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chapter nine

Author: NYDIA WILLIS
last update Last Updated: 2025-04-20 04:06:55

Amiriam

Me: Hey! I need my sisters today. Who's available?

Rita: I should be available. What are we doing, and at what time?

Me: Shopping and in an hour.

Christiana: …you shouldn't have said it was shopping.

When Amiriam read her eldest sister's message, a soft laugh escaped. She could almost hear Christiana's sarcastic tone in the message, and it did nothing but enhance her amusement. All the Swenson sisters were free spirits, but Christiana was by far the straightest arrow of them all. She hadn't always been like that.

Her fingers flew across the screen in reply.

Me: It'll be worth it. Promise. I've got some juicy gossip and a credit card to pay for the whole thing. Mimosas anyone?

Rita: Yes, please! Where are we meeting?

Christiana: Fine…you had me at GOSSIP.

Amiriam smiled.

Me: Meet me at the bridal boutique on Main, and I'll give you ALL the details.

Rita: Ooo…I'm intrigued. See you in an hour.

Christiana: BRIDAL BOUTIQUE?! Why would we need to meet at a BRIDAL BOUTIQUE?!

Amiriam
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  • RECKLESS DESIRES: THE ODEN LEGACY    Chapter Ninety-six

    “You’re not wearing the ring,” Luke said softly, the words almost blending into the early morning breeze.Amiriam turned slowly from the balcony railing where she’d been watching the soft blush of sunrise stretch over the skyline. She wasn’t startled. She’d sensed him standing there, barefoot in sweatpants, coffee cooling in his hand.Her hand grazed her collarbone, where the wooden ring rested from a leather cord around her neck."I am," she said, lifting the necklace slightly higher. "Just not on my finger. Not yet."Luke's eyebrows creased barely noticeably, the kind of crease that was there only when he was trying not to be disappointed. He moved in closer, setting his coffee beside hers on the balcony table."I thought… I thought the answer was yes.""It is," she whispered. "But it's not a now."He glanced down, then out at the city.She continued, her tone calm but certain, "We've come too far, Luke. Survived too much. I don't want us walking into forever with old wounds pretend

  • RECKLESS DESIRES: THE ODEN LEGACY    Chapter Ninety-five

    "Do you think birds ever get tired of singing?" James asked, his legs swinging over the balcony rail, a juice box gripped fiercely in his sticky hand.Amiriam raised her head from her sketchbook, the tip of her pencil smudged with light. "I don't think they even know they're singing. I think it's just how they breathe.".James blinked, drinking it in as if it were the most wonderful thing he'd ever heard in his six years. "So they sing to stay alive?""Something like that," she replied softly.Luke came outside, his feet bare, hair still rumpled from sleep, a steaming cup of coffee in one hand and a paper bag in the other. "Donuts. The cinnamon ones you love."Amiriam took the bag with a small smile. "You spoil us."James leaped for it immediately. "Did you get the sprinkles?"Luke smiled. "Of course. I wouldn't dream of forgetting."It was a Sunday. Serene. No events. No meetings. No foundation events or interviews. Just the kind of day that left you glad you'd made it through the ot

  • RECKLESS DESIRES: THE ODEN LEGACY    Chapter Ninety-four

    “You’re really doing it?” Rita asked, peering over the rim of her coffee mug as Luke walked into the kitchen with a letter in his hand.Luke nodded, eyes tired but resolute. “Yeah. It’s time.”Amiriam looked up from the breakfast table where James was building a tiny fort out of toast and boiled eggs. “You sure?”"I've never been more certain of anything," Luke said, setting the letter aside. "Today, I resign from the Oden board."James's head shot up. "What's 'resign' mean?""It means I'm leaving something that doesn't suit me anymore," Luke said, crouching down next to him. "Like when your shoes are too tight and start to hurt.""Oh," James said, thinking. "Then you get new ones."Luke grinned. "Exactly."Christiana arrived next, then Zack and Richard. The morning was a mini social event—a routine built up from weeks of wedding planning and eating-together evenings. Today, though, there was electricity in the air. Change. Purpose."Am I last to know?" Christiana sat down."Second to

  • RECKLESS DESIRES: THE ODEN LEGACY    Chapter Ninety-three

    "Does 'The Weight of Blooming' even make sense?" James asked, frowning as he stared at the title page of Amiriam's computer. He sat cross-legged on her bed in a pair of mismatched socks and clinging to a half-eaten apple as though it were a microphone.Amiriam smiled as she looked up from her manuscript, a smile curving the corner of her lips. "It means becoming something beautiful, even when it hurts.".James tilted his head. "Like having teeth?"She grinned. "Sort of, yeah. Except with feelings instead of molars."He nodded gravely. "Sounds painful.""It was," she said quietly, touching the end of the page. "But it was worth it."Luke leant against the doorframe, watching them. His tie was undone, shirt sleeves rolled up, face tired but approving. "Is that the final draft?"Amiriam turned the screen around to present it to him. "It is. All seventy-two thousand words. Edited, formatted, and sent to my publisher an hour ago."Luke moved cautiously toward her, as if not wishing to dist

  • RECKLESS DESIRES: THE ODEN LEGACY    Chapter Ninety-two

    "I wish to be a ring bearer again!" James declared, perched on the living room table as if he were a pint-sized general issuing a decree.Christiana, seated beside Zack on the couch in the Oden mansion, exchanged a smiling glance with Amiriam. "Again?" she asked, folding her arms.James nodded firmly. "I did well last time. I didn't drop the ring. Not once!You also tried to eat the flower petals," Luke reminded him, coming in with a tray of lemonade and cookies."That was an experiment," James said gravely, climbing down from the table. "I wanted to determine whether or not they'd taste like the smell.""And?" Zack asked, holding a cookie out to Christiana.James frowned. "They didn't.".The room was full of laughter. It had been a long week—therapy sessions, foundation functions, phone calls in hushed tones from Victor with Stacy's announcements of leaving the state—but today was a breeze. Simple. Fuzzy.Zack looked around the room, his hand falling gently into Christiana's. "We wer

  • RECKLESS DESIRES: THE ODEN LEGACY    Chapter Ninety-one

    "You look like the end of every man's prayer," Luke said, adjusting his cufflink but never once breaking eye contact with Amiriam.She took a step closer, her gossamer silver slit in her dress flashing with the light of the chandelier as she smiled. "And you look like trouble in a tux," she said softly, her crimson lips curling into a smile that made something deep within Luke ache in the best way possible.James, standing next to them in his own small suit, tugged on Luke's jacket. "I'm in grown-up clothes, can I have two puddings tonight?"Luke smiled, kneeling down to adjust James's bowtie. "Only if you promise not to doze off during the speeches again.""I make no promises," James said solemnly.Amiriam smiled, watching the two of them. Luke Oden—rough, disorganized, flawed—had rounded out at the edges, like a man learning to be human again. And James? James was blooming. Talking more. Laughing more. Smiling more.They walked into the gala arm in arm—Amiriam on Luke's arm, James b

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