Chapter 20
ADELINE
The last time I’d walked into this building, I didn’t know I was being ambushed.
This time, I knew exactly what I was walking into, but somehow, that didn’t make me feel much better.
My hands were still trembling and my nerves were ragged.
I had a scratchy lump in my throat and I was feeling slightly nauseated too.
Despite all that, I followed Simon down the hallway, my heels clicking loudly against the polished marble floors. It sort of felt like each step was another second ticking down, bringing me closer to the inevitability of marrying Zach.
Like maybe, it’s always been inevitable that he and I would end up together. But that doesn’t mean he actually wants this. God, why am I not more upset about it?
I should’ve been. And yes, I was nervous as hell, sure, but I was also just a little bit happy. A little bit relieved. A little bit excited about the prospect. Which makes me a terrible person, of course. Shit. Poor Zach.
“Relax,” Simon said over his shoulder like he could feel the tension radiating off me.
“I am relaxed,” I lied. “Just thinking, is all.”
He glanced back at me and I gave him a tight smile, but he didn’t seem to buy it. Instead, his head shook. He stopped outside the doors to wait for me when he reached the conference room, then pushed them open as soon as I got there.
Gee, thanks for giving me a minute to collect myself, cousin. On the other hand, he’d made the trip from Virginia for me—again—so I couldn’t be too put out about it.
As soon as I stepped inside, my footsteps faltered, my jaw practically hitting the floor when I saw Life As We Don’t Know It hanging on the far wall. I stared at it for a second, my suspicion now confirmed without even a shadow of a doubt.
“What do you think?” a familiar voice asked softly behind me. “Would the artist approve of it presiding over a room where some of the biggest deals in the city are made on a daily basis?”
I swallowed hard, unable to stop myself from leaning just slightly toward him. Zach must’ve walked in barely a minute behind me. Our eyes met when I glanced up, a soft, knowing smirk curving on his lips.
That smirk didn’t belong in boardrooms and it definitely shouldn’t have come out to play when we were about to sign a contract that would upend his entire life. It belonged somewhere else entirely, reminding me of warm summer nights and easy laughter.
As I held his gaze, I felt that same old light and carefree feeling that I hadn’t felt since I’d left him. That ease that came with breathing the same air as my best friend.
“You bought it,” I said, my brain defaulting to the least emotional observation I could make. “I don’t think the artist had such a serious room in mind for it, but there is a certain, ironic beauty to it being here.”
He shrugged, but before he could say anything, the door opened again and Alex walked in. All that easy lightness I’d been feeling evaporated the second I looked at him. Zach’s oldest brother was all business these days.
I didn’t dislike Alex. I never had, but right now, he represented another marriage being arranged for me.
A lack of choice for Zach when it came to his own future.
Plus, he’d effectively shut down whatever moment had just tried to bloom between us, which definitely made me annoyed with him for just a second.
“Clark Morris has approved the contract,” he said without any prelude or fanfare, striding right over to the massive conference table in the middle of the room and handing over a folder to Simon. “You’re welcome to review it, but I think you’ll find it’s all in order.”
Simon pulled out a chair beside his and gestured for me to sit. Reluctantly moving away from Zach, I headed to the seat my cousin had offered and sank into it. Simon opened the folder and set it down on the table in front of us, scooting closer so we could read through it together.
At first, it felt like every other document I’d been handed over the past year, filled with dense, legal language, but then, we hit the financial section and I frowned.
No. That can’t be right.
I glanced at Simon, who was reading the same clause I was looking at, but he didn’t question it, just nodding as he registered the astronomical amounts detailed like they, too, were nothing more than just details.
“This is…” I started but then stopped because I didn’t actually have a word for what this was. Generous didn’t cover it and excessive seemed rude.
When I’d married Louis, I hadn’t seen any of this side of things. I hadn’t been invited to the meetings or given contracts to review. No one had included me in the discussions prior to the decision being made.
All they’d wanted from me was to show up in a white dress a few weeks later. The full extent of my involvement before our actual wedding day had been meeting him for coffee once to discuss expectations.
This was different. Very, very different, in fact.
