12. Chapter 12

CHAPTER 12

HERMèS

Nora

“ T his is classic Hermès,” Ryan intoned, staring at the scarf draped over his hands with awe. “I’ve been obsessively checking The RealReal for this exact scarf for two years . Not a single listing.”

“Take it,” I said.

Four sets of eyes whipped to me.

Teddy and Mika, however, both lounged on my closet chaise, didn’t blink.

Teddy, because he knew I was generous.

Mika, because she knew, me giving that scarf away meant it’d be an excuse to buy another.

That said, the loss of that scarf meant Jamie could fit at least three of his lovely ties somewhere in that closet, so I wouldn’t be replacing it.

“Are you sure?” Ryan asked.

“I don’t speak words unless I’m sure,” I replied.

Ryan gleamed.

The other three looked on with jealousy (yes, the G-Force was in the house).

“We are here making space,” I reminded them (and yes, within ten minutes of their arrival, I’d recruited them into my closet reorganization efforts). “I can’t send everything to storage.”

The men in my closet redoubled their efforts at rummaging.

A masculine throat was cleared.

I turned to the doorway and saw Jamie standing there.

Oh yes indeed.

I needed to make a great deal of space.

He was wearing a dark gray suit with a darker gray vest that had thin lines in it that formed a check pattern. White shirt. Light gray tie. And then there was the razor-sharp line of a white pocket square.

He didn’t go out and buy his clothes.

Monica employed several stylists, and with their guidance, all of his suits were tailored for him.

Including this one.

“Oh. My. God,” I heard breathed behind me.

“I can’t believe it. It’s impossible. He’s even better in person,” came another reverent whisper.

“I feel faint,” was a third.

My brows drew together as I moved toward Jamie. “Darling? Did you text?”

“Yes, I texted,” he said, dipping his chin when I made it to him, an invitation I accepted, getting up on my toes to brush my lips against his.

When we broke, I murmured, “I don’t know how I missed it.”

His gaze moved to the room as his lips twitched. “I do.”

“Of course,” I said, and turned to his side, whereupon he took one hand out of his pockets where both had been resting (yes, even through our kiss, very sexy) and wrapped his arm around my waist.

“Jamie, allow me to introduce you to Ryan, Bryan, Byron and Wallace.” I indicated each in turn. “Gentleman, this is Jamie Oakley.”

They rushed forward as one.

“Of course.”

“Yes, lovely.”

“Good to meet you.”

“Charmed.”

Jamie shook hands with each of them, before he remarked, “I take it you’re the G-Force.”

There were smiles, nods, and Byron did a little preening.

“Pleased to meet you,” Jamie said, then moved from me to give Mika a kiss on her cheek and shake Teddy’s hand and clap him on the arm.

“Sadly, I’m afraid we need to cut this short,” I announced to the boys.

“Please don’t do that on my part,” Jamie said. “I have some calls I need to make and a few emails I can return.”

He came back to me and cupped my jaw.

When he did, I was sure it was Byron who I heard sigh.

“Take all the time you need, sweetheart. I can entertain myself,” he said.

“All right.”

He dropped to give me another swift kiss before he smiled to our audience, and walked out, shrugging off his jacket.

When he did this last, I heard another sigh (Byron) and a muted moan (I didn’t know who that was, I was just glad I had enough control that it wasn’t me).

Jamie tossed his jacket on the bed, aimed another smile our way as he walked to the bedroom door, loosening his tie, and there were two more muted moans.

The instant he was out of eyesight, Bryan declared, “We must take that bitch down immediately , so Nora and that fine man have no obstacles in their path.”

“They’re moving in together,” Mika pointed out. “They already don’t have any.”

“Don’t spoil the fun,” Teddy mumbled to her.

“We’re taking her down anyway,” Byron decreed. Then he turned to Bryan. “Did you hear that she visited Ned Sharp’s lover’s table at DANIEL and not so subtly hinted that Ned was her castoff. Like she scraped off the great Ned Sharp.”

Bryan rolled his eyes and made a face.

“It’s simply bad form to walk up to your ex-lover’s new lover’s table at all ,” Wallace griped.

I felt Mika’s gaze but ignored it to watch and listen.

It must be said, there was one spill I was very adept at wiping up, and that was spilled tea.

“I’m so happy Ned found somebody,” Ryan oozed. “That horrible Helena is such a bitch. Do you remember that time she told Mamie that Gucci was common? Gucci! Princess Diana carried Gucci!”

There were infuriated nods all around.

Ryan carried on. “It’s about time Ned moved on. I hope he claims her officially soon, like Nora and Jamie have done.”

“And I hope Blake’s grown up enough to let her daddy find some happy,” Wallace declared.

Blake was Ned’s daughter, Alex’s older sister.

She’d not exactly behaved with decorum her whole life. It was only recently, after a humiliating experience at the altar of her own disastrous (and incomplete) wedding, that she’d started to get her act together.

And I, too, hoped she’d grown up enough to allow Ned to find his happiness.

