Page 112 of Ella Gets the D
I brush away a tear and keep my head high. “Yes, ma’am, I did.”
She shakes her head and chuckles. “You were a sobbing little thing when I found you in that tent. But look at you now. Mm-hmm!” Her eyes close, and she swings her head from side to side like the card-carrying, devil-stomping Pentecostal woman she is. “Cherish the unexpected blessings in your life. The people who bring goodness and peace. Everything will work itself out. Keep the faith, and keep pressing on.” She offers up a “Glory!” to which a woman behind us shouts, “Hallelujah!”
There are fairy godmothers, and then there’s Ms. Thelma. A praying grandmother who picks you up, dusts you off, and breathes life back into you.
She stands at the call of a fellow churchgoer and climbs the bleachers to meet her kindred spirit in the Lord. Katharine wrings her hands with a pained stare.
“I didn’t know.” Her lips tremble as she works up the courage to face me, and her eyes brim with tears. “Charles told me you left him. I didn’t know things were that bad.”
I take a deep breath and finally tell her why I packed my bags and took our children.
Leaving was already an awkward transition, and part of me feared she’d back up her son no matter what. She had the outline of the demise but never the details.
Katharine takes in everything—me catching Charles with another woman and the IKEA run-in with Ms. Thelma that kicked off my separation. She sighs and hangs her head at the thought that the son she raised could be so vengeful against his wife, who upheld her vows until he broke them.
Shaky hands wipe the tears dampening her face. “I’m so sorry, Ella.” She reaches for me but pauses. “There are no excuses or words to make up for what he did. Please know I care for you deeply. You never have to suffer in silence. Far too many of us do.”
I take her hand in mine. “Thank you, Katharine. I’m better now. Stronger.”
“If you don’t mind me asking, how did you find a home after my son demanded you move out of Morgan’s?”
A smile finds its way through a haze of painful memories. “A certain Japanese tutor opened up his while he was away, to give me the chance to find solid ground.”
Katharine follows my gaze to Julian. He’s walking backward, watching the game, but slides his focus to me when he senses myeyes on him. He glances between me and Katharine and mouths,Are you okay?
I nod with confidence and a gleam in my eye.
“Well then.” Katharine smooths out her beige trench coat. “I’d say Ms. Thelma was right. When you come across an unexpected blessing, hold onto it with everything you got. I just hope there’s still room in your life for me?”
“Of course.”
We lean against each other and watch Jackson score again. The whistle sounds, and the team erupts in shouts and claps at their first win.
Julian rushes the field to meet Jackson, who jumps into his open arms. They exchange a smile before my son seeks me out in the stands. He waves and shouts, “I did it!”
Yes, baby, you did.
Chapter 42
Julian
Electricity explodes through every cell in my body. “Fuck.” I cup Ella’s ass as she slides up and down my length.
She surrenders completely, her lips parting as the thrill of arousal ignites a scream. She rises to her feet to swallow my dick inch by inch with slow circular motions that pick up speed when she bottoms out.
I kiss the nipple rings teasing me through the sheer fabric of her bra, bouncing in my face, and hold her hips in place as I meet her thrust for thrust.
“My. Knees. Sound. Like. Glow. Sticks,” Ella says through an unsteady pant. She yelps at my smack to her ass.
“Less talking, more fucking.” I sit up straighter against the headboard and spread my thighs wider, careful not to agitate my knee as I drive into her.
“Ah! I can’t hold it, Julie!”
“Yes, you can!”
“My—!” Ella screams. It’s the same pitch as Marv fromHome Alonebeing electrocuted. It lasts so long, my brow creases at the possibility that my piercing hurt her. Then she leans back,moving through a ripple of motion that draws my balls up—until her hand slams into my injured knee.Hard.
“Fuck!”
