Dirty Beautiful Rich Part Five Read Free Page B

was Alanna who was arranging a bouquet of lilies in a Waterford vase.
                  Julie slowed, still viewing Alanna as a bit of a hurricane. She had no idea if the woman would be a cold eye of the storm, or wild force. Or maybe, just maybe that had passed.
                  Alanna turned. “Hello.”
                  Julie nodded and made herself smile in greeting. “I heard. . . I heard . . .”
                  “Damian is here, ” Alanna confirmed.
                  Julie couldn’t stop the nerve-wracking joy that caused her to grin. “Where?”
                  “Out. He went for a long walk.”
                  “With Margaret? ” Julie asked.
                  “No. Margaret is in the stables.”
                  Julie hesitated. She couldn’t just go after him. The estate was massive. She could walk for hours and just miss him or never even get close.
                  Alanna stopped fiddling with the flowers and turned. “Julie?”
                  “Yes?”
               “I’m glad he’s come back. I’m glad he and I. . . ” Alanna’s blue eyes softened. “But don’t. . . Don’t think that this means. . .”
                  Julie nodded. She didn’t need to hear that Damian wouldn’t change again. She was over that.  “It’s okay.”
                  “You t-old him the truth, ” Alanna said, her voice breaking.
                  Julie frowned, feeling that ounce again she was in foreign waters. “I beg your pardon?”
                  “That he’s broken.”
                  Julie winced, struggling to believe Damian had shared that particular things with his mother. “I did. It was cruel of me.”
                  “No, it wasn’t, ” Allana let out a shaking breath. “You made him face it. That’s love.”
                  Julie’s throat tightened. His own mother was saying that she loved him. That to confront him about the past was an act of love. Julie wiped the tears from her eyes before they could start.
                  “God, is it? ” she asked.
                  “Maybe he can get help now, ” Alanna whispered.
                  Julie nodded. “That’s what I’m hoping.”
                  Alanna drew in a long breath. “I- I don’t want him to be like his father. Unable to reach out.”
                  Julie’s stomach twisted into a knot. It had never occurred to her that Damian might be anything like his father. “Alanna. . .”
                  Alanna raised a hand. “No, Julie. It’s all right.”
               All Julie’s hope and excitement started to fade. It was so easy to simplify things. Fion had made things simple. But in one quick exchange of words, Alanna had reminded her that things were not always as easy as people wanted them to be.
                  “Damian isn’t going to ever be like that, ” Julie said tightly.
                  Alanna cleared her throat. “Like what, dear?”
                  “S-suicidal.”
               Alanna nodded, but there was a brittleness to it. “Of course not.”
                  Suddenly, Julie began to think about the similarities between Damian’s dad and himself.
                  Damian didn’t share his feelings. He ran when things got too personal. He couldn’t reach out for help. Isn’t that exactly what Damian’s father had done? Sure, the old earl had drunk himself out of his own mind, but Damian’s rigid self-control was actually a similar type of neurosis.
                  “Alanna, ” Julie said, squaring her shoulders against the fear. “We’re not going to let that happen to