In a Book Club Far Away(91)

CHAPTER FIFTY-SIX

Adelaide




Her home was full of people. People were in rooms she wasn’t finished decorating. There were children in every nook and cranny. One toddler was climbing up the stairs. Someone was coming out of the powder room.

“Surprise!” Voices chimed in, though not in unison.

Behind Regina, someone clapped. It was Genevieve. “It’s my party!”

Adelaide was confused, but also joyful, and shocked.

Despite her warring emotions, Adelaide understood that she had to remain calm because there were too many people for her to lose her cool. This event was evidently for her daughter, but thrown in Adelaide’s honor, whether or not she’d consented to it. So she plastered a smile on her face and grabbed Sophie’s hand behind her. “We need to talk.” Together they walked to the center of the foyer. Adelaide scooped up Regina’s hand and dragged both her friends up the stairs, smiling, hoping people didn’t notice her anger.

Finally behind her closed bedroom door, Adelaide shut her eyes. “Who is responsible for this?”

“Me,” said Regina.

Adelaide turned. “Why?”

“Because, I thought… you love birthdays and parties, and you said you were sad that you weren’t throwing Genevieve a party.” She took a step forward. “Look, I know I didn’t ask permission.”

“No, you didn’t. And you know… you know that my home is so special to me, that it’s important for me to prepare it myself. I feel like sh—doo-doo. Did you even think about that? And to reach out to these people? You can’t just snoop or jump into people’s lives.”

Regina’s chin dropped into her chest.

“It wasn’t just her. It was me, too. I helped,” Sophie said.

Regina threw her head back and laughed. “Oh my God, you can’t be a martyr here, too. I can’t even take the blame on my own.”

“What are you talking about?” Sophie asked.

“Please. You did nothing for this party. And you couldn’t even do the one thing I asked you, which was to keep her away until I gave you the okay.”

Sophie hiked her hands on her hips. “Wait a minute. I can’t help it if the patient went rogue. Who was the one who didn’t keep an eye on their texts? I tried to help.”

“Here we go again,” Regina said, crossing her arms. “I hate to bring the past back up, but you ‘helping’ is something I can live without.”

“Whoa,” Adelaide said. The conversation was spiraling out of control.

Regina threaded her fingers in her hair. “I feel like I’m in an alternate universe. You, Ms. Picture-Perfect Adelaide, are yelling at me for doing something nice, when it’s not my fault you arrived too early. All this after you fooled me into coming to Old Town in the first place to deal with this lady”—she gestured at Sophie—“when you knew what I went through after Miko was born.”

“What do you mean by that?” Sophie asked.

“I ended up having postpartum depression.” Regina frowned. “It didn’t help that my birth experience was the worst. Not only was Miko a vacuum-assisted delivery, but he was blue coming out. I was already furious at Logan, and then there was…”

“The Fight.” Sophie added.

“And then we found out that Command put Logan on orders months before we expected.”

“No.” Adelaide had had enough. “Stop it. The both of you. I’m sick of the both of you fighting. Because you shouldn’t be fighting each other. Because this is all my fault.” She let her gaze rest on each of them briefly, breath heaving. “Can you guys take a seat, please?”

“What—” Sophie started.

“Just do something once in your life without questioning me, please?”

Sophie took a seat on the wingback chair, and Regina perched on the bed.

“Regina, I know that you and Sophie had a fight after Miko was born. But it wasn’t her fault that Logan got reassigned so quickly, truly.” Now, it was Adelaide who had to sit. She took the chair next to the door, precariously. She swallowed the nervous bubble rising in her throat. “It was me.”

Regina frowned. “What do you mean?”

“I mean that Sophie and I met up quickly after her visit with you. Matt had just come home, so I really didn’t have time to socialize.”

“I remember that,” Sophie said. “You met me outside your building.”

“You were crying,” Adelaide continued, her heart hammering in her chest. “It made me upset for you. To be honest, I hated Logan for all of us. He had a baby coming, and he was lying to everyone—you, Command, Sophie, even Rebecca Chandler. By the time I walked back into the apartment, I was so upset, shaking even, and I had to tell someone, else I was going to explode. So I told Matt.”

“Matt?” Regina asked.

Sophie laughed. “Matt told the commander.”

Adelaide nodded. “He had to, at that point. While Sophie’s impression was nothing concrete, it was enough to expedite Logan’s move. For the morale of the unit.”

“So the unit’s morale was improved by my husband leaving his postpartum wife and infant?” Regina said. “And you didn’t say a thing. You let me blame Sophie.”