Page 128 of Embracing the Change

He moved in and saw his little girl prancing his way, so he bent and picked her up in his arms.

As was becoming her habit, Heiress moved to rest her paws on his shoulder and sniff his neck while he carried her to the study.

He found Nora on the sofa, the coffee table in front of her covered in papers.

She glanced up at him. “Darling, remind me never to accept the assignment of creating seating charts ever again. I must have had a moment of insanity when I agreed to this torture.”

“The Frick thing?” he asked, moving to her and bending to brush his lips against hers.

When he straightened, she shook her head. “No, the ballet thing.”

“Ah,” he murmured.

Her eyes narrowed on him, reading him, he knew, when she asked, “How did lunch with Ned go?”

Jamie lifted a leg high to step over both of hers in the space between sofa and table, and then he (and Heiress) sat down beside her.

“I wouldn’t count on him calling a family meeting with his daughters anytime soon.”

She huffed.

He smiled, but said, “It has to be on his time when he’s comfortable with it.”

“Marlo Winslet doesn’t strike me as someone who will wait very long for a man to extricate his head from his ass,” she remarked.

“You waited for me.”

“I was hopelessly in love with you.”

He grinned at her and said, “Maybe Marlo is in love with Ned.”

She looked to the charts. “We can hope so…for Ned.”

“Ned had some things to share with me too.”

She refocused on him. Acutely. “Why does your tone warn me to brace?”

“Because it’s some fucked-up shit.”

Her eyes widened, then she lifted a hand to roll it at him to prompt him to divulge.

Jamie did so.

He told her about Paloma, which made Nora appear annoyed. He then cautiously told her about Roland, which made her look shocked. And he made sure she knew AJ had to be involved in this, which made her openly contemplative.

“What?” he asked.

“I don’t know,” she hedged.

He knew her too well, so he noted, “I think you do.”

She shifted in her seat as if preparing, for what, he had to prepare for, before she said, “You may consider me crazy, but I think in that mess, Paloma is the mastermind.”

“I love you, sweetheart, but you’re giving her too much credit. If Roland isn’t, AJ is.”

“Roland can be petty, but this is beyond the pale.”

“You haven’t lost you, twice. And I’ll add, in losing you, for all intents and purposes, he lost his children. I don’t agree with it, but I can see how that would take things beyond the pale.”

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