A Reborn Bride Pearl Emerging from Dust by Sally Garcia

After the movie, they strolled out into the cool evening, still buzzing with excitement. They wandered down the sidewalk, chatting about the plot twists and characters.

"The special effects were actually pretty awesome, right?" Portia grinned, bouncing on her heels. "Callie, what did you think?"

Calliope returned her smile. "Yeah, I liked it. It was way better than I expected. By the way, how's your family's company doing? Your brother and everyone okay?"

"All good!" Portia replied, then snapped her fingers as something occurred to her. "Oh! Callie, remember that woman you warned us about? The one you said we shouldn't hire?"

"Yeah, what happened?"

“She got arrested!" Portia shook her head in disbelief. "You totally called it. She turned out to be trouble, big time. If we'd hired her, who knows what mess she'd have brought. Turns out, she got a job at another firm, and nearly wrecked the place, got the boss in all kinds of legal trouble."

"Guess she really was dangerous," Calliope said.

you, our company dodged a bullet. If not for your

guess that means I can keep slacking off without guilt," Portia joked, a hand over her heart in

"As long as everything's okay,

story before, changed the subject. "Hey, Callie, about that letter from

shrugged. "Not

anyway, so asked them to run a DNA

trusted Kermit, but figured it was

nodded. "Honestly, you never really seemed like the Jewells, you

You're nothing like them, personality- wise. If you told me you weren't related at all, I'd believe it

smiled, relieved that her

place was humming with music and laughter. They ordered a round of cocktails. Portia

into a booth, talking about Calliope's birth parents and what the holidays might look