Page 45 of Destiny

Her words bring tears to my eyes. I’ve waited my whole life to hear them.

“Thank you.”

“You’re welcome. Now, come give me a hug.”

She embraces me, and Micky joins in too.

“Okay! Now I have to get going. I gotta pick out what I’m going to wear to have dinner with Marco.” She does a little jig with her shoulders.

“You know that I’m the one dating him, right?”

“Of course. But that doesn’t mean that I can’t also look stunning for him. I’m going to bring out my good pearls!”

“You’re crazy.” I chuckle while shaking my head.

“So, tell me—how is the sex?” she whispers behind her hand.

“Mother! I am not telling you that!”

“Oh, you don’t even have to. I bet it’s great. It has to be—with a body like that?”

“Okay, seriously . . . I’m going to barf. Please leave. I’ll see you tonight.”

I finally manage to push her out the back door.

“Ugh!” I go back into the main showroom and wipe my hands together. “What a handful.”

“But at least she’s happy for you!”

“Yeah.” My hands find the crook of my hips. “But I could do without the talk about my sex life.”

“Well, she’s only had one partner for what—thirty years?”

“Okay, not you too. That’s my father you’re talking about.”

“Sex is natural, Bea. It’s just a part of life.”

“That doesn’t mean I need to think about my parents doing it. And I don’t need them knowing about me in that regard.”

“You’re such a prude sometimes.”

That may be so . . . but at least I’ve already gotten my mother’s stamp of approval.

Would my father’s reaction be the same? My mom apparently thought so, but only time would truly tell.

Part 4

Chapter 1 – Bea

I’m putting the final touches on my outfit for the night, and Marco is pacing in the background.

But he wasn’t worried about meeting my father. On the contrary, he was nervous about Caroline, Alessia, and Aurora’s grandmother watching them.

With her Parkinson’s getting worse, she’s having a hard time walking. And if she falls, the girls won’t be able to help her get back up.

Of course, I completely understand his concerns, but we made sure that Caroline had both my number and my mother’s in case she couldn’t get through to Marco for some reason.

“It’s going to be okay,” I say—even though I have no way of knowing that for sure. But she said she planned to mainly sit in the recliner in the living room while the kids played nearby.

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