Reborn to Dodge the Bad Marriage novel Chapter 19

Chapter 19 What She Didn’t Say

Constance was beaming. “No, he’s with Nora.”

At a hotel, no less. He’s finally figured it out.

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“Nora?” The name registered as a woman’s, and the soft smile on Olivia’s face stiffened at the edges.

Constance was in the mood to talk about it. “Nora is Julian’s wife. She’s a wonderful girl. I picked right.”

The color drained out of Olivia’s face. “Julian is married? How did I not know?”

Cordelia looked less than pleased herself, her expression settling into something close to hostile. “Constance, we’ve known each other for decades. Julian marries and you don’t invite us? That’s how you treat an outsider.”

The two of them went back far enough for first names, and Cordelia had reached for hers deliberately.

Constance saw the displeasure and had no wish to offend her, so she explained quickly. “Julian only signed the papers with Nora today. His health is what it is, so we weren’t planning a ceremony, and that’s why nobody was told.”

She had also gone to an astrologer, who told her that a wife whose chart matched Julian’s would give him his best chance, so she had set her mind on getting him married while there was still time.

The reading pointed at the Sinclair family, which was the only reason she went there with a proposal at all.

Cordelia turned to look at Olivia.

Olivia’s hands closed around her phone until her fingertips lost their color, and the gentle smile stayed exactly where it was. “Congratulations to Julian, then. So he isn’t coming home tonight?”

Constance thought about that small breathless sound and smiled wider. “They only signed today. It’s their wedding night. Of course he isn’t.”

Then she apologized for it. “I’ve wasted your whole evening. Go on home, and I’ll have Julian bring Nora over to see you in a day or two.”

Olivia went a shade paler and let the worry show. “But the sequence I learned has to run 30 days without a break. Every day we miss puts Julian in danger. Can you really not call him home?”

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Chapter 19 What She Didn’t Say

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“Well…” That gave Constance pause.

He had gone days without sleep, he had finally dropped off this early, and waking him now would do his body no favors.

Cordelia looked at how drawn her granddaughter was and ached over it. “Olivia, that’s Julian Weston’s body and Julian Weston’s problem. Stop carrying it for him. You’ve gone half a year without eating or sleeping properly to learn this, and look at your face.

“We’re going home to rest and get you back on your feet.”

Then she turned to Constance. “Madam Weston, Olivia and I have done everything we can about his condition. If something goes wrong later, don’t come laying it at our door.”

Dropping the first name said plainly enough that she was angry.

Cordelia took Olivia by the hand and left.

Olivia looked back with a gentle word of comfort. “Grandma Weston, it’s Julian’s wedding night and we can’t add a day of treatment. If this fails later, please don’t hold it against Nora…”

“We’re leaving.” Cordelia pulled her along and walked fast.

Nothing Constance said kept them, and she stood there and watched them go.

Bess Thornton, who never left her side, could not make sense of it. “Ma’am, if Mr. Weston’s condition is that urgent, why not take them straight to him?”

On top of that, the effort to keep them there had not sounded particularly sincere.

Constance watched the car disappear down the road. “However urgent it is, one day won’t decide it. This is his wedding night, he’s finally asleep, and there’s no reason on earth to go wake him.”

That confused Bess further. “But Miss Blithe said the treatment has to run 30 straight days, and Dr. Blithe gave him a month at the outside. One day does matter.”

Constance watched the car vanish, let out a cold little laugh, and turned back toward the house. “You’ll understand eventually.”

She had liked Olivia well enough once. The family, the face, the education, the temperament were all first rate, and she had seriously considered her for a granddaughter-in-law.

The trouble was that Olivia worked too many angles, and that made her wrong for Julian.

Tonight was the proof of it. If Olivia had actually been anxious about missing a day, she would

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have laid out the schedule in advance instead of sitting there for hours and only mentioning the 30-day requirement at the end.

She left Constance no chance to prepare or to have Julian home and waiting, which meant it was never that urgent.

Constance had come up in a house full of her husband’s mistresses and outlasted every one of them, so anyone playing games in front of her looked about as convincing as a child telling a lie.

Nora’s bluntness came back to her then and put the smile straight back on her face. “Nora is the better one. I like her.”

Morning came at the hotel.

What woke Julian was the weight on his chest. He opened his eyes against the discomfort, found Nora asleep across him, and it took a beat before the night before came back to him.

Her cheek rested over his heart, her breath came out soft and even, and her long lashes lay dark against her skin.

Asleep, she had none of the boldness or the glare left in her, only something soft and sweet in their place, and her mouth in particular sat there full and ripe, daring him to find out how it tasted.

Julian pressed his lips together, and his throat worked.

He reached out and touched her mouth lightly, and it was soft.

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