“You’re kidding.”
“Nope,” Adelie said. “Just before the whole fallout, she’d also been uninvited for Christmas by the same stepmom, and so our grandma—Grammy Larsen, not Grandma Carroll—got Suzie and me to come help clean Ella’s apartment and make her Christmas lunch.”
“Sounds like you made her holiday.”
Adelie smiled at the memory, and Maddox wished he could read her thoughts.
“Yeah, I think we did. But Ella always did so much for everyone else, she deserved it. Anyway, she’s getting married to the guy who accused her of stealing.”
Not what he was expecting. Maddox burst out with laughter. “Now that’s a story.”
The flight passed as he expected, and yet not at all. He and Adelie spent much of the first several hours rapt in one another’s conversation. They talked about his mom, and then the conversation shifted to her parents.
“You talk about your grandparents a lot,” Maddox said. “What about your mom and dad?”
Adelie closed in. He was starting to notice the way her eyes shifted, the way she tucked her chin to her chest, whenever there was a topic that made her uncomfortable.
“They weren’t around much,” she hedged. “They…passed away.”
“How did they die?” he asked.
“Car accident.” Her reply was blunt. She didn’t elaborate. He suspected there was more to it, but that she wasn’t ready to divulge anything else.
His chest ached for the pain in her posture. She confessed her parents had left her and Suzie when they’d both been small, but also the deep love she felt for her grandparents who’d raised her when her parents failed to. They talked about Adelie’s dreams once she was done with nursing school.
Night soon fell, and Maddox retrieved blankets for himself and Adelie, who was eyeing the couch with deprivation in her sleepy eyes.
“Please,” he said, helping her settle in. She rolled her back to him and was fast asleep within minutes.
It took him a little longer to drift off. Though his chair did recline, and he was quite relaxed, he watched her, grateful he’d decided on this. They needed a trip like this together. Something to help ease her mind—and his—after their rushed wedding and the occurrence at the grocery store.
The plane’s gentle hum was like a lullaby. Before he knew it, Maddox blinked sleep from his eyes and took in the jet’s dimmed cabin. Adelie was crouched near the window, peering out at the incoming destination. He rubbed his eyes and stared at his watch. Had he really slept that long?
The pilot’s voice came over the intercom. “Good evening, Mr. and Mrs. Hatter. We’ll soon be arriving at the Charles de Gaulle International Airport. If you look out to your right, you’ll see the famous Eiffel Tower greeting us as we close in.”
Adelie released a small squeak. She dashed to the plane’s opposite side. “Oh goodness, there it is,” she said breathily.
Maddox set his blanket aside and joined her.
“So it is,” he said in response to the structure’s needlelike shape spearing into the sky. It wasn’t yet dark enough for them to light the structure, but he found he couldn’t wait to see what Adelie’s reaction to the Eiffel Tower’s sparkle would be.
“Maddox.”
His name, spoken so tenderly on her lips, gave him pause.
Slowly, she shifted her gaze to him. “You have no idea what this means to me.”
A small tingle pinged in his chest. “We’re not even there yet,” he said with a chuckle.
“How can you say that when the Eiffel Tower is right there in front of you?” She brought her attention back to the window.
Maddox fought the desire to lead her away from the window and into his arms. What was this pull she had over him?
***
Anthony landed the plane with precision, and soon they were disembarking, retrieving their bags from the accommodating staff, going through customs and security, and finally entering the awaiting car. Adelie’s attention was stolen with every passing sight. Even the streets and countryside were incredible to her.
In her mind’s eye, she saw Alice peering into her rabbit hole. Curiosity had gotten the better of her; she’d tumbled in, and now Adelie could sympathize more than ever. This was Paris. Her own personal rabbit hole, where she felt as if she were falling slowly and still unable to grasp every new thing around her.
The car pulled to a stop before an elegant building curved to fit the corner it sat on. Its rooftop was of the typical Parisian style, with its dark roof contrasting the cream-colored brick and featuring a series of awnings. Each subsequent window along the brick was joined with an iron railing similar to what was found at Wonderland.
Adelie stood as though her feet were on a lazy Susan. She kept turning and rotating, taking in every sight she possibly could as though this would be the last time she had her vision. She took in the hotel’s name on the gold plate beside the door, as well as on a banner projecting from the building’s side, as the driver placed their bags on the sidewalk beside her and Maddox.
Maddox offered the driver a tip and a “Merci beaucoup,” before turning back to her.
“We’re staying at an Elir hotel?”
“Should we have stayed somewhere else?” Maddox picked up their suitcases and led the way inside.
Light was everywhere she looked. The furniture of the lobby was rounded and elegant, the windows speckled every few feet and offered a view of the street, and lamps dotted the space between each of them as well. Several people stood near the decorative glass tiles that separated the seating area from the check-in desk.
“You act like you’ve never seen a hotel before,” Maddox whispered to her in the same low tone he’d used when she’d been stopped short at first sight of his jet’s insides. It had the same effect on her now as
