Chapter Twenty-One #2
“ Oops . We wouldn’t want anyone to hear, would we?” I smile, feeling diabolically satisfied. “Then again, everyone knows I wasn’t the one caught with my pants around my ankles.”
She drags in a long breath, fidgeting with her hands.
I shrug, loving every moment of her discomfort.
“I don’t know, Cornelia, maybe it’s not about me living my best life in my townhouse with my beautiful Lexus and Ebony Grace Events thriving—despite your weak attempts to sabotage me—while I plan your son’s wedding.
Which is just diabolical.” I jerk up my eyebrows.
“No, maybe it’s that I’m not your little puppet, or that I’m not staying in a ‘woman’s place.
’ Isn’t that what you said to me once? I think you thought I’d give up on love and waste away without the Livingstons.
And shocker, here I’m gloriously in love… ”
Hey, sometimes the ex-wife takes a wedding-planning gig and falls in love with the venue preservationist.
A cloud passes over the sun and Cornelia’s whole face darkens, the shadows around her eyes deepening until she looks on the outside like the monster I know she is within.
Good God.
Then, just as I planned, with enough trash talking, she reacts.
“You’re right, I hired Benson Marks. He did such a great job for you, after all.” She runs her velvety fingers through her silvery-gray bouffant, looking genuinely vexed, as if her underhanded move is the same as my daring to hire a PI to confirm my suspicions of my husband doing dirt .
Yeah, okay…
Her voice is low, her self-satisfied little grin glowing with superiority as she inches closer to me.
“Did you think I’d sit back and let you ruin my son’s life?
My good name?” She swallows, her smile taut.
“I had you watched, even way back in college. I knew the Bridges boy couldn’t stay away. He comes from weak stock.”
And there it is.
She still thinks she’s got the winning hand.
For a moment, I let those words sink in. Weak stock . My head is scrambled with disbelief. In so many words, she’s just admitted everything Linc’s parents told him was true.
It’s the little joker.
I have to bite my tongue to keep from smiling. Instead, I take the bait between my teeth, contorting my face in false horror. Really, I should be a contender for an Oscar, for the role I’m playing.
“What?” I manage, shaking my head.
If I could cry on cue, it would be over for her.
“Yes, Ebony Grace, I paid a young kid to keep tabs on you then.” She lifts her chin as she whispers, “I won’t be blindsided. Ever. Of course I knew. That’s why I ensured Julian proposed the instant you returned to Ellswood.”
“You’re crazy…” I stumble, making my hands tremble. A little too much, though, so I have to reel in the dramatics a bit.
Movement in my periphery snags my attention. Just off her shoulder, I see Hailey and Hillary talking with jerky hand gestures before Hillary turns and starts walking swiftly in our direction.
All over again, it’s the switch-up.
Except this time, there’s no fire igniting in my chest, searing through my veins. I can breathe just fine because the spotlight is on them. A few dozen pairs of eyes are directed their way, and I’m the one holding the APPLAUD NOW cards.
And then I catch Cornelia’s expression.
That sneer.
“Maybe I’m a little crazy…” She giggles, and as wild as it is, she waves her hands in the air, like she’s relieved to finally admit it. “Every mother is, in one way or the other. But also, once you’ve been in this town long enough, that’ll happen.”
I nod, biding my time until Hillary is within earshot, taking in the dark, desperate brown eyes attached to the woman who betrayed me to bed my husband. Her tall, lean frame in a lavender satin dress with lace trim. I barely even recognize her.
There’s no Black Girl Magic and nineteen years of friendship bonding us.
She isn’t my ride-or-die, who knew the dark places I went after the divorce, whose hugs and laughter were like a balm to my heart.
No, my ventricle and vessel feels like it’s weighed down with a ton of bricks, and I hate that I want her to feel even a fraction of my pain.
How could she do this to me?
I’m confronting the truth. Proving that even in the face of betrayal and sabotage, I’m still standing.
I lean into Savannah’s advice, willing it to calm me down. I halfway expect an angry hiccup to spill out of me. The thing is, though, I’m not so much mad anymore as I am confused and disheartened. Still angry. Disappointed that our relationship has come down to this.
“What are you going to do, Cornelia?” I jut my chin slightly. “Make him marry Nora just because she’s pregnant—”
“Yes!” Her voice cracks into the air. “He made his bed, and now he’ll have to lie in it. Unless, of course, you want him back,”
My mouth falls open.
