Her Collateral Bride: A Lesbian Age Gap Romance

around and shoved her out the door. “And I can hardly believe

it’s real either.” They’d created something so good. Not

perfect, but amazing and wonderful without anything needing

to be perfect. Perfection and control, as it turned out, were

highly overrated.

As Claire had learned how to love and her walls crumbled,

her mistrust in the world at large dissipated. She was able to

learn how to see life as something that wasn’t full of threats

and hidden dangers and hurts to be nursed.

“It’s a good thing Jean’s out there with the kids or we’d be

screwed.”

After giving Jean cooking lessons, and after teaching Haley,

Claire discovered a new passion. It wasn’t just for cooking. It

was for teaching. Haley had the idea that she should open a

culinary school. With the help of fellow chefs, Claire had

made it a reality. The grand opening was set for noon, and they

were going to arrive with just minutes to spare. It was hard to

be on time with a two-year-old and a one-year-old to look

after.

Haley and Claire both decided together, after they were

married, that they wanted to adopt. They’d been incredibly

lucky enough to work with a great agency and they’d ended up

adopting two beautiful girls. Their family felt complete, and

with two kids in diapers, opening a new business, running

Claire’s family business, and trying to keep up with everything

else, their lives were chaos, but the good kind of chaos. The

kind that fills your heart up with so much love it’s almost

impossible to breathe through it.

The best part? Haley had agreed to Claire’s suggestion to

include a stunning grand piano as the star attraction of the