Night and Day (Stevens Book 11)

Chapter 19

Lunch had been an enjoyable meal. Robert and Kiki had been all about Mason, asking him about his career and technique. Did he prefer directing or acting? They were enthralled by every word that left his mouth.

Katherine had sat next to Norah, who she discovered was a talented artist, and her husband Caleb, who ran a non-profit that helped third-world countries build their infrastructure. They were by far the most fascinating Stevens, and Katherine wondered what it would be like to spend a lifetime traveling the globe and helping the world one small project at a time.

Grace spent the meal charming J.D. and Claire, asking them all about themselves, which they loved, and Bryce looked a bit distracted as he kept looking at his phone.

"We're to have more than we thought," Laura said as she checked her phone as they prepared to leave the table.

"Really?" Cassie said, sounding excited for the first time since Katherine had arrived. "Who?"

"Alice, Rainer, and Beth." Laura supplied as she flipped her phone over.

Katherine could tell they wanted to ask questions but weren't going to while they had an audience, and Katherine could help with that.

"Grace," Katherine leaned around J.D. to look at her concerned face, "perhaps Reva could give us a brief tour of the house, and we could talk with you and Mr. Stevens later about potential rooms we would like to film in?"

"Yes, that sounds like an excellent idea," Kiki said, standing and taking over. "We only have three days, so we really need to lay our plan out tonight so we can start filming tomorrow. We want to do some exterior shots tonight if it's all right with you. There is going to be a full moon."

"Of course," Bryce nodded as Reva appeared by magic.

"Maybe she's the ghost?" Mason whispered sotto voice to the table.

Riva acted as if she hadn't heard as she smiled at the table and waited for the crew to stand and follow her. Katherine turned to leave, but Grace caught her hand and pulled her back into her seat.

"Katherine will catch up with you all in a bit if that's all right?" Grace asked in her sweetest voice. "Riva, will you close the doors behind you, please?"

Riva nodded as she led the others out of the room, and Claire looked over her shoulder at Katherine with suspicion.

"Watch out for that one," Cassie said when the doors were closed.

Katherine nodded her agreement. "If this is family business, I should probably leave," she insisted, trying to stand again, but Cassie and Grace pulled and pushed her back into her chair.

"In case you haven't figured it out yet, Katherine. You are family." Davis smiled at her as he took some of his wife's leftover bread and shoved it into his mouth.

Katherine looked at them all wide-eyed, but they all continued with the conversation.

"Bryce?" Grace turned to look at her husband.

He smiled his honest-to-goodness smile that once again caught Katherine off guard.

"Mave ran away from home. She told them to join us here, help Alistair on his mission, and leave her the hell alone. They were smothering her, and she couldn't take it anymore."

Katherine watched as all the Stevens' faces broke into grins.

"Do we know where she ran away to?" Mason asked, leaning back into his chair, suddenly relaxed, and Cassie reached over and squeezed his arm in happiness.

"I can guess where," Davis said as he looked at them.

"Sam!" several of them said in unison.

"Do you think so?" Laura asked with a frown.