Free Love Becomes Her by Donna Hill Page A

apart like they’d been shot with a bolt of lightning.”
    Elizabeth felt nauseous. That bastard .
    “They were both very nervous and Terri raced out of there as if the starting bell had gone off. She couldn’t look me in the eye. When I asked him what that was all about he said she’d been crying—some nonsense about an ill family member and he was only comforting her.”
    Dawne sucked her teeth with disgust. “Yeah, right.” She folded her arms.
    Desiree leaned forward. “Well, is it her? Is she the reason?”
    Elizabeth momentarily closed her eyes and nodded her head in agreement. “Yes,” she murmured. “Your father said he’s in love with her.”
    “Oh, I have a word for what it is, and it ain’t love,” Dawne spat.
    “Mom, it’s not your fault. I know you and I know that’s what you’re thinking,” Desiree offered. “It’s Dad’s loss.”
    “Exactly, Mom. If that’s what he wants to do, then as much as I love my father, I’d say let him go. You deserve to be happy and not living with someone who is sneaking around.”
    “And we’re not kids anymore. You don’t have to worry about staying together because of us,” Desiree said.
    “Exactly,” Dawne concurred.
    Elizabeth looked at her daughters, the two beautiful little babies who’d grown into beautiful, successful, intelligent women, and her heart filled with so much love for them it was enough to get her through anything. She swallowed over the big knot in her throat and blinked back tears.
    “Thank you. Thank you both. I…I didn’t know what to expect when I told you. I know how much you both love and adore your dad.”
    “Mom, we love and adore you, too.” Desiree grinned.
    “Yeah, even when you still nag us,” Dawne teased.
    “So,” Desiree, always direct, began. “What are you planning to do?”
    Elizabeth smiled for the first time since she arrived. “Well, the other night me and the girls came up with this brilliant idea….”

Chapter 16
    E xcitement coursed through Barbara all day at work. She should be exhausted, but instead she felt revitalized, as if she’d been given a shot of happy juice. She and Michael had talked for hours, well into the early morning, until they’d both fallen asleep curled in each other’s arms on her bed. He told her about his life growing up in North Carolina as the only boy in a family of four sisters.
    “I spent the bulk of my growing-up years waiting to get in the bathroom and giving the evil eye to wannabe boyfriends.”
    Barbara laughed at the images. “I was an only child,” she’d confessed. “I always wondered what it would be like to have sisters and brothers. I guess that’s why I’m so attached to my friends. They’re the sisters I never had.”
    “I’d like to meet them.”
    Her eyes widened for a moment. “You would?”
    “Of course. And I want you to meet my friends, too.”
    She was shaking her head as she spoke. “Mike… meeting your friends…”
    “I want to show you off. I want my friends to know how lucky I am to have found you.”
    “Let’s give us some time first, okay?”
    Reluctantly he agreed. “You say when.”
    “It won’t be long, promise. I told my friends about you already.”
    “What did you tell them?”
    “You really don’t want to know.”
    “Yes, I do. What did you tell them?”
    “That you were one of my patients and that you were young enough to be my son and that…I really like you.”
    “What did they say about the age thing?”
    “They all told me to go for it. That you only live once.”
    He grinned. “I like them already.”
     
    Barbara felt good inside thinking about the big step she’d taken with Michael. She’d been stopped several times by staff members on how “glowing” she appeared. Guess there was some truth in the saying that happiness made you glow.
    Before he’d left her apartment, shortly before dawn, he’d told her that he had to go out of town fora few days but would be back in plenty of time for