfect, and I wanted something to remember how good she made this moment feel.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Iwas up late Saturday night going through the pictures. A few of them, I pulled out and edited, then sent off to print for myself. Darnell and Cessily leaning against each other by the porch, as an example, or Cy smiling at the antics of Luke, Violet, and Faith. I had a very nice headshot of him, and I wanted it framed and on the wall. Then there was the one of Luke kissing Violet. A few tweaks turned the reflections on the water to gold, and that was all I had to adjust. The pair of them were just so perfect.
But anything with Faith in it, I left for her to help me with. There were a lot. We'd done the bikini set, and when that was finished, we'd cleaned up and done a shoot out in the barn in athletic wear. Glitter and Onyx had been willing to tolerate all the fuss for a little extra grain, and then Luke had tossed Faith up on her pony and led her up the aisle with Violet walking beside them. I already knew that was the one I wanted to use, but I'd made a deal with Faith.
While the rest of the household headed to church Sunday morning, I separated the images out into folders for the shots I needed. We'd pick one from each group, and there were enough that Faith had to be ok with something. I was almost finished when I heard Faith's laughter enter the house. That meant they were back. I thought about going to greet them just as Faith hurried into my office.
"Well?" she asked. "Anything good?"
"Well..." I made a point of looking out the door. "Close that, because I'm making a present for Violet, and I want to see what you think."
"Ok." She shut the door, grabbed the chair in the corner and dragged it over. "Is it a good picture?"
I pulled up the kiss, then turned to see what she thought. "Well?"
"That's my dad?" she asked.
"I know, right?" I lifted up to slide my chair over, making room for her. "They're very pretty together, aren't they?"
"I really hope he marries her," Faith mumbled.
"Me too," I admitted. "Your dad's a very good man, Faith, and there aren't a lot of men I'd think were good enough for my best friend. He's pretty much the only one." Then I patted her knee. "And then you'd really be my niece."
She just blew that off. "I already am because of the rainbow. No take-backs, Cy said."
"No take-backs," I agreed. "Now, here's what I did. We've got all these pictures, so I sorted them into the shots I need for the catalog. My goal is to get at least one from each group. If we get more, then I can put them on full page ads or other things, butonlyif you approve it. Ok?"
She nodded. "I wanna see how they turned out."
Which meant she was excited about it. Not scared, but excited. I was going to count that as progress. So, opening a program to view the images in a slideshow, I let her click through, telling her to stop when she saw one she didn't hate. At first, she just scrolled through quickly, but then she paused.
"That's kinda good, right?" she asked.
I checked the image number, then opened the file in my editor. "Ok. Now, here's where all the magic happens. Those ads you see? That's not how they look at first. We fix them." And I started adjusting the light temperature, increasing saturation, adding filters, and more. Quickly, blemishes vanished. A brush helped me remove a few things in the background, and then I altered the contrast just a bit.
