It was okay with her. She just had no clue how to behave, if she were being honest with herself.
Adelie decided to act the way she would if she were at her own house, and that meant opening her laptop and getting caught up on the schoolwork she’d missed the past few days.
Settling in at the desk near the window, she pulled up her online medical terminology course. Her teacher had posted an updated list of prefixes and suffixes which she needed to apply to memory if she had any chance at passing the next test.
It wasn’t only that, though. She wanted to learn these terms. She wanted to be as fluent in the medical lingo as she could be in order to do her best during surgeries or whatever else she would help with during her nursing career. It wasn’t like she could stop mid-surgery to consult her medical dictionary.
She hadn’t checked the site since before her wedding and regretted it. So many terms waited for her to master them. It was so like learning a foreign language, it wasn’t funny.
Adelie thought of her multiple attempts to learn French. Each time had failed, but this, she wanted to get this right. It would do her no good being a nurse if she didn’t have a full grasp of the terms others around her would use.
Kicking back in her chair, she dove in. Catching up would be easy in a cozy corner like this. She wrote each component multiple times on a piece of paper. She took the preparatory quizzes online; she tested her own knowledge in as many ways as she could think of when a knock came on her door.
The cast of sunlight was in a different position, nearing closer to her pillow rather than at the foot of the bed where it’d been before. Stomach grumbling, she saved her progress, closed the lid on her laptop, and rose to answer it.
She really should have gone out for breakfast. A quick check on her phone told her it was closer to lunchtime now.
Maddox stood in the hallway, wearing a t-shirt that broadcasted a small Vermont town, and jeans. The casual look was good on him. His hair was swept from his forehead in an untroubled sort of way. He rested a hand on the doorframe.
“Hey, stranger,” he said.
She slumped against the door’s edge. “Hey.”
They were married now. This man standing at her doorway? He was her husband. Adelie still couldn’t quite believe it.
“I haven’t seen you all day,” he said. “Did you come out for breakfast?”
She rested a hand on her stomach while a pang of guilt struck her. Had he been waiting for her? Maybe they should clarify expectations.
“I—no, I didn’t. I’ve been studying.”
He nodded his understanding. Martha passed behind him in the hall, raising a single brow, her arms full of folded sheets. Maddox inclined his head in her direction.
Adelie fought an embarrassed smile. She wasn’t sure why the maid seeing them in the doorway would bring heat to her cheeks, but she lowered her chin.
Adelie wondered if Martha was wondering why they weren’t sharing a room. How much of their situation had Maddox told his staff?
He rubbed a hand behind his neck. “Mind if I come in?”
Her stomach sizzled at the thought. For all intents and purposes, this was her room. He would be entering her space, a place where they could shut the door and have complete and total privacy.
“Sure.” She stepped aside and sank onto the bed, tucking a foot beneath her. Play it casual. “What have you been up to?”
“Working,” he said. “Duncan is managing his new investments in Wonderland and he’s been reaching out to several other investors as well. Things are looking to spike, thanks to you.”
Adelie tucked a hair behind her ear. “It wasn’t only me.”
“I disagree, but that’s beside the point.” He gestured to the desk before padding toward it and running a finger along her laptop. “How’s your studying going? What are you studying, anyway?”
“Nursing,” Adelie said. “I want to be like the nurses my grandma had. They were living, breathing angels for her while she was spending so much time in the hospital.”
“Your grandma was in the hospital?”
“Yeah, she had a stroke. It incapacitated her entire left side, and she kind of went downhill from there.” Her throat closed. She wasn’t used to talking about Grandma Carroll’s last days with people who hadn’t already been there to experience them with her.
“How long ago did she pass away?” Maddox’s tone was sympathetic and kind. He had told her about his mom, after all. She appreciated his attentiveness about this.
“Six years ago. I’d recently graduated from high school. It took me a while to decide to continue my education, but I knew right away what I wanted to study. It was difficult to get accepted into the nursing program, but Suzie helped me prepare, and I made it.”
“Congratulations,” he said without any hint of insincerity. He meant the word, and his direct gaze told her as much. In fact, it was too direct. She looked away.
“How far into the program are you?” he asked, sinking onto the edge of the desk.
“I’ve got about six months left before I start my clinicals. I’m really looking forward to that. I know it sounds strange, because I’m shy in crowds and other situations, but one-on-one with a patient? Helping a doctor? That’s a venue I can manage.”
“Impressive,” he said. “Sounds like it’s where you thrive. One-on-one.”
“I do,” she admitted, still feeling his direct gaze without allowing herself to meet it. “I’ve always done better with the individual rather than the crowd.”
“I like that,” Maddox said. “A lot of times, that’s how many problems are solved. Working with individuals. My line
