“Emmaline, I’m so sorry,” I whispered hastily as I stood at the threshold of her front door, waiting for her to let me in.

She blinked at me repeatedly in surprise and rubbed at her eyes. “What? What are you doing here? Come in.”

“I’m so sorry, I hope I didn’t wake Theodora.”

I didn’t complete my thought as a voice interrupted me. “Everything okay, Emmie?”

I recognized that voice and my mouth opened to a perfect O as I saw who was standing there behind Emmaline, shirtless with messy hair.

“Hi, Lacey. Long time no see.”

I smiled and wiped my nose on my sleeve. I was snotty from way too much crying and had taken a taxi straight from the event to Emmaline’s home because I didn’t want to go back to Jude’s loft. I had foolishly given up the lease on my apartment figuring that I could look for another one after the six months with Jude were up.

Stupid, stupid, stupid, I thought to myself.

“Hi, Colin.”

We awkwardly hugged. I hadn’t seen him since college and it was a shocker frankly to see him again, half-dressed in Emmaline’s home.

“Umm… so when did you two get back together? When did this happen?”

Colin and Emmaline looked at each other.

She placed a hand against his chest and said, “Give us a little privacy, ok?”

He kissed her solidly on the mouth. “Don’t take too long.”

He then walked away from me. “It’s good to see you again, Lacey.”

I smiled, still confused by his presence. As soon as he disappeared through the door, I said, “What are you doing? What’s Colin doing here? When did this all start?”

“I thought you were here to talk about you?”

I narrowed my eyes at her and sat down hard on the couch. “Spill it.”

“It’s been going on for at least a year.”

“A year!” I hadn’t been expecting that!

“Yeah. It just sort of happened,” she said, smiling. “I’ve spent years pushing him away, determined to not need him, but I’ve needed him all this time. I was being stupid. And I ended up hurting both Theodora and myself in the process. What’s the saying? Pride cometh before the fall? I was so determined that I could be a great single mom despite my age, that I refused the love and help of my child’s father. I was so stupid… we even considered getting married in Vegas when we met up—”

“Hold on. Rewind. You two met up in Vegas? When we were all together? Like on our trip?”

She blushed. “Yeah. Sorry about that. He just popped up. I wasn’t expecting that. I actually went to Vegas to get over him. We had just had an argument and I was determined to end it with him, but he showed up at the bar that night—”

“So, that’s why you weren’t around to save me from myself!? I got beat up, you know. Jude had to rescue me.”

She nodded. “Yeah. Sorry about that. I was too busy making out with my ex in the hallway…. where unfortunately, Misha caught us.”

“So Misha knows too? I feel so left out of the loop!” I narrowed my eyes at her. “So is that why you were MIA the next day when I found out that I had married Jude?”

She nodded guiltily. “I was hiding Colin in my bedroom.”

I shook my head. “So did you guys get hitched too?”

“Oh no! Even in our inebriated state, we realized that would cause a lot of confusion for Theodora, so we wanted to do it the right way.”

I frowned. “Why couldn’t I have had your sense of practicality when drunk?”

She laughed. “Yeah, I did sigh in relief and thank God I hadn’t done what you did.”

“Thanks, Emmaline. Thanks for that,” I said sarcastically and then softened my tone. “Honestly, I’m so happy for you. I always thought you and Colin were good together. And I’m sure Theodora will love having her parents back together.”

She nodded. “We plan to tell her soon. As in tomorrow morning when she wakes up.”

I frowned. “I hope I didn’t wake her by knocking, and she’s sitting somewhere eavesdropping.”

Emmaline waved off my concerns. “That girl could sleep through a natural disaster. You’re fine. Let’s get back to you. What are you going to do about Jude?”

“Walk away. No, run away. With the last of my dignity.”

"Okayyyyy,” she said drawing the word out and giving me a long look. “Let’s try again. What’s going on? Why are you here? You were so excited about tonight and about you and Jude.”

I quickly told Emmaline what I had heard and she listened, interrupting only to ask a question to clarify some of the things I said.

And when I was done, I expected her to tear into them. I expected her to say that I was right to have left, that those people were horrible and that I shouldn’t even waste my breath on them.

Instead, she said, “Those people aren’t Oliver. They aren’t Jude. I think you overreacted, Lacey.”

