Read Online Bad Nerd Rising by D.R. Grady - Free Book Online

with.
    “Oh. What’s the difference?”
    “Tia, of all the nieces, and there are how
many?” General Emma paused to count on her fingers. “Never mind,
there are a lot of you, and out of all of them, I’d say you’re one
of the most beautiful.”
    Tia choked. “What?”
    “Hello? You’re nearly six feet tall, slender
as a model, with beautiful bone structure and hair and skin. Tia,
there’s nothing wrong with you.”
    “I’m not beautiful.” Tia said, but she
frowned at her aunt, grappling to determine whether she should
listen to this beloved woman, or the Apes.
    The problem was, the Apes had had a lot more
to say on the subject, and were known to harp on it far longer than
Emma. Old beliefs were hard to discount.
    “You are. You happen to be extremely bright
in most things, and you’re gorgeous. Just because a woman is smart
doesn’t mean she can’t also be attractive.”
    “But—”
    “There are no buts, Tia. You are Tia
Morrison, Ph.D. but there’s no denying you look like your mother.
You have your father’s height, but you look almost identical to
your mother.”
    “My mother is gorgeous.”
    “Yes, she is. And you look exactly like her.
That makes you every bit as beautiful. Don’t listen to what your
brothers say. They don’t count, of course.”
    “They don’t?”
    Emma laughed. “No. Remember all the tea
parties we had at my house?”
    “Of course. Your house was my favorite
escape. I knew you’d let me come and visit whenever the Apes got
out of hand.”
    “You practically spent your entire summers
with me,” Emma said, and stroked a hand up Tia’s arm.
    “I did. Thanks for giving me a reprieve, by
the way.”
    “You’re welcome. I needed you as much as you
needed me, I think.”
    “Oh?”
    “I hadn’t lost Rich and Shelby so long
before that, you know,” she said and Tia straightened.
    “That’s right.” Tia thought
about her newest cousin, Shelby O’Riley-Welby, Emma and Rich’s
daughter, who contacted them after she was diagnosed with leukemia
and needed to locate her birth family. [ The Nerd’s Pocket Pets – Book 4 – The Morrison Family Series]
    “I needed a little girl around the house
sometimes. Needed to know I could have been a good mother.”
    “You were necessary for my sanity, Aunt
Emma,” Tia assured her. “If not for you, I would have been jailed
and charged with homicide by age seven.”
    Emma laughed, as Tia had intended for her to
do. “I think your parents were aware of that, which is why your
mother showed you the way to my house.”
    “I’m glad you’re here.”
    Her aunt hugged her, a loving embrace as
familiar to her as her favorite sweater. Comforting, warm, and
sweet. “So am I, baby.”
     
    Later at supper that night Tia was really
happy to have Emma and Rich join them. She was finally enjoying a
meal here, and the conversation that flowed around them. “Remember,
baby, knights-in-shining-armor are hard to come by these days,”
Emma reminded her.
    Tia grinned while her eyes welled up a
little. “That they are. Fortunately, I have one on standby.”
Quizzical faces peered at her from around the table. Even the
virulent woman looked interested. Tia couldn’t quite look in
Aleksi’s direction, but her Uncle Rich saved her, bless him.
    “You have a knight in shining armor on
standby?”
    “I do,” she gurgled with a grin.
    “I think we need to hear this story,” Aleksi
said as he finished cutting a piece of steak and set his knife
down.
    “Yes, I’m interested,” Rich said, his eyes
gleaming in his handsome face. If he wasn’t totally in love with
her beloved aunt...
    More than a few of her cousins had commented
on what a hotty he was. Tia concurred. He was good to all of them,
but especially her aunt.
    “At least one more knight has been added to
the family,” she said, her eyes hopefully speaking for her. His
eyes softened and he glanced at Emma. Whose eyes warmed and she
reached out a hand to place on his