Page 25 of Embracing the Change

“Yeah,” he grunted, slathered some plum sauce on his duck, rolled the pancake and took a bite.

“You told me this because…” she prompted.

He swallowed his food, and shared, “I told you because I had a trust fund, on my mother’s side. It wasn’t enormous, but it was a foundation to start a life. But I didn’t take a fucking dime from him, Nora. Not that he offered. He wrote me off when I left Texas and turned my back on the family business. But I wouldn’t have taken it if he had. And I built this.” He circled his chopsticks again, because she’d know New York real estate, considering her generational wealth, and all of it happening in New York City, so she’d know it better than most. “Neither of my children will ever want. Their children won’t want. Dru will have the wedding of her dreams, even if I have to fly five hundred guests to a castle in Germany. I built that. All of it.”

“And you couldn’t save Rosalind,” she said with soft understanding.

“And I had to watch my wife suffer and die,” he agreed.

“I know I’m telling you something you know, but I still think it has to be said. It isn’t your fault.”

He nabbed his wine and took a sip before stating, “I do know that, but Dru needs her more than me. Lindy’s gone. And I’m still here. I don’t have a close relationship with Judge, my son. Circumstances with my ex-wife made it that way. He’s built his own life, and I’m proud of him, but he doesn’t need me.”

“Survivor’s guilt?” she asked, openly astonished.

“I would want Lindy to live on and continue her work, which, as a social worker, was actually important. I would want her to help Dru when she finds love, when she starts a family. I’d want her to enjoy what I worked hard to build for them?—”

Nora put her chopsticks on her plate and sat back, snapping, “Stop it, Jamie. It didn’t happen that way.”

“I’m aware of that, Nora, but that doesn’t stop those thoughts from coming.”

“And girls need their fathers, make no mistake. I know, mine is gone. And I’ve met the one who donated his seed to make yours, and trust me, she needs you, Jamie. Don’t ever doubt it.”

“I’m sorry you lost your dad,” he murmured. “And Eleanor. Your mother was a remarkable woman.”

“I’m sorry you think you should have taken Rosalind’s place. I mean, dear Lord, I didn’t know her very well, but I knew her enough to know, if she was sitting here, listening to this, she’d be shockingly angry with you.”

“And I know that as well, that still doesn’t stop the thoughts from coming,” he retorted.

She picked up her chopsticks and stabbed at a dumpling, grousing, “What I wouldn’t give for a magic wand. You can’t change the fates, but I could maybe do something about this alarming train of thought you have happening.” She shoved the entire dumpling in her mouth, chewed angrily, then, still with food in her mouth, an indication of how angry she was, because Jamie reckoned, she never spoke with food in her mouth, she turned to him and said, “I have no idea if what happens is meant to be and it’s simply our lot to deal with it. All I know is, the world would be a poorer place without you in it.”

She swallowed, and it looked so rough, it hurt Jamie’s throat.

But she kept talking.

“I mean, can you imagine if Rosalind hadn’t met you, and she was still destined to leave this Earth the way she did, and Dru was stuck with that man?” She shivered dramatically.

It was cute.

But Jamie couldn’t concentrate on that, considering he was reacting to her words, his chest swelling to the point it felt like it would burst, and his heart started beating faster.

Nora continued speaking, “Or having no one at all. That would be a tragedy.” She shook her head and snatched up another prawn. “I have children, and so do you, so you know this as well. The last thing Rosalind wanted to do was to leave either of you, but I know for certain she felt content, even blessed, that she was leaving her daughter with you.” She stabbed the air in his direction with the prawn caught between her chopsticks. “And you can take that to the bank, Jameson Oakley.”

With that, she angrily bit down on her prawn, and still angrily, chewed it.

“Fuck, I’m so glad you showed tonight,” he said.

She blinked rapidly several times. “What? Why? So I could rant at you?”

“Somebody needed to, so I’d get my head out of my ass.”

For a moment, she seemed stunned, then she seemed pleased, after that, she looked so content, if she purred like a kitten, he wouldn’t have been surprised. “Happy to be of service.”

He chuckled.

It was rusty too, but it was authentic.

“Tell me about Dru, and your son,” she demanded.

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