Stiletto Sisterhood

Original Edition: Isobel | When a door closes, a window opens

"There. Deep breaths, Da. Remember to breathe with each stretch." Hands guiding his every movement, Isobel helped her father slide from downward dog into child's pose. Opening his back and hips while giving his body opportunity to relax. To rest.

Knowing all about her separation from Kyle had made him complacent, apparently emotional blackmail was the card she needed to push him into waking up early every morning for daily yoga. Already ten days in and she was seeing an improvement in his balance and flexibility. In a few more weeks she planned to nudge him into more advanced stretches to strengthen the weak muscles of his back as well as opening up those that had overcompensated.

It would be a slow process, but a vital one to restoring some measure of mobility and functionality to his range of movement.

Sucking in deep, heaving breaths, arms trembling, Angus followed her instructions, muttering and grumbling as he rolled back up into downward dog, sinking in deep to the pose.

"Okay, I think that's good for today. Sink slowly to your knees and, when you're ready, sit back."

"Christ Jaysus," Angus grumbled. "When does this get relaxin'?"

"Soon. I promise. Can you manage getting to your chair? I think you've earned yourself a proper breakfast."

"Proper by an Irishman's standards?"

Isobel smirked. "There'll be bacon, I promise."

Exuberant joy lit his misty blue eyes and whether it was the bacon, or the Yoga, he sprang to his feet without much issue. Leaving him to get comfortable in his worn recliner, Isobel ventured into the kitchen and opened the fridge.

She'd broken his routine to thirty minutes in the morning and another thirty before bed. Though he grumbled greatly at first, after a couple of days she saw a vast improvement. The hard lines under his eyes weren't quite so deep and in the mornings he seemed more...rested.

Every day his progress gave her hope. And right now hope was something she needed as the horrible details of her personal life were slapped across social media. The video's hype had escalated quickly beyond the first day and skyrocketed after the second. It got so bad she'd had to unplug the house phone and whenever she had to venture outside, she'd limited her trips to the crucial and essential.

Grocery stores. Pharmacies. And then of course, the heart wrenching business of putting the brakes on a wedding set for eight weeks away. Meeting with suppliers and vendors—falling on her sword while begging for their mercy.

Some hadn't as much as blinked before pointing to her signature on the fully executed contract. The live band Kyle had insisted on for the reception, the chauffeured Rolls Royce he'd also wanted wouldn't budge, and the overpriced photographer he'd also sourced out wouldn't budge.

Mercifully, some others proved to be more gracious. Particularly her venue. As it so happened, another couple had walked in the day before, set on that date as well as the location. Their wedding would prove to be a much larger, grander affair splashed across a prime network. An opportunity the venue didn't want to pass up and agreed to release her from her contract plus return all money paid thus far.

Freeing of a twenty-thousand-dollar noose.

Isobel had wept tears of gratitude as the money bought her the breathing room she needed to find gainful employment while still covering the overhead at home. Until her father's settlement suit came to a resolution, everything fell on her slender shoulders. And up until yesterday her shoulders didn't know if they could handle the burden for another minute.

Losing herself in the homey task of boiling eggs and frying bacon, Isobel poured green tea into a couple of mugs left to steep and as the bacon drained on a couple folds of paper towel, she sliced up fresh heirloom tomatoes and cooked them in a clean skillet with some avocado oil, even though her father would have preferred the left over bacon fat not go to waste.