Page 45 of My Mystery Billionaire

More laughter.

This woman makes me melt with happiness!

“Ahh... So am I aPlus Onenow? Should I be insulted and charge you a Luxury Escort Fee for the evening, or be flattered?” We laughed some more.

I arrange to pick Beatrice up at her office shortly and we will go straight to her mother's place. It turns out her mother lives in a working-class neighborhood full of small cottage homes on postage-stamp lots of land. Trey has the address and we pull up to the curb in front of a very well-maintained small home with an equally small front porch.

Before I can even help Beatrice out of the car, a whirlwind has burst from the cottage, across the porch, down the three front steps, and out to the sidewalk to meet us.

Beatrice's mother is as petite as Beatrice is tall. Their coloring is much different from each other’s, but I can easily see Beatrice imprinted in her mother's eyes, the shape of her lips, and her exuberant strong voice.

As articulate and as confident (full of chutzpah!) as I find Beatrice, the resemblance to her mother ends there. Her mom babbles with a huge smile on her face the whole while I'm there. She fumbles around and plays with silverware and glasses as we eat and talk, and keeps filling our plates.

Just being there with her makes me want to quietly comfort her and settle her down!

And I like her!

When I say, “Beatrice tells me this is your favorite meal. I have to say it is absolutely delicious!” I never saw a woman beam with such a wide smile literally to her ears before!

Yes indeed. I do like Beatrice’s mother.

Not to mention she's a great vegan cook!

Although I mostly let the two women talk, and contented myself to answering her mother's many questions, things seemed to go very well.

Unless I'm mistaken, her mother is in fact relaxing more and more as the meal nears its end. Good. A good sign.

Beatrice and I have agreed in advance about how long we will stay. So when Beatrice gives me the nod, as agreed, I discretely text Trey. We get up and go out to the tiny porch, which is furnished with very comfortable chairs. We make small talk and promise to come back soon while waiting for Trey. As he pulls up, Beatrice and I take our leave, and it is a much quieter event than our arrival!

On the drive to her place, she says, “You did it.”

I look at her. She explains, “Hendrik, you have completely and overwhelmingly charmed my mom.” I notice Trey smirking into the rear-view mirror at me.

“I have not seen my mom that flustered since the last time we went to a wedding and three men her age in a row asked her to dance! Shelikesyou, my sweet!”

I just pull her closer to me. I kiss her near her ear.

She tells me that I blew her mom away with some of their century-old cuss words.

“What? No way I cussed in front of your mom. Uh-uh. I. Did.Not!”

And there again is Trey, barely able to stifle a burst of laughter.

She insists, “But you did. You saidJumpin’ Jehosaphat, Gah-ahh-ah-ly,andGreat Guns.”

That made my jaw drop. I was unaware of this!

“My sweet, I’ve converted you. What can I say? She hasalreadymade you an honorary member of our tiny family. You had me atWanna get a smoothie? You had her atJehosaphat, actually!”

And she giggled.

That felt good. Honorary family member, huh? Wow.

I saw Trey smirk again at me.

Then she says, “Gotta change the subject. As much as you wowed my mother, I thought I’d get to talk about this with both you and mom. But she got carried away. What do you think about me accepting the promotion if they offer it to me? If they offer it to me, what do I have to do? I mean, I’m not a negotiator. I don’t know what kind of raise might be involved. I don’t even know if the job description will change. What do you think, Professor?”

I saw Trey smirk again in the rear view mirror.

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