14. Chapter 14

CHAPTER 14

OSCAR DE LA RENTA

Nora

T he next morning, I stood sipping coffee, my hip resting against the green marble countertop of my very long, wide, fastidiously organized galley kitchen.

My eyes were on Alyona.

“This week’s menu is on the counter. If you have any changes, let me know. I’m going to go pick up that Prada blouse you needed mended, and I’ll be stopping by the market on the way home,” she said this while drying my breakfast dishes.

“Alyona,” I called quietly.

“Don’t,” she whispered harshly.

I lifted my cup from the saucer and took a sip, not removing my eyes from her.

Alyona, a second-generation Russian immigrant, and as such, she had instilled in her an impeccable work ethic and a passionate countenance, couldn’t hold it in for long.

She slapped a towel down on the marble and turned to me.

“I shouldn’t complain,” she stated.

“I’m not sure that’s true,” I replied.

“It isn’t my place.”

I gave her a look.

“Okay,” she snapped. “She makes me feel… irrelevant .”

My lips tightened.

“I know my picking up your dry cleaning and dusting your shelves isn’t going to change the world,” she continued. “But I take pride in taking care of you, in taking care of them.” She swung an arm out randomly to indicate my children. “Maybe my work isn’t important, but still, I checked, and I make more money than she does, and I don’t have to pay rent or live somewhere where I have to commute three hours a day to get to work. So I don’t know why she looks down on me. I know my place. But she doesn’t have to put me in my place.”

With her speech and learning she’d gone so far as to actually compare her salary to Felice’s, it was a wonder my mouth didn’t crack, my lips got so stiff at her words.

I forced them to move when I declared, “What you do is very important to me.”

She snatched up the towel and started polishing the marble with it, mumbling, “I know.”

“And it’s just important, Alyona,” I stressed. “Don’t let Felice make you think any differently. You don’t have to work to find a cure for cancer to be doing something important. This world is able to go around because of all the things everyone does to make it do so. Heavens, the only contribution I’ve made is my three children. I’m very proud of that, and I don’t mind I’m now doing nothing but enjoying my retirement.”

“You raise a lot of money, Miss Nora,” she returned.

I shrugged that off. “The fact remains, if you have pride in what you do, and you do it well, which you very much do, no one should steal that from you.”

Still polishing the sparkling counters, it was Alyona’s turn to shrug.

“Nico adores and respects you,” I carried on. “It breaks my heart, but it seems clear that you’ll be in this family far longer than Felice, if that make you feel better.”

“It doesn’t,” she was still mumbling. “He was so happy on their wedding day, even if…” She turned from the counter to me. “Who wants dirty feet at their wedding? That was weird.”

I smiled, because it was weird.

After I took another sip of coffee, I asked, “Are you okay with all of that?”

“I’m sorry, Miss Nora, but she’s just annoying.”

Felice was that.

No need to dwell, time to move along.

“Right. Now we have to discuss Jamie and the future,” I said.

Alyona’s irritable face turned panicked.

I raised my brows. “Didn’t you just hear me say you’d be with us longer than Felice?”

“Mister Jamie doesn’t have a housekeeper.”

“No, and so you know, I’ll be redecorating his brownstone, and when that’s done, we’ll be moving there. Allegra and Darryn will take over the apartment.”

She seemed concerned at the same time perplexed. “Will I work with Allegra and Darryn?”

“If you want to, however, that would be for the three of you to decide,” I answered. “Though, I’d prefer you go with me. There’s no apartment for you in Jamie’s space, so he’s hiring a broker for you to work with to find one close to the brownstone so your commute isn’t unpleasant. Obviously, as it is here, I’ll be paying for your accommodation. The only change is that you won’t be living with me, or, that is to say, us. Oh, and you’ll get a raise, since you’ll be taking care of both of us, and not just me.”

For a second, she did nothing.

Then she started my way, so I had to set my cup and saucer aside and accept her hug, which I returned.

It didn’t last long before she stepped out of my arms.

“I want to come with you,” she confirmed verbally what her hug had already communicated.

“I’m glad.” And I very much was.

She looked down to my coffee cup. “Are you done with that?”

I nodded.

She whisked it away.

And we were back to normal.

I went to the menu and approved it, before I reminded her, “I’m in committee meetings all day.”

“I remember.”

“I’ll be home around four.”

“Okay.”

“Have a good day, Alyona.”

“You too, Miss Nora.”

I walked out and found Heiress eschewing her cat bed to sleep on Jamie’s pillow (I understood her decision).

I gave her a scratch. She gave me some purrs.

Then I grabbed my bag and went out to face the day.

