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My entire world stopped.
He was—
No.
He had to be wrong.
Why would he be going to Arrow Woods?
“What? Why?”
Boris smiled. “To tell you the exact same thing you’re here to tell him.”
My pulse thundered in my ears. “Oh, no.”
Elizabeth laughed. “My sentiments exactly.”
“Oh, dear,” I whispered.
She patted my hand. “Boris, would you call Arthur and see if Henry or Gabriella are around? He should be there within the next half an hour, and Gabriella might need to calm him down.”
“I’ll go back,” I said, pushing the stool back. “I’ll drive home. Tell him to stay where he is.”
“Absolutely not,” Boris said, pushing me back down by my shoulders. “You almost had a panic attack not twenty minutes ago. You will stay here until he returns.”
That was probably a good idea.
Emily returned with the makeup wipes, and Elizabeth handed them to me so I could clean my face. I imagined I looked like something out a teen horror movie, so I went to the downstairs bathroom to clean my face.
I looked at myself in the mirror. My eyes were red and a little puffy, and all I wanted to do was crawl under some covers and come out when Alexander was back.
I couldn’t believe I’d cried in front of Elizabeth and Boris.
Well, I’d cried in front of Boris. I’d cried on Elizabeth.
At least she didn’t seem to mind.
I took a deep breath and returned to the kitchen where Elizabeth was on the phone and Boris was cutting the cake.
“Yes… Thank you, Gabriella. Yes, please do call me when you’ve seen him… Yes, dear, she’s fine, don’t worry… Of course. I’ll speak to you soon. Bye, dear.” She hung up and looked at me. “Gabriella is going to the hotel now and will call me after. Come and have some cake.”
I wasn’t going to argue with that.
I sat down at the island again and stabbed my fork into the slice of cake in front of me. “So what now?”
“Now, we eat cake, and we wait.” Elizabeth smiled and put a forkful of cake in her mouth.
Well. All right, then.
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE – ALEXANDER
The drive to Arrow Woods from Whitborough seemed to take three times as long as usual. There was delay after delay on the roads, two diversions, and as I finally approached the village, I was stuck behind a convoy of three tractors.
I banged the back of my head against my seat and rolled my car along the road, yawning. This slow-moving traffic was going to be the death of me, even if my stomach was tied up in knots.
I had to tell Adelaide how I felt. How I really felt. The whole truth, and how she simply had to come back to Bentley Manor with me or I might lose my mind.
I needed her.
I needed her more than I’d ever needed anyone, and the more I thought about living without her, the sicker I felt.
No.
That wasn’t an option.
She felt something for me. I knew that. I’d seen the tears in her eyes when she’d said goodbye, and there’d been something in the way she’d hugged me before she’d left. Something deeper, more tender, something that felt an awful lot like she didn’t want to let go.
I couldn’t believe I’d been so stupid.
I couldn’t believe I’d just let her drive away from me without even trying to make her stay.
I’d promised myself I’d fight for her, and when the moment to fight had come, I’d frozen.
Not this time, though.
I wasn’t going to freeze this time.
I was going to fight for her.
For us.
For the family we could be if she wanted it.
“Fucking finally,” I muttered when the train of tractors turned off towards a farm. I put my foot down and sped the rest of the way to Arrow Woods, only slowing down when I was forced to for a little traffic.
I made it to The Fox and Hound moments later and pulled into an empty space. Thankfully I could walk right into the hotel, but I froze when I reached the lobby.
What was I supposed to damn well do now?
“Alex!” Gabi rushed over from one side of the lobby with Eva hot on her heels. “You have to go back.”
“What? No. Where’s Adelaide? I have to talk to her.”
“You can’t,” Eva said, grabbing my arm. “She’s not here.”
“Well, where is she? I’ll wait until she’s back. I haven’t driven all the way here for us not to talk now and—”
“She’s at Bentley Manor!” Gabi blurted out.
What the hell was she doing there?
“Why is she there?” I looked between them as shock ran through me. “What—why?”
“To talk to you.” Eva dropped her hand. “She left maybe an hour before it sounds like you did, but it took you ages to get here.”
“Roadworks. Diversions. Tractors.”
“Makes sense. But Addy’s with your mum and she’s keeping her there until you get back.”
