Natalie slid by me, her arms open. “Addie, it’s been too long.” She hugged Adelaide like her long-lost friend while my girl stood there stiff as a board. “I’m so happy you could join us for brunch.”
Natalie let go of Adelaide and looped her arm through Saul’s. Adelaide’s head snapped to her dad.
“You should have told me.”
He grimaced. “You wouldn’t have come. I wanted you here, and now that you are, you’ll see that everything is fine. You and Natalie were friends before, I don’t see why my marrying her should change that.”
Adelaide turned from ice to stone. “I don’t know, nor do I care, what she’s told you, but we have never been friends.”
Natalie made a pouty face again. “We were coworkers for years. I guess I assumed we were friends too. That’s my mistake.”
She was making my girl look like the bad guy by denying her. I’d fallen for this trick when I first met Natalie. Not that I ever thought Adelaide was the bad guy, just that she wasn’t giving Natalie a chance. I saw straight through her now. Saul? Not so much.
His rebuke was sharp. “Don’t be rude, Adelaide. That’s not how you were raised.”
“You know what?” Adelaide threw off her oven mitts. “I’m not doing this. I didn’t come over here to have your fiancée shoved down my throat and then get scolded like a child.”
Saul took her hand in his, stalling her in her tracks. “Stay. Please stay. We’ll have brunch and talk. I would like to know what you’ve been doing. I don’t want to argue today. Not today.”
Her shoulders rolled forward at her heavy exhale. “If today was so important to you, you wouldn’t have gone about it this way.”
“It is important. I made a mistake, and I apologize. Please stay.” His eyes flicked to mine. “Stay.”
“That’s up to Adelaide.” I’d have her out of here in a second if she gave me even the slightest signal.
She shook free of her dad and came to me, tucking into my side. “Fine. We’ll stay. Let’s have brunch then.”
I guided her out of the kitchen, giving her space from Natalie and her father. She was trembling, but kept her chin raised and her spine like steel.
“It was an asshole move,” I murmured.
“It was. Saul’s ruthless, so I should have suspected Natalie would be here. I doubt she ever had plans to visit her parents. That was just a story he sold me to get me here.”
Shooting a glare at the kitchen, I tightened my hold on her. “Fuck. That hadn’t even registered as a possibility.”
Her smile was sad. “You don’t become a billionaire without being duplicitous. I just never expected my dad to treat me like one of his business dealings. I don’t…I don’t know if there’s any going back from this.”
I pressed my lips to her temple. “I’ve got your back, whatever you decide. You know that, right? I won’t try to talk you out of your feelings.”
She nodded, her hazel eyes beautiful and shiny. “Thank you. That means more to me than you know.”
Natalie acted like the little wifey, wearing a frilly apron and bringing the serving dishes to the table. Saul helped minimally, pouring mimosas then plopping his ass in a chair across from me. He spoke to me about the profit margin of TSC’s last tour through Europe, as if that shit was any of my business. I nodded and gritted my teeth through it for Adelaide’s sake.
Once Natalie sat down, Adelaide raised her champagne flute. “Here’s to my mom. Happy birthday, Mommy. We miss you so much and wish you were here.”
“Happy birthday, Aminah,” Saul gruffed, clinking his glass to Adelaide’s.
Natalie and I clinked glasses too. Though, from the tightness at the corners of her mouth, she didn’t seem pleased cheering for Saul’s first wife.
Brunch was mostly silent and awkward as fuck. The food was good, but the company was trash. Adelaide pushed the food around her plate, barely eating. Her father kept looking at her, opening his mouth, then shoving more food in instead of speaking to her.
“So,” Natalie began, “have you set a date for your wedding?”
Adelaide looked up from her plate. “Um…no. I suppose soon, right?” Her eyes swept to mine. “Do you think?”
“Can’t be soon enough.” I squeezed her leg under the table.
“Well, you’ll have to tell us the date.” Natalie hung on Saul’s shoulder. “Daddy and I—oops, I mean Saul and I were thinking June for our wedding. We don’t want to wait too long since we’re going to try for a baby right away. I don’t want to wait to start trying, but Saul wants to make an honest woman out of me first.”