Reborn to Dodge the Bad Marriage novel Chapter 11

Chapter 11 Plenty of Time

Nora and Julian finished their conversation and walked back into the living room together.

Constance saw the two of them come in side by side and her whole face creased up over it. “All done?”

Victor poured two fresh cups of coffee. “It’s still early. Why not sit a while longer and really get to know each other?”

What he actually wanted was for Nora to talk the engagement money higher.

Nora sat down beside Constance. “We covered what mattered. There’s plenty of time. The rest can come slowly.”

Constance had spent years listening to people explain that Julian did not have much time, and hearing someone say there was plenty of it landed somewhere soft in her.

Her smile came out bittersweet. “That’s right. You two have plenty of time. Get to know each other after the wedding.”

A laugh got out of Mandy before she could stop it, and there was nothing kind in it.

Every head in the room turned toward her.

Constance’s look was the worst of them, cold and sharp enough to promise a slap if the explanation failed to satisfy her.

Mandy killed the smile fast. “It sounds like Nora and Mr. Weston hit it off. It sounds like the wedding is going ahead. I’m happy for her.”

Of course I’m happy.

Three days from now, Julian would go straight into the ICU on his own wedding day and never make it to the ceremony.

A wedding with no groom would open the worst years of Nora’s life. So yes. I’m thrilled.

Victor had one thing on his mind and he went straight at it. “Nora, is that true?”

Nora answered him clearly. “It is. I’m glad to marry Julian Weston.”

Constance turned to look at Julian.

Julian gave her a single word. “Yes.”

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Chapter 11 Plenty of Time

སྙཊྛ

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Constance found that far too cold and shot him a look for it before she turned back with a smile. “They’re both willing, so the wedding goes ahead exactly as we discussed. Nothing changes.”

The ceremony stayed set for three days out and the engagement money stayed at 100 million dollars.

The Westons wanted nothing lavish, which suited Nora perfectly.

Once everything was settled, Julian had business waiting at the office and he left with Constance.

Victor tried to make small talk with Nora, and she could not be bothered to listen and went straight upstairs.

Yvette could not settle. She caught Mandy by the arm and pulled her into a bedroom. “Where do things stand with Adrian? Are you certain he’s the better one?”

Having seen Julian in the flesh, she had to admit that Adrian was handsome enough, but he did not carry himself the same way.

The regret kept working at her, and under it sat a real fear that they had handed a very good marriage to Nora for nothing.

Mandy thought about how gentle Adrian had been with her the day before and felt the heat climb into her face. “He is. Ace is wonderful. He’s a hundred times the man Julian Weston is.”

What Yvette cared about was still the settlement. “And when the two of you marry, what kind of money are we talking about?”

Mandy held up five fingers.

Yvette frowned. “50 million dollars?”

Mandy gave her a withering look. “520 million dollars.”

“Dollars?” Yvette sucked in a breath like she must have misheard the number.

The whole Sinclair family was not worth 520 million dollars.

Mandy nodded, then could not help herself and described the wedding Adrian had thrown in her last life, well over a billion dollars of it, along with a diamond ring that ran past 100 million dollars on its own.

Yvette listened to all of it with her eyes shining.

By the end she could hardly contain herself. “Good. The Pierces are far more generous than the

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Chapter 11 Plenty of Time

Westons ever were. You hold on to Adrian.

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“When the wedding comes, make Nora sick with regret. And once the Pierces are the richest family in the country, let the Westons choke on it for being blind enough to pass over the wife who’d have been the making of him!”

Mandy was looking forward to every minute of it. “I will.”

Nora and the Westons were the two things she hated most in the world. She had come back and rewritten her own ending, and now she got to sit and watch theirs.

Mandy had one more piece of good news to share. “Mom, I saw something else. There’s no groom at Nora’s wedding. Julian goes straight into the ICU.”

“You’re serious?”

Mandy raised an eyebrow, entirely sure of herself. “I saw it. When has that ever been wrong?”

After the earthquake, Yvette believed every word she said, and this pleased her even more. “Then I’ll wait for it. Three days from now Nora gets a wedding with no groom and turns into the joke of the year.”

That afternoon, Nora drove across the city to the hospital.

She pushed open the door and found her grandmother sitting up in bed, 80 years old with a full head of hair barely touched by gray. It struck her then that in her last life she never got to say goodbye.

Nothing about that death had ever added up, and it had stayed with her as the one thing she could not put down.

She had never once let herself feel sorry for anything in that life, and now the whole weight of it came up at once and her eyes stung. “Grandma.”

Rosalind Blythe had a health book open in her lap, and that small, cracked little voice down fast.

put it

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