Chapter 13 #3
Ethan’s stomach tensed as he waited for a pause in the conversation with one of his mother’s oldest friends.
Aunt Sally—the “aunt” was tokenistic—could talk the hind leg off a donkey and was about as interesting.
But the fact she only needed to talk at him and barely required an answer gave him time to sort through his own questions and emotions.
Like, why were so many people here? Was it someone’s birthday he’d forgotten?
Francine had implied it would just be family, so why did more and more people keep arriving?
Was this Francine’s way of telling their nearest and dearest that Lucinda and he weren’t engaged after all?
Except Lucinda didn’t seem too fazed about the upcoming announcement.
She seemed her usual bubbly self, talking to people, while he hid in here, dodging waiters who kept piling overly pretty—and pretty small-sized—food onto silver platters.
What he’d give for a decent big hamburger and hot chips from the local takeaway.
After the day he’d had, visiting cafés, trying—and failing—to find the one where Ellie worked at, he’d tried to reconcile himself with the thought that maybe he’d find her tomorrow. She had to be here. Unless she’d had the weekend off. That didn’t bear thinking about.
In fact, so much of this situation didn’t bear thinking about. Like, what if the café she worked at was closed on Sunday? What if he never found her? What if—?
“Ah, here you are, brother dear.” Francine smiled. “Aunt Sally, you don’t mind if I steal Ethan away for a few moments, do you?”
“Of course not.” Aunt Sally patted his arm. “I was just saying to dear Ethan here how proud your mother would be.”
“Indeed, she would. This was a long-held dream of hers.”
Ethan glanced at his sister. “What do you mean?”
“Come on. There’s something you should see. Excuse us, Aunt Sally.”
“Of course.”
He followed his sister outside, to find his father talking in a low voice with Lucinda. Lucinda beamed at him, while his father eyed him and Francine shoved a glass into his hand.
“What’s up?”
“Nothing.” Francine muttered to Lucinda, “If you’re going to do it, do it quick.”
“Do what?” Ethan asked.
Francine tapped the edge of her glass. “Excuse me, everyone, can I have your attention? I wanted to thank you all for coming tonight, especially at such short notice. It means a lot for us to have so many of our nearest and dearest here for such an important announcement.”
Ethan’s smile felt strained as he glanced at where Christine and Don stood. They wouldn’t like this announcement, but still, they knew it had to be done. Behind them, someone moved, but he couldn’t see their face.
“Before we go any further, Lucinda has asked to say a few words. No, don’t go,” Francine called, as the person beyond the Steeles looked to back away. Who was it? He edged to look.
Then Lucinda snagged him with her talon-hand. “Don’t go anywhere, Ethan. I need you here.”
Fine. He probably did need to stay if she was going to say what needed to be said. And seeing she was the one who had gotten them into this mess, it was up to her to get them out of it.
“So, surprise!” Lucinda grinned. “I know this week has been a lot for so many of us, so what better than to throw a party, am I right?”
As she lifted her glass, various people cheered.
Wait—a party? This wasn’t how this was supposed to go. “Lucinda,” he muttered, “you need to tell people the truth.”
“Of course I will.” She turned to him, her eyelashes fluttering. Really, they looked like caterpillars crawling on her eyelids.
Just then Don Steele moved, and Ethan saw who stood beyond him. His heart thudded. Was that Ellie? He blinked, checked again. It sure looked like her. But why was she here, and dressed like one of the waitstaff?
He took a step towards her, but Lucinda’s grip tightened as Francine muttered, “Don’t embarrass yourself. And for heavens’ sake, smile.”
“But—”
“But nothing. Lucinda,” Francine added in a louder voice, “you were saying?”
“I promised Ethan I’d confess the truth, so here it is! Ethan Ferris, I’ve known you all my life, and in that time I think it’s safe to say we’ve become good friends, right?”
Well, friends at least. He nodded, offering a tight smile. The Ellie-like person had retreated behind Don again, as if hiding from his sight.
“And over the years, I’ve come to see what an amazingly kind and generous and honest man you are, and so I guess it’s come as no surprise to anyone that I love you!”
What? This wasn’t what they’d agreed. He glanced across at where Ellie stood. Her eyes had widened. He shook his head at her, but around him people were cheering, yelling “Kiss her! Kiss her!”
For a second, he didn’t know who they meant. Kiss Ellie? Well, yeah, he’d tried at the Hydro Grand.
But as they pushed him towards Lucinda, he realised just who they meant. And it wasn’t the woman he wanted to kiss. It was the one who had manipulated her way into this situation, the one pressing her lips against his while he tried to figure out how to retreat without embarrassing her even more.
“Surprise!” Francine crowed. “It’s your engagement party!”