“Nothing,” Adelia said with a shrug that made Ivy’s heart sink despite knowing how the story would end. “Charles did as he was told and courted one of the Whittaker girls until he left for college. He was going to law school to take over his father’s practice, like our son Norman did, so he was gone to Tuscaloosa for years.”
“You waited all that time for him?”
“Not exactly. I went on with my life, as a girl with any sense does. I graduated and got a job working at the bank as a secretary. I enjoyed working and I was good at what I did. I earned enough money to rent an apartment over the shoe store and bought my own car. Around here, it was nearly unheard of for a girl to be unmarried and working at my age, but I didn’t care what anyone thought. I was happy.”
“Did you ever see or hear from him while he was away?”
“Charles would write me letters from time to time, telling me about school and asking how I was doing. He was busy with his studies, but I knew that because he took the time to write, he still thought of me fondly. Time seemed to fly by and the next thing I knew, Charles showed up in the bank one day, looking as handsome as ever. Blake takes a lot after my Charles. He told me that he’d graduated and moved back to Rosewood to practice. When he noticed I was still single, he asked me out on the spot.”
Ivy held her teacup steady in midair, too focused on the story to either take a sip or put it down.
“We were married the next year, and I had Norman the year after that.” Ivy watched her glance down at her wedding ring and smile. “We were very happy together.”
“That’s a wonderful story. Whatever happened to the Whittaker girl his father wanted him to marry?”
A wide and decidedly devious smile broke out across the older woman’s face. “Well, you see, working at the bank, I had access to a lot of personal information about the residents of Rosewood. I made a few offhand comments to her about the large bank account of a single architect who was in Rosewood to assist with the design of the new high school. Like a fly to honey, she went right after him. They married, and when he completed his work here, he moved and took her with him. By the time Charles returned to Rosewood, Martha was on her second baby and living in Des Moines.”
Miss Adelia was a shrewd woman. Ivy liked that. She just didn’t want to be on the woman’s bad side. “It sounds like everyone ended up happy in the end.”
The older woman smiled and patted Ivy’s hand. “Oh yes, but it very easily could’ve ended differently. Say, if Charles had bent to his father’s wishes and married Martha while he was still in college. Or if I had been impatient and married the first man who looked my way after graduation. Despite the ups and downs, things worked out the way they were meant to.
“The Chamberlain men . . . are often slow to act,” Adelia continued with a weary sigh. “Even when they have what they want right in front of them, they don’t always reach out and grab it the way they should.”
Ivy took a bite of a butter cookie, but her mouth was suddenly so dry, she had to chase it with a sip of tea to keep from choking. She realized now that this was no idle chatter over tea. The elder Chamberlain had brought her here for a specific reason.
“It took forever for Blake’s father, Norman, to settle down. Helen was perfect for him, but he hesitated to pull the trigger. It was the eighties, and he was more interested in living an exciting, glamorous life than in settling down and starting a family. Blake is the same way. Sometimes I wonder if he didn’t go after that cheerleader on purpose.”
Ivy’s eyes widened as she sat back in her seat and gently placed her teacup on its saucer for fear of dropping it. Was she really discussing Blake’s infidelity with his grandmother? The fact that Miss Adelia even knew the details of their breakup was mortifying enough, but she got the feeling that the woman knew everything that happened in this town. “Wh-what makes you say that?”
“Blake loved you very much. I could see it in the way he carried himself when he was with you. I think he knew he had a good thing with you, but he was too young and scared by the idea of it. All that fame and attention can cloud your ability to see things clearly. Sabotaging the relationship might not make sense to you or me, but in his twisted male mind, it allowed him to put off taking the next step.”
That was one way to look at it. Ivy had always blamed it on his being drunk and horny and feeling sorry for himself. “What’s done is done,” she replied, trying not to give away too many of her own thoughts and feelings on the subject. After the past few confusing days in Rosewood, she’d started to question what those feelings even were.
His grandmother was obviously trying to explain Blake’s actions to her, but why? Was she trying to diffuse the tension between them so the fund-raisers were successful? To avoid the scandal of another public fight? Her stomach ached as she considered the last option—was she trying to get them back together again?
“Yes. It was a huge mistake, of course, and he realized it immediately. Blake was an absolute mess over the holidays. It’s no wonder the Tigers lost the BCS championship. His heart just wasn’t in the game. But as you say, it was too late and he couldn’t change what he’d done. Although sometimes I wonder . . . what if you and Blake are like his grandfather and I? What if you’re just taking the long, winding road to happiness?”
“I don’t know about that,” Ivy replied slowly, looking into her lap to avoid the pointed blue gaze aimed at her. It felt like Miss Adelia could look right into her and see the darkest secrets she kept hidden from everyone. “I think we’ve both hurt each other too much to ever go back to where we were.”
“Perhaps,” she said thoughtfully. “Perhaps not.”
“Anyway,” Ivy argued with a nervous smile, “from what I’ve heard, I think he’s dating Lydia Whittaker.”
At that, Miss Adelia frowned into her tea
cup. “I doubt that’s truly the case. But even if it were, no matter. You and I are a lot alike, Ivy. I didn’t let a Whittaker girl get in between Charles and me. I suggest you don’t, either.”
“That’s it?” Pepper sounded extremely disappointed.
“Pretty much.” Ivy pinched her iPhone between her ear and her shoulder so she could steer her shopping cart with both hands through the narrow aisles of the Piggly Wiggly.
Ivy had relayed the high points of her afternoon tea party to Pepper over the phone, specifically leaving out the conversation about Miss Adelia’s history and how it paralleled Ivy’s relationship with Blake. She had left the Chamberlain mansion with her head spinning. Their discussion had been both enlightening and miserably confusing.
When she’d returned to her cabin that evening, Ivy found herself stir-crazy. The house was too quiet and there were too many thoughts fighting for her attention. It seemed to her as though Miss Adelia was pushing them to reconcile. The older woman had seemed completely lucid during the conversation, but the idea of getting back together with Blake was crazy.
Too crazy to share, even with Pepper. As far as her friend and anyone else needed to know, she’d had a nice time. The food was very good and she ate too much. But it was just a polite tea.
When the cabin had suddenly felt too small, Ivy had gotten into her car and driven into town. She didn’t really need anything, but she found herself at the grocery store. The lights, the sounds, and the wide aisles of products were a happy distraction.