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Chapter 18 - Maddie: Morning of the Wedding
I was sure every bride the morning of their wedding would be filled with so much happiness and excitement. Know what I was filled with? Anger and hurt.
Why wouldn’t I be? Seeing as how I walked in on my fiancé kissing the woman who had assaulted me two nights ago?
I remember watching him kiss her. The memory forever engraved in my mind. The way his arms circled around her waist pulling her in closer. It sickened me to say I was hurt.
After my trip to the ranch with Danny, I had figured out a few things. Things that I had been ignoring or hesitant to confront.
Previous day
We drove up the dirt road. I was meeting Arnie today to have a look at the ranch. Seeing as how the wedding was tomorrow, I would be signing the papers on Sunday morning, the day after I became Mrs. Anderson.
I was meant to have gone with Marcus, but I was not speaking to him. Not after what he had said about me to his sister. That man was non-existent to me right now.
“How are you doing, Maddie, like truly?”
I shrugged pushing my car up the road. “I don’t have any real emotions about the whole blowout. I knew me and Marcus weren’t friends going into this, so I’m not really surprised.”
“Do you have feelings for my brother?”
I nearly choked on my own saliva. I braved a glance her way, and her blue-gray eyes were boring into mine.
“No,” I choked out, but it sounded more like a question rather than a statement.
“Are you asking, or you are telling me?”
“I’m telling you,” I said firmly. She didn’t need to know how conflicted my insides were about her brother. I was already having a hard time coming to terms with the fact that I liked Marcus.
“I know you do like him.” She filled the silence in the car. “Just like how I know he likes you, too, but he's too damn stubborn to say or do anything about it.”
We came to the gate of the ranch, and a security guard came up to the car. When he saw Danny in the passenger seat, he nodded in her direction and went to open the gate.
Having grown up in the city all my life, I never went out into the wilderness, if you could call a ranch the wilderness. So this was my first time truly being outdoors.
The first thing I noticed was the large expanse of land. Pete had land that looked like it went on for miles.
“How many acres is this?”
“About 500 acres. It’s a big property. Pete put a lot of his heart and soul into this place. He inherited the land from his dad when it was just over 200 acres and then he expanded it to what it is today.”
Wow.
“He sounds like a hardworking and ambitious guy.”
In my peripheral, I saw her nod her head. “He was. Whatever he set his mind to, he would go out and chase. But one thing I truly admired about Pete was he never stepped on anyone's toes to get where he wanted to get to. He always believed in moving up together.”
This was the first time someone actually mentioned anything significant about my dad. I yearned to know more about him. What did he like to do in his spare time? Did he hate pickles like I did? Did he play any sports while he was in school? I had so many questions.
“So this was his dream?”
“The ranch?”
I nodded.
“It was one of them. But he often talked about sharing this all with his love.”
“His love? He was in a relationship?”
