A Reborn Bride Pearl Emerging from Dust by Sally Garcia

In the days that followed, Calliope found herself juggling work at the office and running around town for meetings. Every evening, she still made time to check in on Horatio, administering his daily injections.

Thankfully, Horatio seemed to be recovering well. Maybe it was because Damien had people keeping an eye on the Jewell family, but after that, the rest of the Jewells stopped causing trouble.

Calliope also squeezed in visits to see Lance and Hudson.

Hudson's condition, though, wasn't looking great. Despite Calliope's best efforts- diet changes, supplements, whatever she could manage he was still getting worse, day by day.

Lance, for his part, had made his peace with it. He spent his days trying to keep Hudson's spirits up, filling every moment with laughter and memories. He took tons of pictures, wrote little notes, even baked Hudson's favorite chocolate chip cookies just to see him smile.

Hudson genuinely seemed happy. He knew what Lance was doing-preparing for the inevitable. And that was okay. The last thing Hudson wanted was for Lance to fall apart when he was gone, or worse, give up on life altogether.

All he hoped was that when it was time, Lance would live on and cherish the good days they'd had together.

Calliope felt for them. Her heart ached watching it all unfold. But there was nothing she could do except help Hudson hold on a little longer.

There was no miracle cure for his illness, and she was out of options.

Sometimes, all you could do was hope for the best and keep your head up.

At least Hudson's attitude was good. That made a difference.

flew by, and soon, Christmas Eve was

Calliope heard through the grapevine that Oliver had flown

"brothers" returned from their respective corners of the world-by sheer coincidence, all on

land was Julius Quillen, who, as always, looked like

name in the entertainment world, so naturally, a swarm

downright terrifying, and she'd seen enough stories to know better than to tangle

right away, slid

his sunglasses, and waved.

Calliope slapped a hand over her face and spun around,

in the opposite

Who're you waving

here!

god, Julius, I love you so much! I came all

home

love you! Do you

echoed through the

warmly. He nodded, posed for a few selfies, and then said, "Thanks so much for coming out to meet me, guys, but my family's here. Mind if I go

think you