Chapter 25
As much as I hated worrying people, it was nice to know that they cared enough to be concerned. Jared had contacted his friend, the chief inspector, and he’d sent out his own men to question us about the chickens and the ewe. He promised Jared he’d have someone bring his father in for a thorough interview. Then he asked us if there were any other possible culprits. We couldn’t think of any.
From there Jared returned to work because he had to. And just because I had Jared now didn’t mean I didn’t need my sister. I’d gone to her, shaken up, and she’d taken the afternoon off work. Despite the circumstances, it was nice to catch up with Aria. I’d also subtly made it clear to her that Jared and I were really making a go at our marriage.
That caused her even more concern. I understood. Ardnoch had been quiet for five years, but for a while there, it was a magnet for danger, and not one of our friends had escaped unscathed. To be fair, Aria’s danger had caught up with her in LA, but it had made her wary. People surprised you. Sometimes in awful ways.
“Honestly, we’re pretty sure it’s Jared’s father behind all of this,” I repeated what I’d told Aria to Sloane Ironside and Monroe Adair a few days later.
We sat in Flora’s, the popular local café. Flora had given Sloane her big break with her baking, buying cakes and treats to sell to her customers. Once everyone knew where Flora was getting them, Sloane’s baking business took off. When she discovered her wealthy father had left her all his money, she was able to purchase a property across the street and open her bakery.
Life was so good, she could afford to run it part time. The limited opportunity to buy goodies from Callie’s Wee Cakery only added to her success. Sloane had tourists flocking to Ardnoch just for her baked goods and she had a waiting list for her wedding cakes.
Monroe Adair was married to retired Hollywood actor Brodan Adair, the third-eldest Adair sibling. He’d been a huge movie star, and I met him before I moved here because he’d starred in one of my dad’s movies. However, when he returned to take a break at home, he discovered his old childhood best friend Monroe had moved back to Ardnoch. I didn’t know the ins and outs of their romance, but apparently they kind of hated each other for something that happened between them when they were barely out of high school. They hadn’t spoken in eighteen years. I thought it was so romantic that even with eighteen years between them, they’d fallen so in love, they got married within months of reuniting. Their son Lennox (Nox), now six, came along pretty fast too. Brodan co-owned the whisky distillery outside of town with his eldest brother Lachlan.
Monroe, despite her husband’s wealth, hadn’t given up her career as a primary school teacher. I admired the heck out of her for that because teaching was one of the hardest jobs on the planet.
“Poor Jared,” Sloane grimaced. “It’s beyond shitty when our parents disappoint us on levels that are soap opera–worthy.”
Monroe tucked a strand of her gorgeous red hair behind her ear and sighed. “Yep.”
I wondered what the story with her parents was but decided it was too nosy a question to ask. “So … no need to worry.” I patted Sloane’s hand. “We’re all good.”
“I’m glad.” Sloane covered my hand, her brown eyes warm with affection. “We worked too hard to keep you safe for something to happen now.”
I smiled, glad we could allude to that night all those years ago without either of us breaking down over it. “Yeah. Plus, I have Jared. He’ll never let anything happen to me.” I believed it.
Her eyes danced. “It would appear things have improved between you since our dinner.”
“Dinner?” Monroe queried.
With a sheepish shrug, I explained, “Sloane invited us to dinner with her, Jared’s cousin Sarah and her husband, and my sister and North. Jared was … monosyllabic that evening.”
“Diplomatic,” Sloane praised with a snort.
“Okay. He was kind of an ass. But we’re good.” I gave her a pointed, wicked smirk. “Very, very good.”
My friend laughed. “Oh, so it’s like that.”
“I tell you, these Ardnoch men …” Monroe wore a secret smile that informed me Brodan Adair made sure she was very, very good too. It did not surprise me in the least. As for Sloane, she’d shared a while ago that Walker liked to tie her up when they had sex. The thought sent a shiver coursing through me. Maybe Jared and I needed to try a bit of that.
“In all seriousness.” Sloane leaned forward, voice lowering. The café was packed with mostly tourists because it was summer, so I had to strain forward to hear her. “The village has been rampant with gossip about the sheep and the chickens. Everyone is worried about you two.”
“We don’t want to worry anyone. We’re okay. I’m … I can’t believe how attached I got to my chickens, though.” An aching sadness at the loss of Ginger, Babs, and the rest of my birds still throbbed in my chest. “Jared would usually just buy more chickens so we could keep supplying Morag, but he told me that we’ll do it when I’m ready. I feel like I should buck up and just go get more now, but I keep seeing them …”
“Hey.” Monroe ducked her head to meet my eyes. “Just take your time. You’re grieving them. They were living creatures with personalities. If a person is allowed to grieve their dog or cat, you’re allowed to grieve your birds.”
Grateful, I whispered, “Thanks.”
“So, it’s true, then,” a voice cut through our little moment.
