She watched on as the two spoke shyly. She caught the surprise in Caleb's eyes when he first saw Beatrice. She wasn't sure what it was, but she didn't have a good feeling about it.
A week after, Caleb visited Claudia's home before heading out of town.
"Her smile looked like Stephanie's," he said slowly.
"She's not her. Beatrice is one of the sweetest young ladies I know."
If you asked had Claudia a year ago what she thought of Beatrice, she'd simply roll her eyes and walk away. The lady after her best friend's man wasn't worth anything to her. After getting to know her, she understood her better.
"I know. I need to settle my feelings first then meet with her. I don't want to meet her because she looked like my nightmare. I want to meet her for her," he assured Claudia.
"It's okay if things don't work out. You'll have an additional friend to talk to," she cheered him up.
Months later, after much thought, they finally gave it a try.
Emerald woke up to see her mother. She instantly babbled on and on, and Claudia listened attentively.
Looking at her busy-bee husband, "I think Eme just complained about how unfairly you treated her during the day."
Justin put on an innocent look. "What did I do?"
"You told her war stories, didn't you?"
He avoided his wife's interrogation and got busy with dinner. She let him be as she paid attention to her daughter.
"She definitely got her chattering from her grandmother," she thought to herself.