Lu and Jennifer would be taken care of. For life.
Zach hadn’t even just provided for the basics.
He’d thought of everything, their education, future homes, college tuition, and so much more.
There was stuff here I hadn’t even let myself think about because it had felt too far out of reach, and that wasn’t even counting the separate investment portfolios he’d already started putting in place.
My vision swam slightly and I closed the folder, pressing my fingers to the front of it in the hopes that it would steady me. Zach noticed immediately. “Are you okay?”
“I need a second,” I said, my voice coming out hushed even though I hadn’t meant for it to happen. “Is that okay?”
Simon looked up and pushed his chair back without hesitating. “Of course.”
Alex nodded. “We’ll step out. Let us know when you’re ready.”
When I noticed Zach move to follow them, I met his gaze and shook my head. “Would you stay?”
He paused, confusion in his eyes for a beat before he nodded and waited for Alex to shut the door behind him. “What’s going on, Adeline?”
I let out a breath I didn’t realize I’d been holding as I turned to face him fully. “You don’t have to do this.”
“I know.”
“No, you really don’t,” I insisted. “You don’t have to save me, Zach. Just like you didn’t have to buy that painting just so I’d get commission.”
He didn’t look away from me, leaning back in his chair and pushing it away from the table a little so he had space to hook his ankle around his knee. “We’re friends. At least, I hope we can be that again going forward.”
“I’d like that, but it still doesn’t mean you have to marry me and spend an astronomical amount of money on my girls.”
“I’m not only doing this for you,” he said. “It benefits me too.”
I huffed out a disbelieving breath. “How?”
He shrugged. “Clients and investors like the married, family-man look.”
I tilted my head and let my gaze drift to the window. The explanation he’d offered was logical, but it was also absolute bullshit and I could tell that he knew it. The words had fallen flat between us even as they’d come out.
There was something else just behind them, though.
Something more meaningful waiting to be said, but he didn’t continue, swallowing back whatever words were right on the tip of his tongue.
I understood that feeling so damn well, knowing there was more you needed to say but not coming out with it in the end, so I didn’t push him.
“Okay,” I said finally instead. “If that’s your story, then I suppose you should stick to it.”
He nodded, but I saw the way his jaw tightened, betraying the fact that he knew I knew there was more, but neither of us went there. Some things just weren’t ready to be said yet.
Maybe they never would be, but even if we did eventually open up completely, it wouldn’t be here, while Simon and Alex were waiting and this contract was literally sitting on the table between us.
“Let’s talk about it,” Zach said suddenly, inclining his chin toward the folder. “That’s what we’re here to do, so let’s do it. What tripped you up?”
I blinked hard, a little thrown by the sudden change in his demeanor. “You’re being exceptionally generous. I realize the Westwoods are well off, but you don’t have to give me everything, Zach.”
“I didn’t. What’s in there is only fair. You seriously don’t need to worry about it.”
“I don’t?” I arched an eyebrow at him. “Are you just saying that or is it actually true?”
He waited until my eyes were firmly locked on his and I didn’t see a single hint of a lie anywhere when he finally spoke again. “You know how people say you need to have money to make money? Well, I had money, Adeline.”
“Okay?”
“I’m still living at Westwood Manor,” he said. “I’m single. I don’t have any kids that I’m aware of and I work. A lot. I haven’t had much time nor the inclination to travel or spend money on random stuff.”
“That’s nice, but what do you mean?”
“I mean that when I say you don’t have to worry, it’s not just a platitude.
It’s reality, and while we’re on the subject, you won’t have to work once we’re married.
Unless you want to, of course, but it would be completely up to you.
A decision you need to make for yourself. It wouldn’t be a financial necessity.”
I stared at him, completely dumbfounded, but as it turned out, he wasn’t even done yet, simply continuing like he was working his way through a mental checklist he’d memorized for this very moment.
“I’m also more than willing to keep Amber on if that’s what you want. I know the girls are comfortable with her and there’s been so much change in their lives already that I wouldn’t want to disrupt them any more than we already would be.”
“They love her,” I said without even really thinking about it. “She’s definitely become important to them.”