Wednesday afternoon, Dru and I stood in the foyer of Jamie’s brownstone.

As mentioned, she was a sweet young woman who I liked very much, but I could tell, right then, she was uncomfortable, and I was concerned she didn’t want to be there, but she was doing it for her dad.

The only way I could help her with that was to get on with it.

“To start, let’s do a bottom to top, dear,” I suggested.

She licked her lips and nodded.

Yes, uncomfortable, and maybe nervous.

We then toured every inch of Jamie’s home, the one Rosalind Oakley created for her family, and left with them.

When we were finished, we ended up in the library, which was full of books and leather furniture and a fireplace with a large television over it.

And I was studying yet another wedding portrait.

This depicted a glowing, flame-haired Rosalind wearing a cream Oscar de la Renta, full-skirted, to the calf wedding dress, Jamie, handsome in a tuxedo, with a much younger Judge at Rosalind’s side, and a little girl Dru wearing a pretty cream bridesmaid dress at Jamie’s side.

Judge looked a mite awkward. Perhaps it was his age. Perhaps it was that he didn’t know his place in that new family.

Rosalind, Jamie and Dru were all beaming.

“Uh…well? Do you have any ideas?” Dru called.

I turned to her. “Your mother decorated in, well…” I smiled at her as I swept my arm in front of me. “ Jamie .”

Dru glanced around, then she burst out laughing.

“Oh my God,” she pushed out. “She totally did.”

“I can’t say I hadn’t noticed it before, I had. It just came very to the fore in inspecting the entirety of it. It’s not as if it’s overwhelmingly masculine, but she definitely balanced the scale more to that side so her husband would not only be comfortable but able to wallow in his many successes.”

The humor left her expression.

“Mom was super proud of Dad,” she said softly.

“It shows,” I replied.

“He really needs you to, um…change things.”

It was me talking softly when I said, “I know.”

“I think he, um…uh…needs you to make it very you .”

“I know that too.”

“I know he doesn’t want to erase her,” she said swiftly.

“Dru, darling,” I replied, going to her and taking one of her hands in both of mine. “I think we both know he needs that because he wants it for me. Our mission here is to give him what he needs so he can assure himself that I’m fully aware of his feelings for me, at the same time make it his space, your space, Judge’s space, and retain Rosalind’s space.”

Gratitude shone in her eyes even as she noted, “That’s a hefty order.”

“I believe we’re up for the challenge.”

Dru added her other hand to both of mine and gave them a squeeze. “I love how much he loved her, and even though it might seem bizarre, I love how much he grieved for her, because it showed how much he loved her, and it felt good, having someone share that with me, even if what we were feeling felt awful.”

“Of course, dearest,” I whispered.

“But I’m sorry he didn’t see what was right in front of him for so long so he could be happy again.”

“Oh, Dru,” I said, pulling her hands to my chest. “That’s very lovely. Thank you.”

“I should be thanking you for making him happy. He’s, I don’t know how to say it except, he’s back .”

I adored she felt this from Jamie.

“Outside my children, this is my greatest triumph,” I declared.

She smiled before she let my hands go, and she pulled me into a hug.

When we stepped away from one another, I said, “I think this room, we don’t change. It’s so very Jamie, it oozes him.”

“I agree.”

“The front room, darling, let’s go there to feel the space and brainstorm.”

She grinned at me. “Awesome.”

We came up with some ideas, decided to share those while we interviewed a few interior designers, and we headed out.

Dru was a flautist, a talented one, and as such, she was quite busy with session work, and she was booked to be at a studio soon.

An aside, to augment her income, on days she wasn’t booked, she was a substitute teacher. She had, I noticed, not shared this with Nico and Felice the Sunday before, and since she didn’t, I didn’t either. However, she’d seen Felice’s behavior with Alyona, and I didn’t need to crawl into Dru’s head to know she worried that Felice, a full-time educator, might look down on Dru doing it for extra cash.

We headed down the steps to the car I’d hired for the day, but Dru paused before getting in the back, her attention aimed across the street.

“What is it?” I queried.

She turned her head my way. “I just…got a strange feeling that man was watching us.”

I looked across the street. “What man?”

“He’s gone. He took off when I looked at him.”

Considering Hale was a billionaire, Genny was a famous actress, Tom was a retired tennis star, and Elsa was an up-and-coming celebrity interviewer, and frankly, all of us were very photogenic, our group had no small amount of attention from gossips and the media, so I asked, “Was it a paparazzo?”

“He didn’t have a camera.” She shook her head. “Maybe I was wrong. It’s not a big deal.”

She ducked into the car.

I watched her do it, standing on the sidewalk, unmoving.

