Livia lifted her chin. "I do not blush easily." It was the truth. She spent her early teenage years in a brothel.
Right then, Bella's mother and the baroness arrived.
"Oh my God. You're smiling, Bella." Her mother gasped, rushing over to her.
"The French tutor here is quite interesting," Bella said.
Her mother turned at once, as if Bella had announced the tutor had performed a miracle, which, considering the state Bella had been in lately, was not entirely untrue.
The older woman walked straight back to Livia and wrapped her in a warm embrace.
"Oh…" Livia gasped, stiffening at first. "Okay…"
The hug was sudden, tight, and deeply maternal. Livia stood there awkwardly for one ridiculous second then gave in and returned it. It was the sort of comfort Livia had not felt since her mother had been alive.
"Thank you," Bella's mother whispered. "Thank you, thank you, thank you…"