Is she fucking kidding?
I’ve finally unraveled myself from the Livingstons. I remember who I was before Julian, who I want to be now. And she thinks I’d take him back?
“What the hell? No!” I cringe. “Just in case you don’t know, Nora isn’t the only woman your son made his bed with. What are you going to do about them, huh? What about Hillary?”
“Trash!” Cornelia spits out, like even the mere suggestion leaves a rancid aftertaste in her mouth. “I took her out, just like I’m going to do with you.”
Hillary gasps, hurt and humiliation glistening in her eyes.
“You uppity b—” Mrs. Winston’s verbal lashing is drowned out by an angry gust of wind swirling over the courtyard.
Cornelia turns, registering the audience before spinning back to me, her face red with rage. “You’re fired!” she snaps.
A collective gasp echoes from here to the gardens, so loud it’s almost a physical blow.
For a second, the air shifts, crackling like a live wire.
“Well, what took you so long?” I blurt out. “Wasn’t this always your plan?”
“Enough!” Hailey yells from clear across the path, her arm reached out like a safety bar, holding her mother at bay, and all I can do is laugh.
Part of me knew it would come to this. Deep down, in my bones, I sensed Cornelia only hired me to enjoy the satisfaction of firing me later. And what’s more, she gets to do it with an audience.
Lovely.
Hailey, with her mother hot on her heels, is steaming mad as she makes the trek over, wringing her hands, her fiery eyes fixed on us. “What in the actual hell is wrong with you?”
I block out all the faces, all the noise, and pull in a deep breath, bracing myself. Then I release it, along with all the tangled emotions, prepared to explain myself, but then I realize that Hailey isn’t looking at me.
No one is.
They’re all staring at Cornelia Eunice Sterling Livingston.
“What? You think because I’m marrying your son, because you’re helping to pay for the wedding, that it gives you the right to disrespect my family and belittle my sister?
” Hailey looks so beautiful in a soft blush-pink satin dress with her dark curls pinned up in a loose chignon, her brown eyes blinking back tears. “News flash, it doesn’t.”
Hillary’s unwavering gaze locks on to mine.
Cornelia still hasn’t said a word.
“And yes, Hillary is wrong.” Hailey turns her attention to her sister, whose green eyes are rimmed with tears, too. “You are. There’s no other way to put it, and honestly, I’m sad I had to learn that you slept with Julian at my bridal shower ,” she says, glaring at Cornelia.
“Oh, shucks! Are you really surprised?” Cornelia looks at the group with a pompous air of vindication, as if anyone shocked is simply disillusioned.
“First she betrays her best friend to try to land Julian, now her sister is marrying Donovan… She wants that adoration, the clout of being married to a Livingston—”
“Wow!” Hailey and I say in unison.
“Don’t flatter yourself.” Hailey’s bright brown eyes lock on to Cornelia. “My sister may be self-centered, disloyal—”
Hillary scoffs. “Thanks so much.”
“Before you say a word to excuse yourself, you are. Otherwise, you wouldn’t have slept with a married man.
Period.” Hailey shrugs, cutting straight to the bone.
“Especially considering that man was your best friend’s husband.
A friend who’s been nothing but loyal and supportive of you— and me.
” She tosses me a quick glance. “By the way, you’re not fired.
And I don’t agree with Hillary’s actions, but I’m not going to disown her for them either. ”
My mind snags on that word.
Disown.
A million scenarios run through my mind as to how one of my closest friends could do this me. But I realize…I don’t give a damn anymore.
There’s no reason that’d make it okay.
“I am,” I say, straight-faced, not even bothering to hide my ambivalence. “Disowning her, I mean.”
Finally, after months of dodging me, ignoring my calls, and only sending that weak text reply, Hillary steps closer.
“I wasn’t trying to hurt you, Ebony.” Well, in that case…
“I know I’ve broken your trust…” She hesitates, like she’s struggling to find the right words, before settling on, “I’m so sorry. ”
And it still isn’t enough.
With a decisive nod, I turn toward the door to the ballroom, ready to leave. I did what I came here to do. I confronted Cornelia, faced Hillary, and got fired—then that firing got rescinded. But otherwise? I’m free. “I’ll see you at the rehearsal dinner, Hailey.”
I turn the knob and leave, an immediate rush of joyous anticipation flooding through me at my knowing Linc and I have the big joker, and Cornelia won’t win.