Page 94 of Waiting For A Girl Like You
“Oh, yes. Josie is mine, and I’m hers, and that’s all there is to it.” Miranda turned to face her again, and the smile on her lips made her appear positively radiant in the morning sun. “But you see, the societal norms and expectations of me during that time left me in denial. I had obligations. Marriage. Home. Children. There was an order to maintain without deviation or resistance. I was to be the perfect wife, mother, and counterpart to an empire crafted by the Fairweathers.”
“That’s a very... traditional way of thinking.” Jamison folded her arms and leaned against a column. “Thank God we’re moving past it, and women who want something different aren’t looked down upon. By the time Harper and Theo grow up, maybe it won’t be such a big deal.”
“Aren’t they amazing?” Miranda whispered, giddy with excitement. “I am in complete awe of my granddaughters and of my new grandson on theway. Those three will become a force to be reckoned with, and I can’t wait to see it all play out.”
Jamison opened her mouth to tell her new imaginary friend that she had no idea what the baby would be like, but Miranda cut her off. “All children need to be loved, Jamison. Every one of them. And it’s up to the right people to provide that love, even when society expects something else from you.”
The soft click of her bedroom door opening had her waking in a terrified rush. Miranda’s smiling face vanished, and Jamison sat up in a panic.
“It’s me,” Liam whispered. “You okay?”
“Dream.” She flopped back onto the mattress. “Nightmare? Christ, I don’t even know anymore.”
The faintest hint of morning peeked through the curtains, giving her enough light to watch as Liam stripped off his clothes. His lean body, packed with its usual definition and those new muscles, made the whole no-touch rule extremely hard.
“Why do you have to look so good?”
He grinned, focused on removing his pants. “It’s both a gift and a curse.”
“Do you want pain meds?”
“I’m okay.” Down to his boxers, he slid into bed and reached for her immediately. “My arm is stiff from sitting in the same position for so long.”
“What did I miss?”
“Circles.” On his back, holding her hand under the sheets and blankets, he fixed his tired gaze on the ceiling. “Circles and circles and circles.”
His frustration was so palpable that she could feel it oozing into her skin and merging with her own. “But there is no endpoint.”
“Why can’t I find him? Sinclair tries to kidnap you. He orchestrates Emily and Claudia’s kidnappings. But why? What does he gain?” His voice dropped to a whisper, knowing that neither of them had the answers. “Why is this happening? Why babies? Is the Brandy thing real? And if what Toby says about her is the truth, is she—this woman we’ve had no contact with nor knew existed—the mastermind behind it all?”
“Top to bottom?” she offered.
Eyes closing, he nodded. “Go.”
“Sinclair targets Fairweather women for Zanmi,” she started. “Three of us. Me, Emily, and Claudia.”
“But why Claudia if she’s involved?” he countered. “Kidnap her andthenlet her go? Was it for show, or was it for another reason? It could be that Parker found out Sinclair’s people grabbed her and ordered them to let her go. If that’s true, then Zanmi’s fractured with one hand, not knowing what the other’s doing.”
“You sound happy.”
“I love chaos. That bitch is my best friend.” He turned his head to wiggle his eyebrows at her. “Chaos exposes cracks. Makes people sloppy.”
“You really should have followed in your father’s footsteps.”
“Don’t start.”
But he would notice the small things no one else did. She propped up on her elbow. “What mistakes are you seeing?”
“The women.”
“The ones who came here?”
“They died scared,” he said, empathy sneaking into the words. “The whole thing was nothing but theatrics, yet when it came down to it, I don’t think they knew they were going to die.”
She thought back to how Izzy had described the woman who died in her arms, young and frightened with her whole life ahead of her. If Liam was right, then those women were pawns, murdered by the family they thought they had found in Zanmi.
“That makes it worse.” She laid a hand on his chest, careful to avoid his wound. “What would be the point?”
