“How are you feeling today, Kiara?” Annie asked as she lifted her mug of coffee.
“At the moment, I’m feeling okay,” she said. “But check back in five minutes.”
Annie chuckled. “That doesn’t sound fun.”
“It’s not really,” Kiara agreed. “But to be honest, the nausea is getting a little better.”
“I hear we’re having another wedding,” Annie said.
“Exciting, huh?”
“I hope that Cole gets the idea,” Annie said. “Maybe you could toss me your bouquet.”
“Well, considering you’ll probably be the only single woman there, that shouldn’t be too hard.”
“Good morning, ladies,” Duncan said as he walked into the breakfast room. “Are you all well?”
“Yep,” Annie responded. “Although maybewellisn’t how Angie’s feeling. I thinkextremely wellmight be more accurate.”
Duncan chuckled. “I never thought I’d be happy that my daughter was marrying my head of security, but here we are. And Elizabeth and I are very happy with the news.”
“I’m glad,” Angie said. “Jude means the world to me.”
Turning from Angie, Duncan held out an envelope to Kiara. “This came for you.”
She hesitated for a second before she took it. She’d been hoping to receive another letter but hadn’t known if Julian would feel inclined to write again.
As she took it, Duncan said, “I received one as well, and it seems he’s doing okay.”
“I’m glad,” she said.
Duncan looked at her for a long moment, then nodded. “I’ll talk to you ladies later.”
After he’d left, both Annie and Angie turned their attention to Kiara.
“Are you going to read your letter?” Angie asked.
“Is this the first letter you’ve received from him?” Annie tacked on before Kiara had a chance to respond.
“No.”
“No?” the twins asked in unison.
“No, I’m not going to read the letter yet,” Kiara said, her attention on Angie before she looked at Annie. “And no, it’s not the first letter I’ve received.”
“Really?” Annie sounded surprised. “That’s amazing. I’m so glad he’s communicating with you. How’s he doing?”
Kiara chose her words carefully, wanting to protect Julian’s privacy like she had with Duncan. “As you might imagine, it hasn’t been a walk in the park, but he’s pushing through.”
“That’s good,” Annie said.
Angie gestured to the envelope she held. “So you’re not going to read your letter?”
“Not here.”
Annie and Angie exchanged a glance, then Angie said, “Why not?”
“Because you’ll both want to know what it says, and I’ve told Julian that I wouldn’t betray his confidence.”
