At the firm, she met with three of her partners. They already knew about her marriage.
And they weren’t surprised when she told them she would be leaving Teale, Gayle and Prosser. They weren’t happy with her, either. She was a valued and very much counted-on member of the team, after all. And they were going to be scrambling to fill the void that would be created by her absence.
When she told them she hoped to leave for her new home within the month, an icy silence descended. After which there was talk of her obligations, of the contract she had with the firm.
Then she told them about the potential clients she would be bringing in before she left. She named the ones Rule had mentioned the night before their wedding. And she explained that His Highness, her husband, had excellent business connections worldwide—connections he was willing to share with Teale, Gayle and Prosser.
By the time the meeting was over, her partners were smiling again. Of course, they would be waiting to see if she delivered on her promises. But at least she had a chance of getting out quickly with her reputation intact and zero bridges burned.
She went to work with a vengeance, getting her office and workload in order.
Rule hadn’t called since the second time she’d talked to him the night before, when she’d gotten all up in his face. Had she been too hard on him?
Oh, maybe. A little.
But she couldn’t believe he’d just dropped the bomb of his elopement on the poor, lovesick princess and then left her all on her own because she’d asked him to. Sydney hoped her harsh words had put a serious bug up his butt—as her Grandma Ellen might have said—and that he’d found a way to make sure Liliana had the confidant she needed at a time like this.
At five that afternoon, Sydney was called into the main conference room, which was packed with her partners, the associates, the paralegals, the secretarial staff and even the HR people. There was champagne and a pile of wedding gifts and a cake.
Sydney couldn’t believe it. It was really happening. She was getting the office wedding shower she’d been so certain she’d never have.
She thanked them and made a little speech about how much they all meant to her and how she would miss them. And then she ate two pieces of cake, sipped one glass of champagne and did the rounds of the room, her spirits lifted that her colleagues had made a party just for her.
It was nine at night when she left the office. She was seriously dragging by then. Sleep had been in short supply for five days now—since last Friday, when her whole life had changed in an instant, because she’d gone into Macy’s to buy a wedding gift for Calista Dwyer.
At home, Lani helped her carry in the gifts from the party. “You look exhausted,” Lani said. “Just leave everything on the table. I’ll deal with it tomorrow.”
Sydney dropped the last box on the stack and sank into a chair. “How was your day?”
“Fabulous. Trevor took a three-hour nap and I got ten pages done. And then later, we went to the park. He seems to have slacked off on the endless knock-knock jokes.”
“That’s a relief.”
“I so agree—he asked twice about ?
?Roo.’ He wanted to know when Rule was coming to see him again so they could play trucks.”
Sydney was happy that her son was so taken with his stepfather. She only wished she didn’t feel edgy and unsure about everything. But it had all happened so fast between them, and now he was gone. A sense of unreality had set in.
She told Lani, “He said he’d be back in a week.”
“Well, all right. Good to know—and is everything okay with you two?”
Sydney let her shoulders slump. “There are some issues.”
Lani knew her so well. “And you’re too wiped out to talk about them now.” At Sydney’s weary nod, she asked, “Hungry?”
“Naw. I had takeout at the office—and two pieces of cake at the party. I think I’ll go upstairs and kiss my sleeping son and then take a long, hot bath.”
Forty-five minutes later, Sydney climbed into bed. She set the alarm for six-thirty, turned off the light and was sound asleep almost as soon as her head hit the pillow.
Rule didn’t call that night. Or the next morning.
Apparently, he really was “brassed off” at her. She thought it was rather childish of him, to cut off communication because she’d pissed him off. Then again, nothing was stopping her from picking up the phone and calling him.
She felt reluctant to do that, which probably proved that she was being every bit as childish as he was. And she did wonder how things had worked out with Liliana, if he’d done what she’d asked him to do and found someone for the poor woman to talk to.
And okay, she hadn’t asked. She’d more like commanded. And he hadn’t appreciated her ordering him around.