Page 61 of Married at Midnight

CHAPTER NINETEEN

Wednesday afternoon Ellie arrived home after running to the grocery store for two last-minute items she needed for their Thanksgiving meal. She found Connor waiting for her in the parlor with a thick manila envelope in his hands.

His full attention was on her the moment she stepped into the room. “Can we talk?” Connor’s tone was warm and friendly, but something heavier reflected in his clear, green eyes.

She set her grocery bag down. “Sure. About what?” But she already knew.

“Tomorrow’s Thanksgiving.”

Ellie sat gingerly on the edge of the chair beside him. The way he looked at her, with that rather sad smile, sent a shard of fear to her core. This was it. He would hand her their final divorce papers, and the process would begin. Then after the ninety-day waiting period was through, their uncontested divorce would be final.

It was time for her to wake up from her dreamworld now, because he’d always said their agreement had an end date.

“Ellie? You look like you’re a million miles away,” he said.

“Sorry, just thinking. What were you saying?” She had to force herself not to lean toward him. No matter what he held in his hands, her attraction to him remained unchanged.

Connor shifted in his chair. “Our marriage—”

The words had barely left Connor’s lips when his cell phone chimed.

With a dark frown, he set the papers on the table beside him and drew his phone from his pocket. He glanced at the screen. “It’s the lab. Sorry, I need to take this.”

Her mouth felt dry, and her throat swelled. This was like that moment when the jury came back into the courtroom and was asked to render their verdict. The moments ticked past, fate suspended.

Connor continued to stare at her. His eyes clouded with confusion while he listened to the person on the other end of the line. “You’re sure?” he said as the look in his eyes shifted to panic.

Her ragged heartbeat almost obliterated all other sounds.

“I’m on my way.” He ended the call and stood, stuffing his cell phone back inside the pocket of his jeans. “I’m sorry, Ellie. This has to wait. There’s been a break-in at the lab. It looks serious. I have to go.”

“Of course.” She stood.

Connor moved forward, his gaze fixed on Ellie’s face. “We’re not done here. We have so much more to discuss, if fate will only allow us.” An odd grin came to his face.

The look did funny things to her brain and filled her with a renewed sense of hope. Or was she simply imagining things? She shook the thoughts away. “How did the intruder get past the security system?”

“No one seems to know. I’ll be back as soon as I can.” He leaned forward and pressed a kiss to her lips. It was over before it began, but the effect on her nerves was just as powerful as if he’d ravished her.

He grabbed his coat and left.

Ellie stood frozen as her gaze shifted to the white envelope Connor had abandoned. There was a note paper-clipped to the front. She moved closer to read what it said.

Do we have other options?

Connor

The cursive handwriting was neat and tidy. Exactly the kind of writing she’d expected of him. Smiling, she folded the note and put it in the pocket of her jeans. She could think of lots of options.

A moment passed, and her smile slipped. She should be thinking about the break-in and hoping there was a happy resolution there. Instead, she was breathing too fast and hoping with all her heart for the impossible to happen for Connor and her.

Had he decided to change the terms of their agreement? Maybe believing in happy endings wasn’t going to break her heart in two. Perhaps she and Connor really could have the perfect future she’d imagined in her dreams.

While she waited for him to return, she had another happy ending to facilitate. After putting the groceries away, she made her way up the grand staircase to the ballroom on the second floor.

She’d turned the wide-open space into a winter wonderland where Viola’s wedding would take place. Flocked Christmas trees decorated with crystals and white lights lined the perimeter of the room. She’d set the white chairs, white runner, and two rows of white poinsettias situated around four towers of white flowers that lined the approach to the white wedding bower. Two rows of pillar candles in clear vases would give the room a magical, fairylike feel when lit.

For Viola, she’d chosen a beautiful ice-blue satin gown encrusted with seed pearls. Viola had assured Ellie the groom would wear white. Did that mean her bridegroom would be George in his White Elvis costume? Those Elvises who were not the groom would make up the rest of the wedding party.