“Literally a week ago.” Bethany turned a lovely pink. “I don’t know how he managed to come to LA in the middle of the semester.”
“Come to LA?” Anne frowned, squinting like she couldn’t see clearly. “Semester?”
“Yeah.” Her cousin gave her a confused sideways glance. “You do remember that Aiden is a first-year medical student at Johns Hopkins, right?”
“Aiden?” Now she sounded like a robot. Anne slowly processed the implication of Bethany’s words, terrified of the hope sputtering back to life inside her.Can it be true?Andrew refilled her champagne flute with a concerned glance. She emptied her glass in one gulp again. Frederick didn’t propose to Bethany? “Aidenproposed to you? And you saidyes?”
“Um, yes?” Bethany held out her left hand as though trying to prove she really was engaged. “Have you not heard a word we said?”
“She’s surprised, Beth,” Auntie Sharon chided. “I don’t blame her.”
“You’re right, Umma,” Bethany said, then grinned sheepishly at Anne. “We were so excited to see you that we probably left out some of the details. Of course you’re confused. Especially since we’d kept everything a secret from you so it would be a surprise.”
Anne wasn’t surprised. She was flabbergasted. Bethany wasn’t engaged to Frederick? He didn’t ask her to marry him? Aiden had proposed to her, and she’d said yes. Bethany was marrying Aiden. Anne repeated her thoughts in her head, replacing the question marks with unequivocal periods. Bethany wasnotmarrying Frederick. But…
“What about Frederick?” Anne blurted with indignant outrage. She was turned upside down and inside out, but she could only think about Frederick.
“Frederick?” Bethany, Auntie Sharon, and Andrew all said at once. Then a considering light entered Bethany’s eyes.
Did Bethany leave Frederick to be with Aiden? Did she break his heart? How could she!Howdareshe, Anne seethed.Oh, Frederick.She wanted to run to him and make sure he was okay.
“Frederick wasneverinterested in me.” Bethany held Anne’s gaze with quiet intensity. “I admit I was a bit infatuated, but my accident made me realize life is too short to pine after someone who doesn’t like you back.”
“I see.” So Bethany didn’t break Frederick’s heart? He wasokay? Anne realized she’d been nodding for long enough to make her aunt frown with worry. “That’s, uh, that’s very smart.”
“But if you’re still worried about Frederick”—Bethany gave her a knowing smirk—“maybe you should ask him yourself.”
“Uh…” Anne squinted at her cousin, thoroughly confused. She needed to pull herself together. “So when did this whirlwind courtship take place?”
“When Aiden got back to Johns Hopkins after Presidents’ Day weekend, he called to ask how I was feeling. I thought it was so sweet of him. That’s just how Aiden is, you know? He’s so warm and caring. He’s going to be a great doctor.” Bethany sighed, and her irises did their best to turn into hearts. “Anyway, we ended up talking for hours, and he called every single day since then. Then last week, he showed up on our doorstep. I thought my heart was going to explode. He was justthere, and he looked so handsome. We spent the whole weekend together because we couldn’t bear to be apart for even a minute. It was like we couldn’t get enough of each other.”
Auntie Sharon cleared her throat loudly.
“Geez, Umma.” Bethany giggled. “Get over it. He put a ring on my finger. Remember?”
“Oh, I remember,” Auntie Sharon said with a watery laugh. “My baby girl is getting married.”
What was happening again? Anne furrowed her brows in concentration. Why did she keep losing her train of thought? Her heart pounded at the base of her throat.Bethany is engaged to Aiden, she repeated to herself for the twentieth time. Frederick had never been interested in Bethany. An uncontrollable smile tugged at Anne’s lips.Stop that and think.Where did that leave her and Frederick? Had anything changed?
Everything has changed.
“Sorry.” Anne stood up so quickly that her chair would’ve toppled over if Andrew hadn’t caught it. “I… I have to go.”
“Sweetie?” Auntie Sharon started to get up, but Bethany tugged her back down.
“Give her some space, Umma.” Bethany gave Anne an encouraging smile. “She has some figuring out to do.”
“Is everything all right?” Andrew asked after righting her chair, concern lining his face. “You look so pale. Should I drive you back to the hotel?”
“Andrew, she’s fine.” Bethany played interference again. “Anne just needs a minute.”
“But…” He didn’t sound convinced.
Anne barely heard their exchange. She couldn’t leave England until the filming was over, but she could call Frederick. She could call him without hurting Bethany. Anne could call Frederick because he didn’t belong to anyone else. If she could find the courage to fight for him, he might belong to her once and for all.
With a grateful but distracted nod at her cousin, Anne bolted from the table and ran out of the pub.I have to call him. Right now.She pulled out her phone and nearly dropped it when a bicyclist rushed past, jostling her hard.No, not right now.She would call him as soon as she got back to her hotel room.
She took off down the street. Andrew called out to her—he’d come after her despite Bethany’s advice—but she didn’t look back. She ran faster because she didn’t want to talk to him. She couldn’t talk to anyone until she spoke to Frederick.
