ter, the do

g at the calendar. March 17th.

ificially sweet, called up the

nds not quite steady. She took a breath, held it, an

her. He was tall, with broad shoulders that fille

delina froze on

was

and exhaustion, but unmistakably the same. The same sharp jaw, the sa

lass

polite, detached look. The look you give a stranger. "Hello," he said

and on hers as she died, the warmth of it

ed to say, her voi

s Elena Ward's stepson! He's come all the way from Was

w furrow, just for a secon

is eyes moving from Adelina to a preening Beryl, who was now standing nearby. A flicker of understanding, and then annoya

rd had set this up as a blind date, a marriage intervi

people!" Marlene chirped, trying

across the coffee tab

em up, her fingers tracing the notarized seal and Walter's angry scrawl of a signat

A weight she had carried her ent

e of the deal. This wasn't a family sending a daughter off; it was a business closing an account. Hi

hooked her arm through Garret's, who had just appea

e looked right through him. Her attention was a magnet, pulled

r gaze, and for a second, the air cra

avel arrangements," he said to

l whisper Adelina could still hear. "So, what exactly is it you do at t

but Adelina saw the muscle in his jaw jum

n the living room, her heart pounding a frantic rhy

paper cool against her skin. A slow smile, the first

Bell w