Total pages in book: 109
Estimated words: 109608 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 548(@200wpm)___ 438(@250wpm)___ 365(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 109608 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 548(@200wpm)___ 438(@250wpm)___ 365(@300wpm)
Even so, I fell asleep in Jamie’s arms, and he in mine, because we had tomorrow, our children had tomorrow.
So it was all right for now.
CHAPTER 14
OSCAR DE LA RENTA
Nora
The 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.