Something was off with her, I just didn’t know her enough to know what it was.

But I didn’t like it.

“Ma’am, is something wrong?” my driver of the day (today, the agency sent David) inquired.

“No, nothing,” I murmured, and folded in beside Dru.

David closed my door and got behind the wheel.

He took Dru to her session.

He then took me to Mika’s so we could have a drink and a gab before I headed home to have dinner with my Jamie.

As we were wont to do, Mika and I lost track of the time.

So I was late arriving home that evening.

Alyona opened the door for me, and I wasn’t sure I understood the look on her face.

“He’s in the bedroom,” she murmured.

I felt my brows draw down in confusion, but she took my bag and jerked her chin to the hall.

Swiftly, I walked down the hall.

When I entered our bedroom, I saw Jamie in a position I’d seen him in before, but it was much different this time.

He was sitting on the French Provincial bench at the end of the bed, leaned forward into his elbows at his knees.

Heiress was sitting beside him, her tail twitching, her face saying to me Do something!

I moved to him, calling, “Jamie?”

His head came up, as did his torso.

I moved to stand in front of him, and the instant I did, he reached for me, grasping my hips and pulling me closer, between his legs.

He then held my hips and stared at my belly.

I rested a hand on the top of his head, gliding it down to the side, as I whispered, “Jamie, what’s the matter?”

He slid his hands up to span my ribs and tipped his head back to look at me.

“Dru is very excited about the plans you’re making for the brownstone.”

Oh, my Jamie.

I moved my hand again, to cup his jaw. “I could tell.”

“She says you’re not changing the library.”

I shook my head. “No. Rosalind gave that to you, so it will remain.”

He fell forward and buried his face in my stomach.

I wrapped both hands around his head. “Jamie.”

“I hate this,” he said into my stomach.

“You hate what?”

He tipped his head back to look up at me and put his chin to my stomach.

For Jamie, it was oddly boyish, and terribly sweet, but even so, it made me no less concerned, so I smoothed my hands over his hair as he answered, “I hate that I have to tell you this.”

My hands stopped moving. “Tell me what?”

“That sometimes, I miss her.”

I cupped his face in both hands, moaning, “Oh, my darling. Of course you do.”

“I wouldn’t change us, Nora.”

“I know, honey,” I whispered.

“The fact remains.”

“I know.”

“It’s excruciating to experience that loss, at the same time think, if it hadn’t happened, you would be alone. We would not have what we have. We wouldn’t have a future.”

Unfortunately, these horribly conflicting thoughts he was sure to have hadn’t occurred to me.

I brushed his hands aside so I could sit in his lap.

He wrapped his arms around me.

“And the fuck of it is, I can’t stand the thought of you being alone,” Jamie went on. “That’s the worst of it. You have so much love to give. It causes physical pain to think of you not having a man to give it to. It just gets worse, thinking that man would not be me.”

“This has to be very confusing,” I noted.

“As fuck,” he agreed.

There was nothing I could say but, “I’m sorry.”

His arms gave me a squeeze. “I hope you know, even with what I’m saying, that I’ve moved on. I understand she’s gone. I’m not pining. I’m not only prepared, but happy to look forward to a future with you.”

“I know.”

“Don’t forget that,” he demanded.

“Don’t stop talking to me about these things, even if you think you shouldn’t. I want all of you, Jameson Oakley. I would not be best pleased if you buried any of you away from me.”

“Fuck,” he grunted.

“What?” I asked.

“Alyona has dinner ready, but now I have to fuck you.”

“Can you hurry?”

We’d never hurried, even in the mornings. Jamie was a lazy lover, in all the varied delicious ways lazy could be.

His brows rose. “Is that a challenge?”

I fiddled with his collar. “If you wish to take it that way.”

He surged up, and since I was in his lap, so did I, but he did it to his feet, and I did it in his arms.

Heiress leapt away with obvious outrage.

Jamie tossed me on the bed.

Oh my.

He went right to work on my sandals.

Once they were gone, I sat up, grabbed his tie and used it to pull him to me.

Before he kissed me, I asked, “Can you manage this feat without messing up my hair so Alyona won’t know what we’ve been up to?”

“No.”

I pouted.

He grinned. “Baby, when we’re done, you won’t give a shit about your hair.”

“Jameson, there has never been a day in my life I didn’t give a shit about my hair.”

His lips came to mine, his eyes holding mine, and he proclaimed, “Get ready, today’s that day.”

And that was when he kissed me.

Twenty minutes later, both of us dressed, and both of us with sex hair, we walked to the living room with Jamie going on to the kitchen to tell Alyona we were ready for dinner.

And he’d been right.

I didn’t give a shit about my hair.