“Then she stays,” he replied like it was really just that simple to him.
It was almost like he’d forgotten that these kinds of things didn’t usually just happen. They always came with conditions. Always. Yet with him, it honestly just felt like he was doing it because he could. Not because of what might be in it for him.
It was a novel thought, for sure, but then again, this was Zach. I just had to get used to being around him again.
He cleared his throat, his expression suddenly a little more careful. I braced myself for the conditions, convinced I was about to be proven wrong about the fact that Zach sometimes just did stuff because he could.
“I’d also like to move you to a new house,” he said, completely bowling me over. “If you agree to it, I want to find you someplace better. With a yard for the kids. In a safer part of town, too.”
My stomach flipped, but he just kept going, rattling off that checklist like his freaking life depended on it now that he’d gained momentum.
“It’s already in the contract that I’ll be covering private school tuition and any extracurriculars.
Whatever they want to do, just enroll them and put down my details. I’m not sure what school you—”
Finally, I held up a hand and cut him off. This was becoming ridiculous now. Really. “Zach, stop. Just stop.”
He did, but he was blinking rapidly, like I’d either stunned him or pulled him out of a trance. “What? Why?”
“You’re doing too much,” I said, my voice tight, but at least not cracking yet. “It’s all just way too much.”
“No, it’s not,” he said immediately. “I’m just doing what makes sense. This is all practical, right? It seems practical, and you came in today to talk about the practical stuff before we sign, so—”
I let out a small, slightly hysterical laugh and shoved a hand into my hair. “You could be marrying someone younger, you know. Someone without all of this baggage and emotional damage.”
He frowned, clearly confused about something. “What?”
“It’s true and you know it. Alex could match you with someone who will be a lot easier,” I said, speaking right over him. “Someone without kids who aren’t yours and who you don’t have to be responsible for. Surely, that’s what you want.”
“Adeline.” Something in his tone made me stop, and when I looked at him again, his eyes were directly on mine, unfiltered tenderness breaking through all that careful control. “The only person I ever considered marrying was you and that’s still true.”
I forgot how to breathe. Straight up just forgot. That wasn’t business and definitely wasn’t something he’d say just because it looked good on paper.
He only seemed to realize what he’d said himself about half a second after it’d left his mouth, but it was out there now and I was determined not to make it awkward.
All along, I’d wished I knew where he really stood, and now, I supposed I did. It just wasn’t what I’d been expecting.
I hesitated for only one more beat before I nodded. “I’m going to sign.”
Watching him carefully as I said it, I searched his face for any hint of regret. Anything that suggested it wasn’t what he wanted to hear. But instead, some of the tension he’d been carrying in his shoulders eased and he even smiled a little.
“Okay,” he said softly, then swiped his tongue across his lips. “I, uh, do you think you’ll be able to take a week or two off work?”
“I don’t know,” I admitted, but the words came out staggered and slow. “I just took time off when we were sick, so I’m really not sure.”
“Oh.”
“Well, I suppose I could just quit my job,” I said lightly, humor my last line of defense, but Zach nodded like that was a perfectly reasonable suggestion. Like he thought I was serious.
My eyebrows hiked up. “I was joking.”
He sighed. “I know, but realistically, there are better galleries out there and I know for a fact that my father would pay you a fortune just to catalog the art in the main house.”
I did a slow double-take. “You’re not helping.”
“I’m not trying to,” he countered.
Weird, surprised laughter bubbled out of me. “Fine, then. I’ll do it.”
Wait, what? What am I doing? What is even happening right now?
“Fine,” he shot back immediately, almost in challenge. “Let me know when it’s done.”
That old, easy playfulness crept back in between us with no regards for the history hanging over our heads like a storm cloud. It just slipped back into place so naturally, it almost hurt, but a moment later, there was a knock on the door and Alex popped his head back in.
“Are we about ready to sign yet?” he asked. “I have a lunch date with my wife and if I miss it, Jane will kill me.”
I glanced at Zach to find him already looking back at me, and something quiet passed between us before he turned back to Alex and nodded. “Yeah, we’re ready.”
And just like that, Zach and I were getting married.
At some point, anyway.