Free His Reason, Her Choice by Teona Bell

to nuzzle her ear and whispered, “Play along, please.”
    She eyed him in annoyance but gave in. His parents’ opinion of her didn’t matter. If they were going to judge her wrong, they would. Nothing she could do about it.
    What Joy didn’t expect was Gloria helping her cook on the night she was responsible for making dinner. Joy had to admit Gloria’s smile and kind manner seemed genuine. She appeared to take everything at face value. If Russ and Joy told her they were a couple, Gloria accepted it.
    * * * *
    O n most mornings over the next week, Joy woke to hear Gloria’s chipper voice calling, “Where are my girls?”
    “Here!” Thundering feet would fill the hallway. Today, she rose to see what the heck they were always up to. She slipped her robe on and walked to the spare bedroom. Denita and Nicolette were on Gloria’s bed, and three heads bowed over some type of flyer.
    “It’s a fair,” Gloria was explaining to the girls. “I bet we can have a lot of fun if we go.”
    Nicolette’s eyes grew round. “Will Mommy let us?”
    “I don’t see why not,” Gloria said. “Shall we ask her?”
    “Yes!” Denita bounced on the bed. “You’ll take us if Mommy says it’s okay, Ms. Gloria?”
    “Would you like that?”
    Again the girls agreed in excitement. Joy shook her head, bewildered. To tell the truth, she felt a twinge of jealousy, wondering if her girls needed a grandmother figure or if it was that she wasn’t doing a great job as a mother. She’d heard it way too many times.
    Gloria looked up and spotted her. She smiled. “There you are, Joy. I hope we didn’t wake you, sweetheart.”
    “No.” The stomping girls had done that, which wasn’t unusual.
    Denita and Nicolette took flying leaps off the bed and ran to her. They jumped up and down, grabbing her hands. “Mommy, can Ms. Gloria take us to the fair? Please?”
    Nicolette squeezed her eyes shut and dragged out the last word as if her life depended on it. Denita put her hands together in a pleading stance as well.
    “Um, I’ll have to look at the money situation, girls, and I don’t want you wearing Ms. Gloria out. She’s here to visit Russ, not you.”
    Gloria waved a hand and stood. “Oh, pooh, I love them already. They’re so sweet and energetic. I could only have Russ, but I wanted so many more.”
    Joy gaped at her. “Seriously?”
    “Yes, I have high hopes for a bunch of grandchildren to make up for it.” She eyed Joy, but the poor woman was wasting her time. No one else was coming out of Joy’s body, even if she and Russ was a real couple. Come to think of it, it seemed unfair to even lock him down in such a way with a woman who couldn’t have kids anymore. He wasn’t thirty yet and had time to be a father with the right woman. For some reason, those thoughts saddened her.
    “I haven’t heard anyone call Denita with her mouth—sweet, but thank you very much. My babies are perfect in their own way.” Joy grinned. “I don’t like telling them about stuff like this unless I know for sure I can swing it.”
    Gloria touched her arm. “This is my special treat. If you let me take them, I’ll pay for everything.”
    Joy groaned. “You would say that in front of them, wouldn’t you?”
    Gloria’s smile never wavered. “I know how to get what I want too.”
    “Oh, so Russ takes after you?”
    She winked.
    Strong male hands came around her waist, and Russ rested his chin on her shoulder. “What’s up?”
    Gloria explained it, and he pulled Joy backward. She excused herself from his mother and the girls and followed him to his room. He shut the door.
    “I know I put you in an awkward position, Joy. I don’t want to make you unhappy.”
    She shrugged. “Your mom is great. I wish mine was like her.”
    “You can borrow her all you want,” he teased.
    She smirked. “Your dad’s a different story, but I don’t think he’s bad.”
    “He’s not, just a hard nut sometimes. If you don’t want the girls to go with