A Reborn Bride Pearl Emerging from Dust by Sally Garcia

Calliope and Silas had been staying at the Jewell family's place for a few days now. The Jewell family's feelings about their houseguests were..... mixed, to say the least.

Monty, for one, was absolutely thrilled to have Silas, his son-in-law, crashing under his roof. He felt like a big shot, like he'd just scored front-row Super Bowl tickets and wanted everyone in town to know about it. The more nights Silas spent in his guest room, the more Monty could brag at the country club.

"You know Capitalton's wealthiest guy? Yeah, he's basically family. Calls me Pops."

It was Monty's chance to get back at anyone who'd ever looked down on him. For once, he was on top of the world.

Zelda and Lisette, though? Not so much.

Silas knew Zelda was never Calliope's biggest fan, so he made it his personal mission to needle her at every turn.

Most mothers-in-law warm up to the son-in-law over time. Not Zelda. The more time she spent with Silas, the less she could stand him. And Silas? He absolutely reveled in it, tossing little jabs her way whenever he could.

But the real loser in all this was Lisette.

When Silas wasn't around, Monty and the others might have stood up for her. But with Silas in the house, anyone who tried to defend Lisette just got verbally roasted. Silas's tongue was sharp as a rusty razor. Every time Lisette said something wrong, or even just annoyed him and Calliope a little, Silas would let her have it.

status in the family, and now even those brothers seemed distant. She had no choice but to swallow

to what happened that one

work and found Silas standing in the hallway with a

he'd

dog-a dog that immediately decided

at her with a perfectly straight face and said, "Hey, mind letting the dog have

Now she was supposed to give it up for a dog? Where was she supposed to sleep, the

had a

world like she'd just stolen his lunch money, when everyone knew he was the biggest shark in

it together. "So if I give up my

was doing this on purpose.

Silas shrugged, looking totally

1.n

the dog's