Byron pouted. “Sadly, the bitch is in Texas now. I mean Paloma, not Helena. I haven’t seen Helena in ages and have no idea where she is. I’m just glad she’s not here.”

“I’m pretty sure she returned to hell for her annual visit with her brother Satan,” Wallace remarked.

Byron and Ryan snickered.

But Bryan beamed. “Yes, but let us not forget, Paloma is in… Texas …having to bang… AJ Oakley only to earn Coach bags.”

They all started cackling.

And you could see why I adored them.

In the ensuing thirty minutes, I gave away another scarf (Prada), a costume bracelet (Chanel), and a brooch (also Chanel). It wasn’t much of a dent, but the boys seemed happy.

Mika and I then walked them to the door with their promises they were “all over it” the instant Paloma returned to the city or pulled any shenanigans.

We did cheek touches, but I gave Teddy a hug, before I closed the door to them and turned to Mika.

“Would you like to call Tom over to have dinner with us? Alyona’s made a roast. I’m sure it’ll stretch.”

“I’m supposed to be heading to Hale and Elsa’s. Hale’s cooking his bolognaise tonight.”

Hale could have his own restaurant, he was that good of a cook.

“I didn’t leave with the guys because you know what they were talking about when it comes to Ned, and I don’t. So obviously, I have to throw a fit that you didn’t tell me, and then demand you tell me,” she finished.

Oh dear.

“It was just rumors,” I hedged, because I told her everything.

Except this.

And it actually wasn’t just rumors.

Ned was getting bold. He’d even been seen out with his latest lover, something he used to keep strictly behind closed doors. Partly so his girls wouldn’t be upset about it, mostly so it wouldn’t give his ex-wife, Helena, a reason to make his life a living hell, something she excelled at.

However, considering Jamie and my situation, and how we’d dragged everyone through it along with us, I felt the unaccustomed need to allow Ned his privacy.

Jamie and I had talked about it, of course. But only because we’d been stuck on a ship together, so we were doing a lot of talking (actually, that wasn’t true—I’d been dying to gab to someone about it, and Jamie would be the most circumspect, so I picked him, only to find he already knew).

“Liar,” Mika returned.

I blew out a sigh. “Right. Ned is seeing a woman. Actually seeing her, out in public. As far as I know, it’s gone on for some months.”

“Do you know her?”

I nodded. “I’ve met her, and I like her. She’s the Executive Fashion Editor at Millicent .”

Millicent was a fashion magazine on par with Vogue . It had been named after one of my grandmother’s friends, the New York fashion icon of the 40s and 50s, Millicent DeBonnay. In fact, there were rumors (untrue ones, according to my mother, and she would know) that Walt Disney himself had fashioned a certain very famous witch with much the same name after her, at her request.

Mother had never had a single issue of that magazine in her house, nor had my grandmother, and this was because Grandmother had never forgiven them for not naming the magazine after her. It’d caused a huge rift between Millicent and Grandmother too. In fact, the first time I met Millicent was at Grandmother’s funeral.

She’d been genuinely distraught. However, that was what happened when you allowed something trivial to get between true friendship, and Millicent wasn’t innocent in their rift. She’d rubbed it in Grandmother’s face even knowing it was upsetting to her.

Indeed, Millicent had lost a number of friends due to that honor being bestowed on her.

Sometimes, humility paid. Or you did.

Mika’s eyes widened. “You mean Marlo Winslet?”

“You know her?”

“She approached me about doing a spread, Cadence and I, with me wearing clothes in my wardrobe I’d found over the years, and Cadence working with one of her editors to select and model new fashion. We had lunch to discuss it the day before we had to fly to Arizona.”

What an exciting idea!

“Oh my goodness, are you going do to it?” I asked.

“Yes, because Cadence wants to. Now, seriously, she’s seeing Ned?”

I nodded.

“I love that for him,” Mika murmured.

“She’s a mite young,” I noted.

“No she isn’t,” Mika returned. “Yes, she’s, what, ten, fifteen years younger than Ned?”

“I don’t know her exact age, but I’d put it around there.”

“But she isn’t twenty-two,” Mika pointed out.

“I don’t carry judgment about this, my dear. That’s not why I mentioned it. I want him to be happy and have someone to share his life with. I don’t think Alex would mind either. But…” I tipped my head to the side. “Blake.”

Understanding dawned on my friend’s face.

Even so, Mika declared, “Marlo might not be old enough to be Blake’s mother, but she isn’t old enough to be her sister either.”

“Again, this is not my issue,” I asserted. “Though, as you know, even if he’s going out in public with her, he’s not introduced her to our group. If we’re at an event together, he’ll ask Blake to be his plus one, like Jamie did with Dru before me.”

“Tom says Ned is dedicated to the effort of building the family he neglected when they were growing up,” Mika mused.

“Well, that’s an honorable pursuit. But they’re both grown women now, who should be pleased their father has someone he enjoys spending time with. So perhaps I should talk to Chloe.”

Mika burst out laughing, before saying, “Please God, no. At least give us a few weeks to get over what we all had to do to you and Jamie before we’re dragged into another one.”

