Page 20 of Embracing the Change

How she sensed he needed it, he didn’t know.

But she did, and she was there to offer it.

He had only spoken pleasantries and small talk with her since he’d seen her in a restaurant waiting for a friend years before, and now, when he needed her the most, she was there.

“We have an issue with the flowers,” Jamie told her.

Nora’s gaze swept through them, and when it came back to Jamie, she arched her brows in question.

“Dru wants red,” he explained.

“Obviously,” Nora stated, turning her attention to Dru. “Because of your mother’s fabulous hair.”

Jamie’s throat tightened.

Tears shined in Dru’s eyes, these coming from the sadness that she’d worn like a cloak since Lindy’s diagnosis, and naturally more so the last week since she passed, but also in gratitude that Nora understood.

However, all his daughter had in her was to nod.

“Leave it with me,” Nora decreed, dropping her head to the clutch she was opening to retrieve her phone.

“The service is to start in twenty minutes, Nora,” Jamie reminded her.

“They can wait an extra ten minutes while I do my work,” she decreed. “I’ll spread word around your guests that there’s a minor delay. And I’ll see if the church can set up a coffee service in the meantime.”

Jamie knew nothing about flower arranging, but he did know how much those sprays cost, and he could see with his own eyes how elaborate they were, so he could surmise there was no way a florist in New York City could switch all six of them out in thirty minutes.

He opened his mouth to say the words he needed to say to let his daughter down gently so this could be done for the both of them, but Nora spoke before he could get the first one out.

“Jamie, leave it with me,” she stated softly, but nevertheless inflexibly.

What could he do?

He nodded.

She walked away, the phone already to her ear.

“Who is she?” Dru asked when Nora was out of earshot.

“A good friend,” Jamie murmured.

Dru moved her attention from watching Nora walk away to her dad. She then leaned into him, though it was more like collapsing.

He took her weight and wrapped his arms around her to give her his warmth.

Dru offered the same in return.

They both stared at nothing, because everything had been torn away from them, and nothing, but what was standing there in each other’s arms (except, for Jamie, he also had his son, who was currently greeting their guests in their stead), held meaning anymore.

Thirty minutes later, about two minutes after Jamie approved the opening of the doors to the sanctuary, was when the large team of florists scurried out of the cathedral.

And the six sprays adorning the altar sported bright red-orange roses.

Near-on the exact color of his beautiful wife’s gorgeous hair.

They were perfect.

“Sir, I’m so very sorry, so very sorry, but we have an issue in the foyer.”

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