Madeline’s Choice
Chapter 10 - Madeline’s Choice
Madeline postponed the wedding indefinitely.
The newspapers called her the abandoned bride.
She hated the phrase.
“No one abandoned me,” she told reporters. “I chose not to marry while my fiancé’s family was falling apart.”
But privately, Madeline struggled.
She loved Nathan.
She also saw the way he looked at Claire.
Not romantically.
Not yet.
Something deeper.
History.
Regret.
A life that had been stolen.
Madeline visited Claire alone.
Claire was surprised.
“I’m not here to fight you,” Madeline said.
“Good. I’m tired.”
Madeline smiled.
So did Claire.
They sat in Claire’s kitchen.
“I need to ask you something.”
Claire waited.
“If Victoria hadn’t separated you, would you and Nathan have married?”
Claire looked toward the living room where the boys were playing.
“Probably.”
Madeline nodded slowly.
That hurt.
But she had asked for truth.
Claire added, “But we aren’t those people anymore.”
Madeline looked at her.
“No.”
They both understood something then.
Nathan did not belong to either of them.
He would have to decide what his future meant.
And so would they.
Before Madeline left, Claire showed her the photograph Nathan had found.
Thomas Prescott stood beside Robert Bennett.
Madeline stared at it.
“That’s impossible.”
May you like
“Why?”
“My father told us he never met yours.”