I could give her a few weeks.

Short ones.

So I promised I would, and she went with me to the hearth room, where Jamie was on the sofa with his laptop.

They said their farewells, we all shared how we couldn’t wait to meet for dinner before the store opening in a few days, and Mika assured us she could find her way out, before she left us.

I fell to the couch and lifted a knee so I could get to the side of my ankle to take off my sandals.

“Allow me,” Jamie said, holding out a cupped hand.

Watching him with loving (and grateful) eyes, I put my foot in his hand.

He tugged at straps and pulled off the shoe, we switched, away went the other shoe, and I could curl up comfortably at his side when he lounged beside me.

This, I did.

“You don’t have a drink,” he noted.

“I’ll run and make one in a second,” I said. “But first, the G-Force outed Marlo and Ned to Mika.”

He winced.

Oh yes, he’d been a part of dragging our loved ones along in our prolonged finally-getting-it-together love story.

“Perhaps you should talk to Ned,” I suggested.

“I will,” he agreed.

“We have other things to talk about,” I noted.

He leaned forward to nab his bourbon and tipped it in offering to me.

I scrunched my nose since bourbon wasn’t a favorite.

He sat back with his drink and asked, “Those things would be?”

“You know I talked to the children today,” I began.

He studied me acutely. “Yes. That didn’t go well?”

“It went splendidly. But they reminded me of our now established traditions…and Alyona.”

“Ah,” he murmured.

“Jamie, I don’t cook, and not only because I never learned how, but because I have absolutely no interest in doing so.”

He took a sip and rested his forearm on the arm of the sofa.

“I do cook, sweetheart,” he replied. “I have to admit, I wouldn’t feel comfortable with Alyona living with us, because I don’t have a private, contained space for her like you do. But if you wish for her to carry on with you, I don’t think it’ll be difficult to find an apartment for her close by that she likes and is convenient to her, and she can continue to do all she does for you. That is, finding an apartment won’t be difficult, as long as we retain a broker to start looking for that apartment right now.”

I was pleased he had the same idea as Valentina. I just hoped Alyona was amenable to it.

“Let me talk to Alyona,” I murmured.

“This won’t be a hardship. I’m sure Alyona won’t mind not having to cook when I have a mind to. Not to mention, Monica is rushed off her feet as it is, and it’s coming time to promote her. She’s far too clever to be a PA for very long. I can get a new one who doesn’t have to see to the things Alyona does. It’ll be fine.”

“I’m glad you think so.”

He raised his brows. “Now, these established traditions?”

This might be more difficult, but even so, we had to sort through it.

“Thanksgiving really isn’t a thing for us,” I shared to start. “Allegra goes to Darryn’s family. Since she does, and I don’t cook, Nico and Valentina take that opportunity to dine with Felice and Archie’s people.”

He nodded.

“But Christmas is another matter,” I went on. “The morning and afternoon are changeable with them coming to me, or me going to them, or however it fits in everyone’s schedule. But without fail, for dinner, we all go to Darryn’s mother and father’s house.”

“But Dru and I have been going to Judge,” he finished for me.

I nodded.

“Through his life, I have not had a lot of time with my son, Nora,” he said low, watching me closely.

Wretchedly, Belinda and AJ had made that so.

Jamie kept speaking. “I don’t want to declare that takes precedence over your family’s traditions, but we’re going to have to find a way to balance this, because I love you very much, and I like your kids, and I don’t want to tear you away from them. But I also want to be with my boy during the holidays, and now, more than ever, it’s easier for me and Dru to go to him.”

I looked to his laptop on the coffee table and sighed.

“Is this going to be a big issue?” he asked, bringing my attention back to him.

“It’s just annoying to have the reminder that even perfection isn’t perfect.”

Jamie gave me a small smile, leaned in and touched his lips to mine, then leaned back.

“We’ll figure it out.”

I was sure we would.

“I know you don’t want this reminder,” Jamie continued. “But eventually, like mine, your kids are going to have kids, which means they’ll make their own traditions and won’t want to be rambling all over the city or boarding planes. In the meantime, we’ll settle into a pattern of spending time with them. But my son grew up mostly without a father. And now my son is a father. I have to have a mind to that, which means asking you to have one too.”

“I don’t want to tear you away from your children either, Jamie.”

“So we’ll figure it out,” he repeated, more firmly this time.

Yes, we would.

With my lips tipped up, I reached out and touched his strong chin.

Then I said, “I’m going to dash and make a drink.”

“Stay still,” he ordered as he pushed out of the sofa. When he was on his feet, he looked down at me. “What do you want?”

“I’m feeling a gin gimlet tonight, darling.”

“Coming up,” he murmured, and sauntered from the room.

After the glory of the vision of him was out of sight, it struck me that change was good, but it wasn’t always easy.

In the end, though, I knew Jamie was right.

We’d figure it out.

And then it would be just fine.

I had this thought not taking it further and realizing, change wasn’t good for everybody.

For some, they’d strike out at those who were affecting it.

Some would do that spitefully.

And others would do it viciously.