Free StepBrother: New Rules (Stepbrother Romance) by Jayna King Page B

picked the silliest thing to confess. She almost laughed out loud, but she didn’t want her mother to think she wasn’t taking the conversation—the first real one they’d had in a long time—seriously.
    Ella smothered a laugh of her own, and when Evelyn met her mother’s eyes, they both burst out laughing—as if the act was a tension release for them both.
    “Okay, so you don’t like chick flicks,” Ella said, wiping tears from her eyes as she finally stopped laughing. “Got it. I’m glad you shared that hugely personal detail with me. What else don’t I know? Is there anything more important?”
    Evelyn could feel her heart rate increase as she thought about telling her mother everything. She figured she’d take it one piece of news at a time. “Um, Will and I were going to an MMA fight tonight.”
    “Pardon my ignorance, but what’s MMA?”
    “Mixed martial arts. It’s anything goes—with a few rules, of course—and it’s the most brutal, exciting thing I’ve ever seen. This was going to be my first big live fight.”
    Ella looked slightly appalled. “You were going to a fight? Like boxing?”
    “Like boxing, but better.” Evelyn couldn’t help but get excited when she talked about it. “MMA is a fusion of different fighting styles—jiu-jitsu, muay Thai, karate—you can basically use whatever tactic you want to dominate.” Evelyn realized her mother’s eyes had gone wider, and she wondered if too much of her enthusiasm had seeped into her words.
    Ella took a deep breath and let it out slowly, as if she was using the time to calm herself down. “So you like watching MMA. Can I say that surprises me?”
    “I know it does, but yes. I love it. And what’s more? I’ve been training with some MMA coaches. Just for fun, but they actually say I’m pretty good at it.”
    “What? You mean you actually fight with people?” Ella’s expression was somewhere between shock and disdain. “Where did you learn about all of this?”
    “At the gym. They offered an introductory MMA class, and I thought it might be fun. And I love it.” Evelyn’s eyes shone as she explained. “I’m even thinking about entering an amateur MMA match.”
    “Wait a minute, you’re going to fight with someone? In public?”
    “Yes.” Evelyn’s tone was emphatic. “I do more than just yoga at the gym, Mom. I’ve been taking MMA classes for nearly a year.”
    “You’ve been doing this for a year? Why didn’t you tell me?” For the first time in the conversation, Ella’s composure seemed to slip.
    “Seriously? Why would I tell you? You’ve told me my whole life that the most important thing was to be professional and ladylike. You’ve said that visibly defined muscles on women are ugly. You don’t think strong, muscular women can be feminine.” Evelyn stood up and lifted her shirt, exposing her abs. “Look at me, Mom. I think this is beautiful and sexy and strong,” she said, running her hands over the ripples of definition in her muscular torso. “And so does Will.”
    Ella just sat still, looking at her daughter as if they were meeting for the first time. “I didn’t know.”
    “Because I couldn’t tell you.”
    “I just wanted you to have a good work ethic, to be successful.” Ella started to cry. “I didn’t want you to have to hide things from me because you thought I’d disapprove. Now I feel like a complete failure as a mother.”
    Evelyn watched her mother tearing up. “You’re not a failure. I do have a good work ethic. And I will be successful. I just may do it differently than you have.”
    “But if you thought you couldn’t talk to me, I must have been doing something terribly wrong.”
    “You know, Mom, I don’t think you did anything wrong. The problem was mine. I think it was more that I needed to be strong enough to risk disappointing you. I needed to find a way to come out of hiding and be my own person.” Evelyn thought for a moment, handing Ella the box of tissues.