Page 83 of Close to My Heart

“Well, I look forward to seeing him. He’s a lovely hunk of a man,” Grandma said cheekily.

“Grandma,” I admonished.

Grandma’s eyes widened innocently. “What? He is, and I do like having him around. He brightens up the place.”

I barely restrained my eye roll. “You make him sound like a bouquet of flowers or something. Besides, Mother doesn’t like him.”

“Evelyn was always concerned about status, last names, and bank accounts. But you never were.”

I sipped my tea and said carefully. I was testing the waters, so to speak. “None of that matters if you don’t have the things you really want.”

“And what’s that dear?” Grandmother asked shrewdly.

I shrugged as if it was forefront of my mind. “Love of course. What does any of this matter if you’re sad and lonely?”

Grandmother nodded. “I think your mother missed that life lesson.”

I sat back in my chair to consider her. “And you didn’t?”

“I loved your grandfather with all my heart. You probably don’t remember because he died when you were just three.”

“I don’t.” I carefully set my cup down, looking forward to hearing a tidbit about her life with my grandfather. I’d assumed it was similar to my parents’ relationship.

“Don swept me off my feet. He had all of this, but he didn’t care about wealth. He told his father; he would have lost it all to be with me.”

Tingles ran down my spine. With all of my research, I hadn’t uncovered anything that surprising. “Wow. I had no idea.”

“Good morning.” Mother swept into the room with my father trailing behind her.

“Your husband is in the foyer,” Dad said to me.

“I’ll go to him.” The butler could have shown him in. Maybe Mother told him to leave him there so he’d feel more like hired help than a pseudomember of our family.

I set my napkin aside and slowly made my way to the front door, my heart picking up the pace when I saw him standing tall in the foyer. I kissed his cheek, despite his rigid demeanor, my Rosesmith manners on display. “Wes. It’s so good to see you.”

Wes’s lip curled. “That’s a cold greeting from my wife.”

I swallowed hard, not sure how to respond. “We’re meeting with my grandmother for breakfast. Will you be joining us?”

Wes huffed out a breath like he was irritated. “Just briefly. I have to get to work. There was a teenage party in the park last night, and we need to do cleanup.”

“We won’t keep you long.” I linked my arm through his. Even though my voice was calm and collected, my heart fluttered like a hummingbird. As we walked, my phone buzzed nonstop in my pocket. I didn’t want to check it while I was spending time with my family.

In the breakfast room, I sat in my spot, and Wes kissed Grandma’s cheek. “It’s good to see you’re up and well.”

Grandmother beamed at him. Had he charmed her somewhere along the way? “I adore seeing you at my breakfast table. Have a seat. Evelyn, ask the cook if he’ll whip up some more eggs.”

“Oh, I already ate. I was just stopping by to see how you were doing,” Wes said.

“How lovely,” Grandmother said.

“Your phone is buzzing. Are you going to answer it?” Mother asked me, inclining her head in the direction of my screen, which was lighting up with notifications.

I input the security code and was immediately assaulted with hundreds of messages. It was my social media app. When I opened it, there were tons of comments about my wedding to Wes being fake. Some were angry. My followers felt like they were duped, and I couldn’t blame them. I just couldn’t figure out how they knew. I frantically scrolled through the comments looking for the big reveal.

“Is there something wrong?” Mother asked, but she seemed too calm. Too collected.

“What is it?” Grandmother asked.

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