Page 89 of Embracing the Change

I was unsurprised she read that in the tone of my two words.

I’d been correct the evening before, and it wasn’t (only) that I received more that morning.

I was going to feel headily and splendidly fucked for at least a week.

Nevertheless, I refused to dignify Mika’s shout verbally, but I did allow myself to smile.

“How was it?” she asked.

“A lady never tells,” I replied.

“Oh my God, don’t even with that nonsense,” Mika returned.

I brushed on blush, sharing, “Jamie is uniquely skilled at making love and fucking at the same time.”

“Really?” Mika breathed.

“I can’t explain it, dear. I didn’t even know such a thing existed. But I can assure you, it does.”

“That sounds amazing.”

“That would be putting it mildly.”

“I’m so happy for you, honey,” Mika gushed.

She wasn’t the only one. “He is too.”

“I could tell,” she said. “It was like he was a different Jamie, at the same time, he wasn’t. There was just something…peaceful about him the whole time you two were out here. And that’s saying something, considering why our family reunion came about.”

Blush brush frozen in mid-air, I stared unseeing at myself in the mirror as something altogether marvelous curled contentedly deep inside of me.

“Nora?” Mika called.

I went back to brushing. “He doesn’t hide I make him happy.”

“I love that about him.”

I stopped brushing.

“He does seem peaceful, doesn’t he?” I asked softly.

“So do you,” she said, just as softly.

“I’d…given up on thinking I’d have this,” I admitted.

“I know, honey. I can’t even begin to tell you how thrilled I am for you. For you and Jamie. How thrilled we all are for you.”

That snapped me out of it.

“Well, darling, rein it in. Chloe is already far too proud of herself for this happenstance, when Jamie and I did most of the work. It’s like she burnt the sugar on top but is claiming the creation of the entire crème br?lée.”

I heard her happy laugh. “No one steals Nora Ellington’s thunder. Not even Chloe Oakley.”

I dusted some highlighter along my upper cheekbones. “Precisely.”

“I’ll warn Chloe.”

“Thank you.”

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