Page 165 of Embracing the Change

He might not be overly saddened at his brother’s passing, but Jeff was still his brother, and AJ was probably already in that building, thus the next hour or so was not going to be enjoyable for my Jamie.

I curled my fingers around the crook of his arm and said, “Yes, darling. Let’s go.”

We walked toward the building but didn’t make it when Jamie’s steps stuttered to a halt.

So we all came to a halt.

His head was turned to the right, I looked that way, and I saw a lovely, tanned, robust woman of around my age walking toward us.

“Good Christ. Patty?” Jamie called.

My body tensed when I knew who she was, but the woman grinned largely as she called back, “In the flesh, brother boy.”

Gently, Jamie extricated my hand from his arm, strode purposefully toward the sister he hadn’t seen in years. She’d escaped the Oakley dysfunction by moving to New Zealand, and until this moment, as far as I knew, had never been back on American soil. And this included not going to her own mother’s funeral (though, Jamie told me she did send a beautiful spray of flowers and a loving note to her mother, the reading of which Jamie included in his eulogy). That said, Jamie had gone to New Zealand to see her, though, considering the distance, not frequently.

The instant they were close enough to do so, they embraced.

We all edged toward them, so I heard her say to her brother, “Damn, it’s so good to see you.”

“You too, Patty. You too,” Jamie muttered.

He broke their embrace and turned to us. “Judge, you won’t remember her, because you were a baby when you last saw her, but this is your Aunt Patty.”

She beamed at Judge, before she went to him, cupped his face in her hands and said, “Lord, son. You grew up good.”

“Uh…thanks,” Judge mumbled, his attention going between his dad and his aunt, uncertain which way to come down with the latter, in case, even if it gave no appearances of so being, this was another hit his father was taking.

Yes, Chloe was right.

Judge was indeed overprotective.

It was sweet.

“Congratulations on your boy, Judge,” Patricia went on. “Jamie sent me photos. He’s gorgeous.”

Judge’s, “Thanks again, Aunt Patty,” was a little less hesitant this time.

Patricia turned to Dru and did the same. “Always so beautiful, just like your mother.”

“Nice to see you again, Aunt Patty,” Dru replied.

“This is Rix, Judge’s best bud, and Sully, a good family friend,” Jamie introduced. And after they all shook hands, he turned her to me. “And this is Nora, my future wife, when I get around to giving her a ring.”

My entire body warmed, Patricia laughed, Judge and Dru grinned at each other, and Patricia moved in to embrace me.

“Lovely to meet you,” she said in my ear, giving me a squeeze that was a mite overpowering, but I could take it.

“You as well,” I replied.

We released each other, and she turned to the funeral home. “So, we got this shit to deal with.”

“Yeah,” Jamie agreed.

She looked to Jamie. “You ready to face the tyrant?”

“I’ve been in striking distance, Patty. The question is, are you?” Jamie asked.

“Brother boy, I’ve been psyching up for this for decades.”

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