Chapter Thirty-Three
Sitting in the black leather chair in the back of Maddie’s salon, Ella looked around the crowded salon, recognizing several faces from her vendor parties with Troy. Privacy was one of Troy’s rules, and she’d found that everyone adhered to that particular one as if it was a religion.
The front door swung open and the little bells jingled. Ella turned away. Shit. Cheerleader Josie found her.
She gazed into the mirror. Maddie gently brushed her hair over the section in the back where the stitches came out earlier that morning.
“You’d look good with short hair,” Maddie said. She lifted the portion of hair she’d been playing with for ten minutes and let it drop.
“I’m going to wait until it’s shoulder length,” Ella said. Ugh. Here she comes.
“Ella Winthrop.” Josie’s beautiful, forest-green, A-line dress swayed with each purposeful step. She stopped beside Ella and glared at her in the mirror. She flattened the edgy, geometric designed, gold necklace against her chest and readjusted it between her breasts.
“Yes, Josie?” Ella clenched her jaw and pursed her lips, ready for whatever assault of words came out of the woman’s mouth. I don’t need this right now.
“What did you do to make Cade go on an extended vacation to France? He isn’t saying anything. You’re not talking. I don’t see Garrett’s ring on your finger. And what the hell is going on with you and Derek?” Josie crossed her arms over her chest and tapped her foot.
“I really don’t need this right now.”
“I don’t care if you don’t need this. I do. I need to know. My God, Ella…” Josie looked her up and down. “I might have missed the wedding because of that damn jam on the interstate, but not seeing you for a few weeks shouldn’t have turned you fat.”
“Shut up, Josie,” Maddie said as the women nearby stared at them.
“I will not. Ella, why did you dump Cade? What did you say that sent him running across the damn ocean to get away from you?” Josie tapped her foot.
“Cade dumped me.”
“He did not.” Josie stepped in front of the full-length mirror, put her hands on the arm rests, and leaned forward. Her nose almost touched Ella’s. “He loves you. He is sorry about what his assistant did to you. He’s destroyed over it. Get your ass on a fucking plane and go get him.”
Maddie grabbed Josie’s wrist. “You. Me. Ella. In the back.” She tugged Josie into the supply room.
I should sneak out. I should just grab my purse from the rolling tray and leave.
“Ella, Get in here. Now,” Maddie ordered.
Ugh. “I’m coming.”
She stood up and pulled down the black maternity dress Derek’s parents bought her. The outfit highlighted her belly. She had two more trimesters to go, but her twins weren’t hiding anymore.
Josie’s eyes bugged out of their sockets. “Oh. My. God.”
Ella stuck her hands on her hips. “Yeah. I’m knocked up. Cade walked out. He doesn’t want kids. I’m about to have another set of twins, and I don’t know who the father is yet. So, tell me why Cade flying somewhere on vacation is my business?” He’s taking a vacation while my heart aches for him. While I’m here worrying about who might be the father of my babies. They’re probably Derek’s, but they could be his or Garrett’s. Damn it.
The pretty blonde blinked, inhaled, and dropped her hands to her side. “I’m going to kick his ass. He is moaning and groaning about how much he loves and misses you, and he walked out.”
“It’s complicated,” Maddie said.
“You should have married Cade a long time ago,” Josie said. “You should have married him that weekend I set you up with him. You really don’t know if the father is Garrett or Cade?”
“Or Derek,” Maddie added.
“Derek?” Josie’s mouth dropped open as her gaze narrowed on Ella. “No wonder he left. I’d leave. My God. How could you do that to him?”
“You think I got pregnant on purpose? You think I decided…” Ella threw up her hands in the air. “…I’ve got three hot men to play baby Russian roulette with me. Oh, how fun. Let’s see which one of the men—who were all supposed to be sterile—I can rope into fatherhood. Yeah. That’s a great idea. Only, the man I wanted to marry doesn’t want anything to do with me.”
She turned around to leave, but Maddie grabbed her and pulled her back.
“You can love three men. It’s okay. You can be happy about the babies, Ella. I know how much you wanted more children. I know you would have a dozen more, if Greg hadn’t gotten sick. Maybe this is a sign. Maybe…” Maddie hugged her. “Maybe Cade will come back, and you’ll have more children. Maybe Derek will want more children. Maybe Garrett will.”
Closing her eyes, Ella embraced her best friend. Maddie had been there through all the miscarriages, and the last one when she tumbled down the staircase from the last fight between Greg and Garrett. That loss, the last chance at having another beautiful baby with Greg, hurt the worst.
“I’d have more children,” she confided. “I do love Cade. But I love Garrett and Derek too. I love them all. But Cade is gone, and I don’t know how to live without him. I feel like a part of me has died. I miss him so much.”
Another set of arms curled around Ella. “I’m pregnant too. Six weeks. We planned it,” Josie whispered.
Maddie laughed. “Oops. I’m pregnant too. Eight weeks. Found out this morning.”
Josie giggled. “Congratulations.”
“Congratulations.” Ella couldn’t bring herself to laugh and share their joy the way she would have done a week ago. She didn’t want to marry Derek or Garrett, but she did want to live with them, love them, and be with them forever. She wanted to marry, have his last name, and maybe have a baby with him, if he could have children like Derek had told her. But Cade would have to come back to her first and then accept Garrett and Derek as part of her package.
“Thanks,” Josie and Maddie said.
“It’s going to work out, Ella,” Josie said. “I’ll whip Cade into shape. When will you find out which one is the father?”
“I’ll know something in about two weeks.”
“Cade loves you, Ella,” Josie said. “He’s head over heels in love with you. He’ll be back whether he is the father or not.”
“He doesn’t love me anymore. My life is too complicated.” I told him to walk away because I wasn’t strong enough. He listened.
The arms holding her squeezed her tighter.
“He’ll be back,” Josie whispered, but her tone didn’t sound terribly confident. “He’s a fighter. He doesn’t give up. He doesn’t stop until he has what he wants. He wants you.”
“Yeah,” Ella whispered. He feels guilty. The food. The gifts. The ‘I love you’ notes don’t mean anything when he doesn’t answer my calls.
“It’s the three of us,” Maddie said. “Friends forever. Through thick and thin. Good times and bad.”
“Friends forever,” Ella and Josie said. They smiled at each other. “Through thick and thin. Good times and bad.”
“And once Cade gets his head screwed on straight again, and he’s back,” Maddie said. “Then, Ella, you’re going to give us all the juicy details of your sex life. We’re going to live vicariously through you. Got it?”
Laughter bubbled up from Ella’s belly and out of her mouth. “Got it.”
“Cade knew about Garrett and Derek?” Josie asked.
“Hell, yes, he knew,” Maddie said.
“Then, I want to hear…” Josie whispered. “…every detail of how a woman handles three, demanding men, and still goes to work in the morning.”
“She gets knocked up with twins,” Maddie said. “That’s how.”