Glancing up, I squinted at the two women who stood over the table. Recognition hit and I tensed. One of them was Sadie Dunmoor. She was an attractive woman in her forties who, up until a few years ago, had been a single mom. She married some guy in Golspie and moved her kid there. But her hair salon was still in Ardnoch. The reason I knew so much about her wasn’t because she did my hair (I was lucky enough to have access to the salon on the estate), but because she used to be Jared’s fuck buddy. I didn’t recognize the blond at her side.
“Excuse me?” I asked cautiously.
Sadie grinned, big and genuine. Gesturing to the wedding band on my finger, she said, “That Jared got married. I never thought I’d see the day.”
“Oh.” I covered my ring and sat back in my chair. “Yeah.”
“Well, congratulations. And will you tell him I said congrats?”
Relieved that she was being cool, I nodded. “Of course.”
The blond at her side, however, snorted. “You must be very confident.”
Sadie shot her a quelling look while I narrowed my eyes. “What does that mean?”
“It means, Jared shagged every eligible woman in Ardnoch.” She huffed, eyeing Sloane and Monroe. “Am I right, ladies?”
Monroe quirked an eyebrow. “I don’t believe he ever touched you with a barge pole, Ursula.”
Ursula? Why wasn’t I familiar with her?
The blond grimaced. “Well, I’m married.”
Sadie sighed heavily and gave me an apologetic smile. “Sorry, I just wanted to stop and offer congrats. Really. He’s a good man. He deserves happiness.”
“I appreciate that.”
“After finding happiness between the legs of a million women,” Ursula cracked.
“Urs!” Sadie hissed. “There are children in here.”
“Och, I’m only joking.”
“No.” Monroe pinned her with a hard look. “You’re being rude to my friend and pushing the feminist movement back fifty years. I don’t know why you’re so obviously jealous of Allegra, a woman you don’t even know, Ursula Rankin, but you’re letting the side down with the cattiness. So quit it.”
Clearly, Monroe knew this Ursula person, so I guessed she was a local I hadn’t been aware of until now. Obviously, she was aware of me. Honestly, it wasn’t the first time I’d been treated with rudeness by strangers. People saw the wealth and the fame and the pretty face, and they resented me for things they wanted for themselves, without seeing me as a person with my own shit and trauma.
“God, Monroe, you always were a drama queen. I’m not being catty.” Ursula looked at me now. “I’m just saying … Jared even tried to shag Regan and Eredine Adair before the brothers slapped a ring on them. It’s just shocking that he’s finally settled down. Guess the allure of that Howard money was just too much to resist. Everyone knew his farm was in trouble.”
The fact that Ursula was correct about why Jared married me stung. Because as much as our marriage was turning into something real, he probably never would have married me otherwise. But that she would say so to my face was despicable.
“Oh my God.” Sadie glowered at her friend. “What is wrong with you?” She blanched, turning to me. “I’m so sorry. I really did just want to offer my sincere best wishes. We’ll be going now.”
“I appreciate it. I’ll tell Jared.” I gave her a reassuring smile before turning to Ursula. “And Jared didn’t marry me for the money. He married me because the sex is mind-blowing.”
Sadie, proving how cool she really was, burst into laughter and shot her friend a “so there” look.
“Whatever.” Ursula rolled her eyes.
Sadie gave me an apologetic wave and nudged her friend toward the exit. We could hear her berating her under her breath the whole way to the door. Once outside, they stopped, and we heard their muffled yelling before Sadie marched off in anger.
“Wow.”
“Ursula Rankin was always a petty woman. I never understood why Sadie was friends with her,” Monroe opined.
“I think Sadie’s wondering that too.” Sloane gave a huff of disbelieving laughter.
“Why do women do that?” I asked. “It just lives up to the cliché that we’re all catty cows in competition with one another all the time. And it’s not true. Look at us! Look at Sadie! She’s the one who had a reason to potentially be jealous and she was super nice to me.”
Sloane, Aria, Sarah, and all the Adair women were as close as any group of women could be. They’d lay down their lives for their friends and family and wanted only happiness for each other. Women like Ursula were few and far between, but they were enough to keep feeding the cliché.
“I don’t think it’s only women, if that makes you feel better,” Sloane said with a shrug. “I think men can be petty and jealous over things and people others have that they don’t.”
I nodded. “You’re right.”
But as the conversation turned to a different topic, I couldn’t help but feel that sinking sensation of fear and alarm settle deep in my gut. Because Ursula had, unfortunately, hit a nerve. I hadn’t thought it mattered that our marriage had started out fake as long as it was real now.
Yet, maybe it did matter.
Even if Jared and I had come together in another way and started dating … would he have ever really committed to me in such a permanent way as marriage? And if he wouldn’t have, what did that really mean for our future? We’d decided to give ourselves the eighteen months to decide if we wanted to stay married.
What if Jared couldn’t make it eighteen months after all?
What if … what if he grew bored of me by then?
The awful thought made my stomach churn, but I tried to block out my old insecurities. I focused instead on the wonderful things Jared had said to me, the way he looked at me. He’d never felt this way about anyone. He’d said so. And I had to believe that it was true, and that Jared knew his own mind.
I had to believe.
Otherwise, I was setting myself up for the biggest heartbreak I’d ever faced.