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Finally her taxi made it there, and even though she knew she looked awful, she couldn't help it. She rushed up the steps of the private plane, her only bag on her shoulder. She'd send for the rest later and pray Amelia would forgive her for leaving so many of her clothes behind.
"She's here," her father said to a man in a pilot's uniform. "We can take off now."
"I'm sorry, sir. We'll be delayed a bit longer due to weather," the man said.
"Izzy? Are you okay?” her mama asked.
Izzy tried to keep it together. She triedhard.But staring at the faces watching her so lovingly, with so much concern... She burst into tears and couldn't stop.
Tessa made it to her first, surrounding her with a hug that was quickly piled on as the ladies on board did what mothers do under such circumstances.
"Oh, honey, what happened? Surely it can't be that bad," Tessa asked, tears thickening her voice as she cried in sympathy.
"Sweetheart?"
Hearing her daddy's voice made things worse. She sobbed harder, knowing once again she'd disappointed everyone. But especially him. Her father had liked Everett. She could tell. So much so she’d even daydreamed about the two of them watching football together or playing golf.
Like mother hens, the Babes gently pushed, shoved, and manhandled her to the back of the plane, where someone shoved an orange drink in her hand and told her to sip.
Hands patted her, stroked her hair, and tissues appeared out of nowhere.
When she finally calmed down enough to look up, she spotted her father talking to the pilot, his expression grim.
He must have felt her stare because he glanced back at her, nodding in reference to something the pilot said.
"Isabel," her mother said, "what's wrong, honey? I thought you'd be floating on cloud nine today after your showcase. We are so proud of you. Why are you crying? What happened?"
"He doesn't… He doesn’t love me."
The words burst out of her, low and full of pain. She hadn't meant to just blurt it out like that, but she had and there it was, hanging in the air in front of all of them.
"What makes you say that?" her mama asked, stroking another tear off her cheek.
"Because I told him. I told him that I love him and he didn't…he didn't sayanything," she said, leaving off the part about how Everett had simply taken her to bed. "I-I know I can be difficult and moody sometimes, but I thought he… I thought helovedme."
"Oh, honey." Her mama hugged her again.
"Mary Elizabeth, let me," Tessa said. "Izzy, baby, I know he hurt you when he didn't say the words in return, but the man I saw last night is head-over-heels in love with you."
"He's not," she argued, shaking her head as a fresh batch of tears surfaced. "It was just… We were just a business arrangement. He needed a date for his events and h-he introduced me to people from the art world. It was an exchange, that's all,” she said, side-stepping the truth a bit by leaving out their marriage. “He bought me like a-a—”
“Now, now, I don’t think that’s what it was at all,” Tessa said. “He couldn’t take his eyes off of you.”
Izzy wiped her face and shook her head. It was true, all of it. They didn’t know it was true, and her life of late was all a lie, but how could it be anything but?
How many times had she told Everett she didn’t want his money? Why would he put such a thing in the divorce papers? To ensure her silence? As payment for not disclosing information about him?
Tessa squeezed Izzy's hand before turning it over and fingering the bracelet she hadn't taken off since Everett had fastened it.
"What's this?" her mother asked. "Was it from Everett?"
Izzy swallowed the lump in her throat and forced a nod.
"So the man bought you jewelry, created an art studioin his housefor you, and helped you with your career…and you don't think he cares for you?" Tessa asked.
"Caring isn't love. Buying me things isn’t love." Love was more. So much more. And even though Everett might care for her, she needed more. She needed the words he hadn’t said. Words he apparently couldn’t say. At least not to her.
"Honey, you know what happened with me recently," Tessa said. "So let me give you another perspective, just to think about. Okay?"