“What the hell? Seriously, Emmaline. Someone calls me white trash and you think I should have just stuck around and thanked them.” I was beyond hurt. How could Emmaline not take my side? Didn’t she remember how we’d been treated as kids? “It’s like you’ve forgotten about our childhood. It’s like you don’t remember how we were treated by those spoiled ass rich kids. Damn, Emmaline, have you forgotten that we’ve come from nothing?” I stood up, trying to hold back the tears that were threatening to fall.

Emmaline chuckled dryly. “Nope, I remember. I remember every humiliating moment of high school. I remember how the rich kids taunted us, made fun of us, made us feel as if we didn’t belong there.”

“Yet you think I overreacted?” I said, the tears now flowing freely as I thought of all the horrible things the kids had said and done.

“I think you’re misplacing your anger. Jude didn’t say those things. Jude has never treated you as anything other than an equal. And Oliver, it seems he liked you the moment he met you. You have a chip on your shoulder, Lacey.”

“You don’t know what you’re talking about—”

Emmaline’s eyebrows arched and I knew she was mad. “I don’t know what I’m talking about? I’m a woman who was born into poverty and got knocked up in college. I’m the one who insisted on being a single mother and doing it all on my own because I refused to accept the love and help of the one man who unconditionally and wholeheartedly wanted to give me both.” Her voice shook. “I had a huge chip on my shoulder, Lacey. And what do I have to show for it? I denied my daughter the gift of living with both her parents under one roof because I wanted to prove to others that Emmaline Daniels might have been poor and from the wrong side of the tracks, but she could do it all on her own. And what do I have to show for it?”

She waited for me to answer, but I didn’t know what to say. I didn’t know she had ever felt that way.

“I’ll tell you what I have to show for it… I missed out on ten years of being with the man I loved and raising my child with the father she loved, all because of some misplaced pride and you shouldn’t do the same. We’re not those poor kids anymore. We’re not just trash from the wrong side of the track. We’re adults with choices and we need to start making better ones.”

I sat down defeated. I knew she was right.

“You know,” I said in a small voice. “Their words hurt so much because I couldn’t help thinking, what if they’re right? Am I really good enough for Jude? And God, I did agree to this arrangement for the money. So what does that say about me? It says I’m desperate.”

“Honey, there are women who marry incarcerated serial killers just to become famous. Compared to them, I think you’re doing okay. If there’s a scale of desperate women, I’m sure you’re not on it.”

I giggled. My giggle turned into laughter and we were laughing so hard we didn’t know Theodora was there until she stood in front of us looking sleepy and agitated.

“Can you two hold it down? Some of us are trying to sleep, you know. I do have responsibilities, specifically a school project tomorrow.”

“Oops, sorry,” I said sheepishly.

“Sorry,” Emmaline echoed. With a sigh of frustration, Theodora walked back to her room.

Emmaline smothered a giggle. “What did I tell you? She’s ten going on eighteen.”

I chuckled and placed my hand over hers. “Thanks for hearing me out. Helping me see reason.”

“That’s what friends are for. I just don’t want you to throw away a good thing. And what you have with Jude is a very good thing.”

“He said he loved me tonight…”

“Of course he does. How could he not?”

I hugged her and stood up to leave when I realized my only choice was a hotel or back to the loft.

“Do you mind if I spend the night here?”

“No, I don’t mind, but I think it would better if you go home and face your demons.”

“You mean, face Jude”

“Yep.”

“Call me a cab?”

“I’ll just drop you off.”

We pulled up in front of the loft and I looked at her. “Wish me luck,”

I hopped out the car as Emmaline made a U-turn and yelled out, “Go get him, girl!”

I squared my shoulders as if I were going into battle and made my way to the door. I took a deep breath and inserted my key.

Before I could turn the lock, the door was opening from the other side. Looking tired and pissed off, Jude stood there.

I opened my mouth to say something, anything, but nothing came out.

He said nothing to me, just studied me, his eyes not revealing any emotions. He turned away from me and I avoided the inevitable as long as possible, taking my time to lock and bolt the door.

He went to the fridge, pulled out a beer and sat down on the couch and used the end table to open his beer, smacking the cap with his hand, sending the cap spiraling across the floor. I stared at the cap since it seemed the better option instead of facing Jude. Apparently, he had other ideas.

“I’m over here, Lacey. At the very least, you can look at me.”

I forced myself to.

