Adelie was fed up. She tossed her hands. “Then it’s probably time I stop hiding and face up to it, don’t you think? I need to learn how to some time. Might as well be now. Goodbye, Maddox.” She pried off the ring and thrust it at his chest, carting her suitcase and the sting of his betrayal in her wake.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
The news splashed on every channel and every front page in Vermont. Headlines blared, Billionaire Marries His Model; Alice Hit the Jackpot: Marries Her New Boss, along with unflattering pictures of Adelie in his house from the confrontation, and even several romantic shots of the two of them in Paris. Figures, that Ruby would have hired someone last minute to spy on them and take a few pictures.
Unless Maddox had told her exactly where they would be. Maybe that was the reason he’d been so hesitant to answer Ruby’s calls while they’d been there. He hadn’t wanted Adelie to overhear the scheme.
Adelie didn’t want to wallow. She was tired of hiding; that was what had spurred this entire fiasco in the first place. Besides, what was the point? There wasn’t anywhere she could go where her face wouldn’t be in everyone else’s.
She meandered through town, needing a new purpose. Her grandma had always said helping others during your distress was the best way of coping. If only she’d done that before, instead of hiding like a coward.
She hadn’t been entirely certain where she was headed until her car slowed in front of Ella’s apartment building. She and her cousin had been close friends throughout their childhood, but they’d grown apart as they’d grown up. Ella’s complicated family situation hadn’t helped matters, and neither had Adelie’s shy, anxious tendency to withdraw from anyone with a pulse.
The apartment complex was squat and brick, with multiple levels and in need of drastic repairs. The fact that Ella was about to marry a billionaire wasn’t as much of a shock to her as it was that moment, now that Adelie knew something about how the wealthy lived. Undoubtedly, Ella and Hawk’s home would be like a palace compared to this place.
Adelie exited her car, locked the doors, and made her way to the glass door. Ella’s apartment was on the third floor. Adelie climbed the stairs rather than taking the elevator, and she paused outside the door only a moment before knocking.
Ella answered as chipper as a bird in springtime. Her already smiling face lit up at the sight of Adelie.
“Hey!” she exclaimed. “What are you doing here? I heard the happy news. You decided to spread the word, huh?” Then, without giving Adelie a chance to answer, she reeled around and shouted over her shoulder. “Grammy! Charlotte! You’ll never guess who’s here.”
Adelie’s heart ticked like a clock. “Grandma Larsen is here?” Guilt swam over her. She hadn’t spoken much with her mother’s mom since she’d come to help clean Ella’s apartment the Christmas before last.
“Come in, come and see my dress. You’re going to die over this fabric.” Ella yanked Adelie in, and the touch alone was a comfort.
“I—I came to see if you needed help.”
“Pfft.” Ella waved her off. “You already did so much. Come hang out, tell us how newlywed bliss is working out for you.” She added a wink as they made it past the hall that served as an entryway into a small dining and kitchen area.
Ella was notoriously cluttered. Even as girls, her room had always been messy. This mess wasn’t the usual, however. Scads of white fabric covered every surface in the room. A small TV blared behind Ella, but Adelie couldn’t see what it played through her grandma’s all-encompassing hug.
“You got married and didn’t tell me!” Grammy Larsen’s tone carried a kind reprimand.
Adelie winced and lowered her eyes. Grammy Larsen tipped a finger to her chin and had such a happy sparkle in her eyes, Adelie knew she wasn’t being scolded. Just teased.
“Congratulations.”
“Thanks, but…”
Glancing around, the feeling that this had been the wrong place to come swept over her. Ella was floating on clouds, sky-high in love with her handsome catch. A man who had actually dated her, had gotten to know her and fallen in love with her. Truth stung her eyes, and she blinked hard.
Jabbering with her roommate and stepsister, Charlotte, Ella lifted what appeared to be the train of her wedding gown, gushing over the difficulty of sewing with lace and keeping the seams from cinching, when she glanced over.
Adelie’s lower lip trembled. She slammed her eyes closed. Blast it all, this wasn’t why she was here. She’d come to help, to try and forget. The last thing she needed was to spread her marital problems here when Ella was about to get married.
“What’s wrong?” Grammy Larsen asked.
Adelie sank into a chair and plunged her head into her hands. Against her better judgment, the entire story spilled out, from being selected as Maddox’s model for Wonderland, to the attack at Coleman’s, to their rushed marriage and impromptu honeymoon. Finally, she shared Ruby’s interference and the insinuations she’d made regarding Maddox’s reasons for proposing marriage in the first place.
“That makes no sense whatsoever.” Ella’s anger ignited in her tone. Charlotte passed Adelie a tissue, as Grammy Larsen perched against the table, frowning in Adelie’s direction. “I just can’t believe he was using you the whole time.”
Adelie sniffed and blew her nose. “I thought the same thing.”
“Hogwash,” Grammy said, startling the three younger women in the room.
Adelie wiped her cheeks. “What is?”
“If that man really used you to get his business ahead, then shame on him. He’ll have to answer to God for fiddle-faddle like that—and to me, for that matter.” Ella folded her arms and nodded her agreement. Adelie had no doubt Grammy would rush in and demand answers of Maddox for mistreating her the way he had.
Grammy slid a chair closer to Adelie, sat down, and took Adelie’s hands
