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"Hey, baby." I kneel in front of her. "I hear you're off somewhere fun?"
"To get doggy supplies. Adrik said we need a leash and a collar and a kennel." Her eyes go wide. "Mama, come with us!"
Adrik steps forward. "Oh, no. Your mom is busy. Just the two of us will—"
Isabella lets loose a whiny noise of suffering I know all too well. "Mama, please. It will be fun."
"You know what? Sure, baby. I'd love to come." I stroke her hair back from her forehead.
I don't look up at Adrik. I don't need to—I know he's angry. I can feel it like a radioactive meltdown.
Isabella squeaks in excitement and then runs her eyes up my outfit. “Adrik said I needed nice clothes. Like a princess. We’re going to a fancy lunch place.”
For the first time, I realize she’s in a new dress. The top has cap sleeves and silver and purple sequins, and the skirt is a great big puff of purple flowers. I’m about to ask how it’s fitting underneath her in her chair when I realize it has been specially designed just for that purpose. The backside of the skirt is a simple purple jersey fabric so it tucks away comfortably.
“Wow. You do look like a princess,” I say, circling around her. “You’re beautiful. I don’t have anything that nice, but I’ll find something.”
“Maybe Adrik can get you a dress, too,” Isabella says, looking up at Adrik hopefully.
I finally risk a look up at his face. Adrik is staring back at me. His expression is unreadable, which usually means he’s absolutely livid.
“I got your mom a dress, too. But I don’t think she liked it.”
Isabella is about to unleash an avalanche of questions on me, I just know it. My go-kart loving girl is also a sucker for a beautiful dress. She can’t imagine a world in which anyone would ever refuse one.
Before she can interrogate me, I hurry her off. “Let me change and I’ll meet you in the entryway, okay?”
Adrik nods. “Start going downstairs, Isabella. Stefan is waiting to load you into the SUV.”
Isabella hesitates, but Adrik’s voice is the nail in the coffin. She likes him too much to disobey him.
Which is way too scary for me to contemplate fully.
She rolls down the hallway. Just as I’m closing the door, Adrik sticks his foot in the way, wedging it open. His face appears in the crack.
“The only reason I’m allowing you to come is because it saves me time.”
I roll my eyes. “Can’t you ever lose with grace? You aren’t allowing me to come. I manipulated the situation. I won. Accept it.”
“You overestimate how afraid I am to hurt Isabella’s feelings,” Adrik says simply. “I could have broken her heart and left you here to pick up the pieces.”
“Then why didn’t you?” I snap back.
“Like I said, it saves me time,” he repeats. “I was prepared to plan a special dinner for the three of us, but now I don’t have to.”
I frown. “A special dinner for what?”
“To tell Isabella about the marriage.”
My face falls. I know Adrik notices. He doesn’t miss anything.
For a second, I thought I outsmarted him. I thought maybe I finally worked something to my advantage. But he’s always plotting and planning, always waiting to twist something in his favor. And he’s very, very good at it.
He smiles without any humanity in it. “I’ll see you in the car.”
But what he’s really saying is, Checkmate.
* * *
The restaurant is magnificent.
I've always considered lunch a casual meal, but the crowd in this restaurant clearly disagree. Everyone is done up in their garden party best. Men in sport coats and collared shirts, women in tea dresses and fashionable flats.
My white sweater and denim skirt are far from fitting in, but not much can be done about it now.
"There's a fountain inside," Isabella whispers in awe, pointing to the front half of the restaurant. A large glass orb sits in the center of a wide stone table. Water shoots out of the orb and flows into a crevice around the edge.
"There is," I say, equally wowed. "And a chandelier. And fairy lights."
"I want fairy lights in my room." Isabella turns to Adrik. "Can I have fairy lights in my room?"
I pinch her arm gently "Excuse me, miss. Be polite. After everything Adrik did today, let's give his wallet a break, huh?"
“You mean the dog supplies?” Adrik waves his hand dismissively. “That was nothing.”
“Only if ‘nothing’ means a mountain of toys, a doggy bed more expensive than a human-sized mattress, and a kennel fit for a Clydesdale,” I drawl.
“Conveniently, it does.” Adrik looks down at Isabella. “So yes, Isabella, we’ll get you some fairy lights. And anything else you want.”
Isabella beams up at him, and my heart squeezes.
Seeing Adrik with Isabella is like seeing him through a different lens. With a filter that makes him appear… kind. Warm, even. Damn near human.
But I know the truth. I can’t allow myself to be fooled.
And I certainly can’t let Isabella get sucked too far into this fantasy. Not when I have no idea how it’s going to end.
“Fine,” I say. “But wait until I can help you hang them up, okay?”
“But the maids can help me!”
“They have enough work to do without worrying about us.”
“It’s their job to worry about you,” Adrik interjects. “You two are practically family.”
He says it easily enough, but I know exactly what it is. A segue.
A seamless one, at that. If I didn’t hate him so much, I could be moved to applause.
Isabella looks at him and then at me. I see the words taking root in her mind. I see the question building before her lips even move. But I’m still not prepared for it when she finally gives it voice.
“Are we family?” she asks tentatively. “Is that why we live with Adrik now?”
She’s looking straight at me. I don’t want to lie to her. I’ve never been any good at it.
Family. What a funny word. After I left home and turned my back on my father’s money, Isabella was the only family I had. She was there for me as I stumbled through early adulthood. And I was there for her, championing her in every way I could through her diagnosis.
But I can’t tell her the truth now.
Because the truth is, I’m with Adrik to keep her safe. To keep her in the drug trial that stops the progression of her disease. If I wasn’t with Adrik, I’d still be with Malcolm.
The reason for that is simple: I will do anything to protect her.
And right now, “anything” means lying.
I lean forward and grab her hand. I rub my thumb over her small knuckles. “Well, that’s actually something we wanted to talk about with you.”
“What kind of something?”
“Okay, um, how do I—” I haven’t prepared at all how I should announce this news, and I’m fumbling. Does Isabella even know what marriage is? “Okay, you know how the princesses in the movies you like meet a prince and—”
“Live happily ever after,” Isabella finishes, her eyes sparkling.
I suppress a bitter laugh. Ah, to be young and innocent.
“Exactly,” I say. “Well, they usually get married at the end, right? With a big dress and flowers and—”
She gasps. “Are you and Adrik getting married to each other?”
Okay, so apparently, she does know what marriage is.
I take a deep breath. “Yes.”
For a second, there’s stunned silence. Even Adrik doesn’t move. The man may be able to control everything else in life, but no one can control the emotions of a six-year-old.
Finally, Isabella squeals. “I knew it!”
“You did not,” I say, too relieved she isn’t crying to think about anything else. “How could you have known?”
“Because you’re in love,” she asserts. “People in love always get married. And you and Adrik are in love. Aren’t you?”
Out of everything that has happened today, those are the words that nearly bowl me over. The words that almost snap the tiny thread by which I’m still clinging to reality.
We’re getting married. Of course we should be in love.
And yet…
I glance at Adrik, and he’s staring at me with an unreadable expression in his eyes.
“Oh, um… well…” I sigh. “That’s why people get married, right?”
What’s one more lie, after all?
