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“That’s what I thought.” I brushed my thumb across her bottom lip before dropping my hand to my side. “But you’re the only one who seems worried about my feelings, baby. I couldn’t hate you when you love me so well.”
She reached for my hand and told me about discovering her ex-husband’s affair with my daughter. And the hellish six months leading up to her divorce being finalized.
“Shit, I’m sorry.”
“It wasn’t your fault,” she reassured me.
“Graham Evans only took Harry’s case on my referral,” I explained.
“Oh, well then carry on with apologizing because it would’ve been helpful if his lawyer wasn’t quite so good.”
“I only made the call because my daughter told me she was pregnant and the baby’s father couldn’t marry her because his estranged wife refused to sign the paperwork.” When her eyes widened, I rushed to add, “Which I have already realized none of it was true. I just don’t know how much of the lie is Ellie’s doing.”
“Probably a lot,” she whispered. “Based on the texts I found, she knew he was married and not already going through a divorce when they started seeing each other. And negotiations were rough because Harrison didn’t want to pay the infidelity penalty in our prenup or have me file a wage claim against his family’s vineyard. Still, the settlement was finalized about as quickly as you can in California.”
I wished I’d asked more questions when Ellie first came to me about the situation, if only because I indirectly contributed to Celia’s suffering. “Wage claim?”
I felt even worse when she explained the five years she’d spent working for the Cromwells and how quickly Catherine and Edward kicked her to the curb when she walked out on their son for cheating on her. “And now they’re my daughter’s in-laws.”
“This is a very tangled web.”
I reached for her hand and stroked my thumb across her palm. “You and I stick to the center of our own little web, and we don’t let ourselves get pulled into anyone else’s drama.”
Celia looked skeptical. “What about Ellie?”
“I love my daughter, but she’s not the innocent party here. You are.”
“It’s not going to be easy,” she warned.
“Trust me, I’m well aware of the trouble Ellie can cause, especially when her mother is spitting poison in her ear.”
“I meant rebuilding trust between us.” She wrinkled her nose. “Although I guess I should probably be worried about them making things harder for us.”
I shook my head. “They’re my problem. Not yours.”
“Okay, we can handle it your way. For now.” She squeezed my hand. “But we’re back to going slow, sorry.”
“I have nobody to blame but myself.”
Not even my daughter, ex-wife, or son-in-law. Because I was the one who’d decided I needed to take a beat on our relationship only days after I told her I loved her. She had every right to make me prove myself again.
20
CELIA
Ididn’t think about how bad the timing was until I walked into Serena and Hudson’s kitchen on Monday afternoon. She took one look at my face and told her movie-star fiancé, “Take the bags from her.”
As soon as my hands were free, she tugged me into the living room. After getting me situated on the couch, she handed me a throw blanket and went to make me some herbal tea.
When she pressed the mug into my hands, I lifted it close to my face to breathe in the steam. “Thank you.”
“With how pale you are right now, I would’ve guessed you’re sick. Except you wouldn’t cook if you’re contagious, and Julian sounded strange when I talked to him this morning. And when I asked him about you, he changed the subject. That is not a man who is fine.”
I took a sip to buy myself a moment to decide how much I wanted to share. “His daughter is the woman my ex cheated with. I found out at Nobu on Saturday night when he introduced us to each other.”
“I don’t even know what to say to that.”
I lifted the mug higher. “You should’ve brewed yourself a cup too.”
