Chasing Serenity (River Rain 1)

Oh no!

Did one of my eyelashes come askew, holding on to him?

I lifted a hand to check, but before I could assess, he asked, “How the fuck do you find new ways to be even more gorgeous?”

God, I so very, very, very much loved this man.

I dropped my hand to his shoulder and whispered, “Magic.”

“Then I love a witch,” he whispered back.

Yes.

Yes.

He loved me.

“And I love a miracle,” I returned.

“Babe—”

I knew my magnificent, humble boyfriend was going to refute that.

So I didn’t let him even start.

“You became you. In your circumstances, that’s almost impossible. But you did. You’re my miracle, Judge. And I’m so glad you are, because you hold my heart in your hands, and there’s no man on this planet who has what I need to take care of it, except you.”

His beautiful brown eyes framed by their now spiky-with-wet lashes heated and then we were kissing.

“Right, brother, that was all super awesome, but a surprise porn ending is not the way to go when your sister is in the room,” Rix called.

And Judge and I broke the kiss with neither of us laugh-crying.

We were both just laughing.

Keeping hold on me so I went with him, Judge took his feet.

We were barely up when Jamie requested quietly, “Just very quickly, Chloe.”

I took in the expression on his face and stepped aside.

Father and son hugged.

It wasn’t very quickly.

It lasted a long, long time.

And at the start of it, I heard Jamie say low to his son.

“That phone ringing was love, Judge.”

And then I saw my man’s shoulders heave.

Within seconds, Rix’s arm landed along my shoulders, and he used it to tuck me to his side. I tore my gaze away long enough to see he had his other one slung around Dru.

And three people who loved Judge Morgan Oakley watched as the original one held him close to his heart.

Magic.

And miracles.

Chapter 29

The Gossip

Elsa Cohen

The Elsa Exchange

Celebrity News and Interviews

YouTube Channel

Thursday…

“To end my show, all my wonderful watchers, we must spend some time chatting about all that’s happening in Texas. Woefully, we have to start with what a truly impossible endeavor it is to wrap my head around the sad fact that the woman who was once the talk of New York, in good ways, then very bad, died too soon from a reported lethal cocktail of drugs and booze.”

Photo on screen of a young, vibrant, stunning Belinda Oakley wearing a vintage Halston swathe-front, sleeveless, satin gown walking on the arm of the young, dark, dashing Jameson Oakley. He’s in profile, looking to the side, smiling a dazzling white smile that crinkles the corners of his extraordinary blue eyes. She’s face front, ice-blue eyes and carved cheekbones aimed to the camera, looking cool and chic and butter-would-not-melt.

Cut back to Elsa.

“The glorious Belinda Oakley lost her way long ago, she also lost her man, but one thing you could say for the woman, she kept hold of her son. But now, my wonderful watchers, many are asking, was that a good thing?”

Photo on screen of Jameson Oakley and his ridiculously handsome son, Judge, walking shoulder-to-shoulder into a posh Dallas eatery the night before Belinda Oakley’s memorial service. They look subdued, but tanned and healthy, with Jameson’s head again turned, this time to speak in his son’s ear. Judge’s head is tilted toward his father and slightly downcast as he walks and listens with visible intent to whatever his father is saying.

Cut back to Elsa.

“Much is being said about the former Mrs. Oakley after her former father-in-law let a few things slip, as he has an alarming tendency to do. At first, even I was shocked at news that Jameson allowed his first wife to wallow in such dire circumstances. This from a man who became known for his utter devotion to his second wife, Rosalind, a woman he heartbreakingly lost not too long ago after she succumbed to her battle with breast cancer. I’ll refrain from sharing the photos that have been circulating that depict where Belinda was found by a dear friend, dead on her couch. Photos we have reason to believe agents of the senior Mr. Oakley took themselves, and then in a shady move that’s signature to said senior Oakley, they released.”

Photo on screen of AJ Oakley, cowboy hat on his head, mouth wide open, buxom, blonde woman five inches taller and sixty-plus years younger standing, looking bored, at his side.

Cut back to Elsa.

“However, barely an hour after AJ planted this morsel in our ever-hungry ears, news started spreading about the senior Oakley’s dastardly deeds. And we’re not talking about the most recent ones, my watchers. We’re talking about how he contrived with Belinda to cut Jameson’s visitation of their son to cruelly meagre levels, financing her never-ending battles against her ex-husband, keeping a boy from his father. About how he bribed officers of the court to look away from Belinda’s troubling downward spiral into drug, alcohol and even sex addiction, and how this detrimentally affected his grandson. Friends of Judge Oakley’s are coming forward and telling it like it was, my wonderful watchers. And it was grim. Tales of a mother who lost her way and a grandfather who enabled it, barring a young man from the functional upbringing every child should be entitled to.”