“Why’d you run from me tonight?”

I shrugged and looked away from him, not because I didn’t know the answer, but because I didn’t even know where to start. So I just started talking and hoped he would understand.

“When we met, I didn’t even have my own car, Jude—”

He made a face, clearly confused. “What does that have to do with us?”

“You’re a son of a billionaire, a former athlete who’s been around the world. You have connections to all sorts of people. I was just a lowly temp worker. A nobody. Our meeting and marrying was like a Cinderella story, but instead of it being based on love, it was based on greed and deception.”

“A Cinderella story?” he said incredulously.

“Yeah, the handsome prince rescuing the lowly servant girl.”

“Rescue you? I didn’t rescue you, Lacey. Our story isn’t some sort of Cinderella tale. We were both consenting adults who helped each other. In fact, I needed you a lot more than you needed me. You were doing fine without me. Better than fine.”

“Oh please, I didn’t have a steady job, a car, a—”

“Stop. Stop downing yourself and your life. You know why my dad chose you as his assistant?”

I shrugged.

“He liked you. He knew upon meeting you that you had integrity, a backbone, you were a fighter and he liked that. You weren’t intimidated by either of us. You were like a schoolmaster… except much more attractive.”

I shook my head. “You’re just being nice.”

“No, I’m being truthful. Most people, when dealt a heavy hand in life, just fold. But not you, Lacey. You step up to challenges. Working for my father is a challenge, being my wife is a challenge and you’ve accepted those challenges head on. Yeah, it’s not a Cinderella story because you don’t need a knight or a prince to rescue you, you rescued yourself. And if you can’t see that, then you seriously can’t see yourself the way others see you. The way I see you. I see a courageous woman, someone who’s not afraid to take risks or chances. I see a woman who took a chance on me.”

“I stayed with you for money, Jude. Stop making out to be this great person.”

“No, I convinced you to stay with me for money. Because I would have used whatever ploy I could to get you to stay with me. Why do you think I never took my ring off, Lacey? I didn’t regret marrying you for a second. Not one second.”

I shook my head, feeling tears flood my eyes. This couldn’t be true.

“Remember, I was cut off. I would have found a way to expand Ophelia’s Angels without my Dad’s help. No, this agreement was about me getting you to stay with me. It was about us. I wanted to see if we could make us work.”

“So you did set this all up? You and your father?”

“Unless he gave us both roofies, I’m not sure how that could be so. At the end of the day, we married each other because we wanted to.”

“And we stayed together because of money…”

“You honestly believe that?”

I didn’t answer him and he stood up, crossed the space between us and sat down next to me, folding his hands around mine.

“What can I do to make this right? How can I get you to understand that I love you? That you’re special to me. Vegas only accelerated the inevitable. I love you, Lacey. A billion dollars doesn’t change that.”

He was stroking my face, breaking down my resolve, but in the back of my mind, I could hear the voices of those women.

“They’ll never accept me in your circle. They think I’m a gold digger.” I told him what I heard and his eyes darkened. He was angry.

“Every single one of those women married into money. And half of them are now widows who every now and then throw themselves at my dad. In fact, some of them didn’t even wait until my mother was dead to try to tempt my father.”

“That’s disgusting.”

“They’re disgusting. Jealous. Petty. So whatever they said about you is just a reflection of themselves. It’s probably the same things they said about my mother.”

“Your mother wasn’t from a wealthy family?” I was surprised.

Jude laughed, hard. “Mom was the youngest of five kids. She was raised by a cousin. She never knew her parents. They were so broke they had dirt floors growing up. She was from West Virginia. A beautiful place, but as soon as she was old enough, she left, came to the big city. She met my dad at a gas station where she worked as a cashier.”

“You’re kidding me.”

“Nope.”

“Every day he went to see her and they’d chat. After six months she finally agreed to go out with him.”

“Oh… and then they fell in love?”

“Well, Dad fell in love at first sight, it took Mom another two years to convince.”

I laughed. “I’m sorry I left. I just felt so out of my element in your world.”

“My world?” he said softly, cupping my face. He shook his head. “No, you don’t understand. You are my world.”

I swallowed hard. I knew he meant every word. Every part of my being, my heart, my soul, my spirit, yearned to be a part of Jude’s world. And then it dawned on me: as much as I was his world, for the rest of my life, he would be mine.