<em>~ Mila with all the others and Angus in the Great Room ~</em><br/><br/>Mila's green eyes were glittering with excitement as she raised her glass to the other women and took a sip of the champagne.  Already she felt the camaraderie with them, and she thought that maybe they felt it too.  She wondered at their backgrounds and how they had found their ways into this life, and wondered if it would be too forward to ask.  Perhaps their journey to this point in their lives was personal, not something they would wish to share.<br/><br/>Both were stunningly beautiful.  She could tell that Mari was a leader; the woman seemed to be at ease, even in this situation.  She exuded a sense of confidence that Mila found herself envious of.  Nicci, too, was more at ease, although Mila could sense that she felt a bit out of her element too, at least when the men turned their attention to her.  Mila felt like she had a lot to learn from them about confidence.<br/><br/>She'd never been around women very much.  As a child, with four brothers and no sisters, she had been surrounded by boys.  They had been a strict Catholic family, and her parents had not wanted her exposed to the sin of the outside world, so her mother had home-schooled her while her brothers attended public school.  A private Catholic girls' school had been out of the family's reach.  She had attended a small religious university after that, but only for a couple of years.  She had a couple of friends then, but nobody she had gotten close to; her parents had expected her to come home immediately after classes, so there had been no parties and no bonding between girls.  Then, when her father had died, she could no longer afford to work through the art history degree she had wanted.  That had not mattered, though; her family had not believed in women holding jobs, and neither had Blake.  Once she had moved to Florida with him, he had also kept her secluded, not wanting people who were sinful to influence her.  The internet had soon become Mila's sanctuary, her connection to the outside world.  After Blake had left her, and then her estrangement from her family, she had been too shy to venture out more than she had needed.<br/><br/>She decided that she was going to try, with this group of people who were like she was, to be more outgoing.  Although she'd never truly had women friends before, Mari and Nicci were going to be her friends and her family and her support.  So Mila was going to try to be open with them... and smile more.  And she'd start now, before she lost her nerve.  She took a step forward and pulled Mari into a quick embrace, and then stepped back.  "I'm so excited to meet you, Mari."  She held Nicci's hand and squeezed it.