cute kiss on the nose or maybe a pat on the bottom. Ellery Witt, epitome of the understanding fiancée. Even though she really, really wished he’d push away his notes and pull her into his arms and give her his full attention. His cadaver got more action than she did.
“Thanks, Rach. I’m off,” she called out to Rachel, who’d stopped to chat with Fiona at the makeup counter. Fi was showing Rachel the new Christmas gift sets that came with the purchase of a perfume. Normally, Ellery would be all over the new shades of eggplant and olive eyeshadows, but she had the role of best future wife ever to play.
After she hadn’t gotten the internship and resigned herself to coming back to Shreveport, she’d rationalized that being with Josh would be a great testing ground for their upcoming marriage. She wasn’t giving up on her dream, but since her fashion goals were on hold, she would work on balance and providing emotional support for her future husband. This would be another step in creating a solid relationship, one like she’d thought her parents had.
When Daphne and Rex had asked to speak to her before she went back to college for her junior year, she’d been shocked to learn they were getting a divorce. Her parents had seemed rock solid. Well, at least until her mother had gotten a new life, one that didn’t include her or her father. Ellery couldn’t lie and say it hadn’t hurt to feel as if she’d been relegated to the back burner and left there while her mother went to book festivals, conferences, and three-day meetings with attorneys and her agent. Overnight her mother had become a different woman. Like literally. Her agent talked Daphne into writing under a different name. Two blinks later, the former preschool teacher had a fan club and multiple offers from networks looking to adapt her children’s books for a new television series. Suddenly her mother wasn’t just her mother. She was Dee Dee O’Hara.
Ellery hadn’t realized her father felt the same way—forgotten. Her father had gone to therapy to deal with being abandoned and set aside for her mom’s unexpected career. He’d told her all this when they were at the beach, about how he’d felt diminished and lonely. Ellery had always been under the impression her father had ended the marriage, but Dad had implied that things had gotten so bad that he thought leaving was the only avenue left to him. Sitting there that night on the beach, her father had wiped tears away when he told her he’d driven away hoping that his action would wake her mother up to the problems in their marriage, but Daphne hadn’t seemed to care. She’d shrugged and said she didn’t love him anymore. Ellery had felt something inside her break at the sadness in her father’s voice.
And then he’d told her about his suspicions . . . about how secretive Daphne was. About the man who’d answered the phone one morning in her hotel room.
Until that moment, she hadn’t realized how hurt her daddy had been. He hadn’t asked for his wife to become the next Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators rock star, and when Daphne refused to change her new direction even the slightest or fight for their marriage, her father had no recourse but to step away in order to protect his own mental health.
Well, Ellery wasn’t going to stop fighting for her and Josh.
She had all the pieces she needed to put together both a successful marriage and eventual career. What was happening now was a speed bump, and she knew how to roll right over those. Nothing between her and Josh had changed. When they’d graduated from UGA, they’d sat under a big oak tree, holding hands, grad gowns tangled about their legs, and declared that they were in this together. Whatever came their way, they could handle. She even remembered his words.
“We’re doing this, right?” He’d looked so intense at that moment.
“Yeah. I think as long as we stick together, everything we’ve ever wanted will be at our fingertips,” she’d said, squeezing his hand, her heart so full at having this man’s love. Josh made her so happy.
“I know you think coming with me is right, but I think you should go to New York.”
“I can’t. I don’t have a job, Josh.”
Josh looped his arms around her and kissed her forehead. “Babe, it’s going to be hard my first couple of