Total pages in book: 121
Estimated words: 113319 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 567(@200wpm)___ 453(@250wpm)___ 378(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 113319 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 567(@200wpm)___ 453(@250wpm)___ 378(@300wpm)
Jessie laughed softly. “You gals are really something. You know what? I’m glad he doesn’t realize. And even if he did, he would be supportive of my feeling confident in my own skin and wearing this dress because I feel pretty in it. My son is not embarrassed, no. I’m happy that he is witnessing a woman in her midlife owning her body and kicking ass. I hope, when he’s in middle age, he supports his partner like Austin supports me. And my niece? She can speak for herself.”
Aurora waited for all three pairs of eyes to find hers again. She held them, letting loose more of her power, pumping out the wildness she struggled to keep at bay and slamming it into them. Their eyes widened, and Aurora leaned in a bit.
“Stop tearing other women down to feel better about yourselves. It doesn’t help you, and it makes other women miserable. Build each other up. We should be sticking together and supporting each other. It makes us stronger. Enough strength and we’ll be invincible.”
“Well said.” Jessie nodded at them. “Great to see you three, as always.”
Aurora wouldn’t wish their company on an enemy. She stepped away from them without another word, leaving them entirely speechless.
“Wow,” she said as she followed Jessie toward the front room.
“That was nothing.” Jessie stopped at the edge of a single step leading down to the adjoining room. She took a deep breath, her eyes on fire. “In the past I’d have frumpier clothes and a mate who belittled me. I’d try to stay on the outskirts of that group and not get noticed. I now realize I was easy pickings.” She looked over her shoulder.
The three women stood with their heads together, speaking animatedly. Obviously pissed.
Jessie smiled in elation, looking away again. “That felt so good. I felt in control. Like I had some power for once!”
“You have more power than anyone in this house,” Aurora replied, furrowing her brow.
Jessie shook her head, glancing back at Patty, who gestured wildly and then laughed. All the (very likely) stuffy, stuck-up people she was talking to laughed with her. She’d won them over. Not surprising.
Mimi stepped in and said something. One of the men, dressed in jeans and a blazer, lost his humor quickly. His eyes sparkled with anger, and the woman next to him looked embarrassed. Obviously, whatever Mimi said had hurt.
Aurora felt giddy at watching them operate. Go, Mimi and Patty! One was obviously setting the other up to take verbal jabs, which was apparently the Jane way.
“Magically, yes,” Jessie said after a moment. “I was gifted that power. Socially?” She shook her head again. “I’ve never had any power socially. And while I was gifted the money to buy this dress and have nice things, it didn’t fundamentally change me. O’Briens did. Austin did. Mr. Tom and Niamh, your dad and his pack, Sebastian and Elliot Graves—my new life has given me confidence. It’s given me trust in myself and those around me. It’s given me a sense of individual power and self-worth. I didn’t let those ladies get to me. I held my ground. I came out on top for the first time ever, and it felt…freeing. Amazing! This whole trip has felt freeing. And I couldn’t have done it without you all. Without your support.”
Aurora was hugging her before she’d thought about it. It was easy to show affection to this woman. She felt grounded when she did it, rooted in the bond of family and friendship. They barely knew each other, and yet it felt like they’d known each other forever.
“You were meant to be in our family,” Aurora told her as a balding guy in his early fifties sauntered closer. He had red cheeks and a red nose, with salt-and-pepper hair combed over his scalp in a sort of puff.
She hurried to finish what she wanted to say.
“You were meant to glue us all back together. I believe that. I’ve never much believed in fate, but you fit too perfectly for there to be any other explanation.”
“Hello, Jessie,” the man said, his smile a little…icky for some reason. Aurora couldn’t put her finger on why, but something about this man threw her off. She didn’t want him too close, a gut instinct. And if this were the magical world, she’d force him back or prepare to fight.
Given that it wasn’t, she had no idea how to handle the situation.
TWENTY-NINE
Jessie
Annoyance flared through me at the interruption by a man I’d always detested. A friend of the family who was high in the social hierarchy, had a great few dollars to his name, and was spoken of with an air of importance. Most of the men revered him, but the women detested him. It was an open secret that no woman wanted to get cornered by him. He got handsy when he drank, which was often, but no one would cast him out because of it.