Chapter 13 #2
Gerald cleared the plates and served dessert.
This had always been her favorite part of mealtime.
She’d sit in anticipation and wonder what amazing creation their chef would send out after the evening meal.
It was the excitement over the anticipated sweets that told her she was meant to own a bakery over a restaurant.
Today’s dessert was a lemon sorbet in a crystal dish with a sprig of mint.
She thanked Gerald when he set the dish in front of her. He smiled, bowed, and left the room.
Grandmother Lavinia folded her hands on the table. “I’m told you’ve been spending time with the new chief of police.”
Adeline’s spoon stopped halfway to her mouth. “Who told you that?”
“It doesn’t matter who told me. Is it true?”
“He’s the chief of police, and I keep getting arrested. Of course I’ve been spending time with him.”
Her grandmother frowned and set down her spoon. “Don’t play coy with me, Adeline. You know what I mean.”
Adeline set down her spoon as well. She was tired of trying to force enjoyment from her lovely meal. “His name is Mason Wolfe. And yes. I like him.”
“He’s not bad for a wolf,” Princess Muffin Top said. “Rather surprising.”
The silence that followed almost made Adeline squirm.
Almost. But she was an adult now, and she didn’t feel the need to please her grandmother like she had when she was younger.
She sent her cat a small smile across the table.
It was kind of Princess Muffin Top to add her two cents in favor of the werewolf.
“He’s a werewolf,” Grandmother Lavinia finally said.
“I’m aware.”
“He’s not from a founding family. He’s not even from this town.
He’s a drifter, Adeline. A man who spent years hiding in undercover work because he couldn’t commit to a real life.
” She pinched her lips together. “I wasn’t in favor of hiring him.
If you want to know the truth, I was the only no vote he had. ”
Adeline wasn’t the least bit surprised. “He’s not a drifter. He’s a man who spent years protecting law-abiding citizens by capturing criminals before they had a chance to do anything bad. He gave up having a normal life so we could enjoy ours. And now he’s chosen to come here and build something.”
“He chose to come here because the council offered him a high-paying job,” her grandmother said. “When you marry, Adeline, it needs to be someone of your ilk. A witch bloodline. Someone who understands what the Beaumont name carries. Someone who can sit at this table and know what it means.”
Adeline had to physically press her lips together so she wouldn’t blurt out the first thing she wanted to.
Because it was mean and cruel...just like her grandmother could be.
But she was feeling a lot of rage flowing inside her.
“No one has said anything about marriage. We haven’t even gone on a date yet.
” She gestured around the table, her heart racing inside her.
“Take a good look at this table, Grandmother Lavinia. Ten empty chairs. Not because they couldn’t be filled, but because you refuse to let them be filled.
It’s just you and me. It’s been just you and me for twenty years since my parents died. ”
Grief and pain flickered across her grandmother’s face before she masked it. But Adeline saw it, and she immediately felt guilty.
“Your mother understood duty,” Grandmother Lavinia said quietly. “She married your father knowing what it meant to be a Beaumont. She accepted the responsibility. She carried it with grace.”
“And now both she and my father are dead because of that duty!” The words came out before Adeline could stop them. They hung in the air between the two women...even Princess Muffin Top had stopped eating.
“Your parents died in an accident,” Grandmother Lavinia finally said, her hand curled into a fist on the table. “A tree fell on their car. It was a tragedy. It had nothing to do with—”
“They were on their way to a founding family event! An event you insisted they attend because appearances matter, and Beaumonts show up, and duty comes first.” Adeline’s voice was shaking now, and she had to blink back the tears that threatened to fall.
“If they’d stayed home that night—if you hadn’t pushed them to go even knowing Mom wasn’t feeling well—they’d still be alive. ”
“Adeline, that’s—”
“I was ten years old! I sat in this house and waited for them to come home, and they never did! And the next morning, you sat me down at this table...” She banged her fist down on the mahogany wood.
“And you told me I needed to be strong because Beaumonts don’t fall apart.
And then you told me I was to go back to my house, pack up my stuff, and I was moving here.
You ripped me from the only friend I ever had like it was nothing! ”
Grandmother Lavinia’s jaw tightened. “I did what I thought was best.”
“You did what you always do. You controlled the situation. You managed the grief like it was a PR problem. And then you spent the next twenty years trying to turn me into the daughter-in-law you lost.”
Her grandmother gasped. “That’s not true.”
“Isn’t it?”
The silence that followed told Adeline everything she needed to know.
She stood, her chair scraping against the hardwood floor.
Her hands were trembling, and she pressed them flat against the table to steady herself.
“I’m not my mother. As much as I love and miss her, I’m not her.
I’m not going to marry someone just because you approve of his bloodline.
I’m not going to stop protesting just because it embarrasses you.
And I’m not going to stop seeing Mason Wolfe just because he doesn’t fit your idea of what a Beaumont husband should be. ”
Grandmother Lavinia looked up at her. For the first time in Adeline’s life, the older woman didn’t have a response ready.
She just sat there, hands folded, eyes unreadable.
Adeline thought she saw a tremor in her grandmother’s chin, like she was trying not to cry...
and that made her heart hurt. She didn’t want to hurt her grandmother, but Grandmother Lavinia needed to know she wasn’t going to let her control her life anymore.
“Let’s go, Princess Muffin Top,” Adeline said. “I need to get in some baking before the bakery opens tomorrow.”
Princess Muffin Top jumped down from her chair, but she didn’t follow Adeline immediately.
Instead, she stopped next to Grandmother Lavinia and looked up at her.
“For the record, Adeline Beaumont is the best thing your family has produced in a very long time. You might want to start treating her like it.”
Then the Maine Coon turned and padded after Adeline. And this time, Adeline let the tears fall. Leave it to her cat to have the best parting words.
Gerald appeared in the foyer with the door already open. He gave Adeline a small, barely perceptible nod as she passed. She thought she saw something in his eyes...sympathy, maybe?
She climbed into the Beetle Bus, jammed the key into the ignition, and pulled out of the circular drive without looking back. Princess Muffin Top sat in the passenger seat and said nothing for the entire drive. It wasn’t until they turned onto Tide Street that Adeline realized she was still crying.
She wiped her eyes with the back of her hand and pulled up in front of the bakery. Her home. Her real home. The place she most felt like herself.
“You okay?” Princess Muffin Top finally asked.
“I will be.” Adeline turned off the engine and sat there. “I just need to bake. It always makes me feel better.”
She unlocked the bakery, turned on the lights, and tied on her apron.
She didn’t turn on music. She didn’t check her phone.
She simply pulled out ingredients and started working.
The kitchen magic would come or it wouldn’t.
Right now, she just needed her hands in dough and the oven warming and the comforting smell of sugar filling the room.
Princess Muffin Top jumped up onto the counter and watched her in silence. Adeline tried not to focus on what that meant. Her cat was like Grandmother Lavinia...always ready to say something. But even Princess Muffin Top left her to her grief and let her bake.