JOY’S FATHER TOOKthe news really well.
“I thought there was more to this marriage than you were letting on,” Paul said in his creaky voice. “Your mother and I always expected you to be curious about your birth parents, sweetheart. You didn’t have to hide this from me. I completely understand.”
That made her feel weepy enough to want to hug him through the screen, especially when she confessed her meeting with Otto had not gone as well as she’d hoped.
After some consoling words, Paul said, “What about your husband? Please tell me you’re still happy with your marriage?”
“I am.” She blinked with shock at how true that was. Her life here with Axel was more fulfilling than she could have anticipated.
She went on to describe the dance company and the performance she was hoping to be picked for, the language classes she had signed up for and her upcoming getaway to Sicily with Axel, for business and sunshine.
A friendly journalist came by the next afternoon, bringing a photographer who took candid photos of her and Axel lounging around the penthouse and standing at the rail of the terrace. Joy wore off-white trousers with a torso-hugging, long-sleeved lace top in the same color. Axel wore a black suit with a black shirt and a black tie.
“You make a striking couple,” the journalist said. “How did you meet?”
Joy let Axel take the lead. He was using this opportunity to announce he’d fully broken away from Otto and had opened a competing firm, confirming what was already floating through the headlines.
When Axel casually mentioned he had met Joy after learning she was Otto’s daughter, the woman’s eyes popped in realization she was being given a scoop.
“I only learned my birth father’s identity very recently.” Joy didn’t mention Lorena’s name but filled in a few blanks about her adoption into her American family, adding that she had wanted to meet Otto, but that they didn’t have a meaningful relationship.
“Is my research correct? Were you performing as an exotic dancer prior to your marriage?” The journalist was giving Joy a chance to deny it.
“I was.”
“Plug the company you’re with now,” Axel prompted her.
“I’m still in the audition process,” Joy demurred. “But Axel is right. The choreographer deserves a mention for the production she’s putting together.” Joy offered up the dates and venue for the expected performance.
“Does your marriage have anything to do with you leaving Vorstoben?” the woman asked Axel. “By that, I mean the timing of your broken engagement to Mira Braun? She left the company, too. There seems to be some conflict between her and her father?” she probed.
“I can’t speak for Mira,” Axel said firmly. “Otto was aware for years that my plan was to run my own firm. I would prefer we hadn’t come to legal action, but I’m confident the courts will side with me in our dispute.”
The article came out the next day while they were on the ground in Sicily.
A small media storm ensued, but Axel was busy closing a deal on a massive resort complex that had ground to a halt due to various issues. That evening, they attended a mixer of executives and their spouses, and even though people seemed aware of the article and Joy’s former job, everyone was more excited that their project had been saved than interested in gossiping about her.
When they returned to Berlin, Joy felt lighter than she had in years. Her family was thriving and looking forward to being together in California. Her financial troubles were gone. She no longer felt she had to hide her work at Martini’s, and she was making new friends among her fellow dancers while doing what she loved.
The only thing she loved more than dancing every day was coming home to her husband.
They had fallen into a routine of discussing their plans for the day in the hot tub, parting after breakfast, then coming together again in the evening. Often, they went out again because they had engagements, but Joy was no longer afraid of those. She was seeing familiar faces and had been invited onto a charity board for performing arts that interested her.
She was on top of the world and told her brother that when he called one evening.
“I’m still trying to get used to this,” David said with concern. “It doesn’t feel likeyou, Joy. I thought you wanted to be a nurse? What if you need something to fall back on?”
A wave of exasperated affection washed over her. David was caring and protective, but he didn’t have a clue who she was at heart. Not the way Axel understood her.
“I’m dancing. I’m happy,” she insisted. “You’ll see when we come to California.”
That trip was another month away, but she was looking forward to it. She and Axel would touch down in Chicago long enough to collect Paul before flying him to California themselves so Joy could help him get settled in his new home while meeting Carrie and David’s newest addition.
“How’s your brother?” Axel asked idly when they were undressing for bed.
“Good, but he asked me why I gave up the nurse training. You knew the day you met me that I was only pursuing it for Dad. That it wasn’t my real passion. David was genuinely baffled that I would walk away from what he views as a solid profession. It made me realize how different I am from him. From all of them. They love me. I know that. And I love them, but I always felt this sense of being a bit of an oddity. Even my mother was very practical, working at City Hall because they had a decent pension. She encouraged my dance as a hobby while I was growing up, but it wasn’t something she thought I should pursue as a living. They were concerned that I chose performing arts at college. When I gave it up for Todd, I think they were a little relieved. No one asked how I really felt about it.”
“That’s probably why you did give it up. You were trying to fit into their expectations.”
