Stirring Up Trouble

by Andrea Laurence

  Chapter Nineteen

  An unexpected knock at the door startled Maddie out of her thoughts. She was sitting at her desk trying to wade through the bakery bookkeeping she’d ignored these last few weeks while she’d spent time with Emmett. It’d been a week since they broke up and now that all that was over, she had a mountain of receipts and other paperwork to deal with. It was hard enough when she stayed on top of it. She was no mathematician, but with her business finance software, she could keep her arms around it.

  Today, she couldn’t focus. The visitor at the door was just the latest in a string of interruptions she’d allowed because she didn’t really want to deal with any of this. Her head was somewhere else, running over that fight with Emmett again and again. Something about it wasn’t right. Something about the look in Emmett’s eyes when she hurled insults at him haunted her. There was a mix of betrayal, fear, and then the anger came in and she watched him completely shut down. That was her fault. She’d pushed too far and let her own hang-ups get in the way. Now, all she could do was worry about bookkeeping and try not to think about how she may have ruined something really special.

  With a sigh, she sat a cupcake paperweight on the crinkled and precarious stack of receipts and went to the front door. It was late afternoon on a Sunday, the time of day usually reserved for watching football, taking naps, or cleaning up after Sunday supper. She couldn’t fathom who would be stopping by her house at this hour.

  She opened the door to find her grandmother standing there. She was still dressed up in the light blue suit she’d likely worn to church that morning. Her pocketbook was resting on her forearm, a tiny powder-blue pillbox hat sitting stylishly askew on her head. There was also a concerned frown on her face and that was what made Maddie’s stomach start to ache with worry.

  “Granny,” Maddie said, trying to sound excited.

  “You’ve missed two Sunday suppers in a row,” Adelia said, stepping into the house and pushing Maddie aside to enter her formal living room. She chose a wingback chair to sit in and looked at her granddaughter expectantly.

  Maddie knew her cue. She was a properly raised southern woman after all. “Can I offer you something to drink? Something to eat?”

  “Something warm to drink would be lovely. It’s certainly November now. Quite chilly outside today.”

  Maddie nodded and went into the kitchen. She made a pot of English breakfast tea and paired it with a plate of orange jasmine scones.

  She returned to the living room, pouring them both a cup of tea. “I’m sorry about supper, Granny. I’m just not quite ready to face everyone after what happened on Halloween.”

  “Why?” her grandmother snapped. “Nothing happened to you, from what I can gather.”

  Maddie frowned and hid it quickly with a sip of tea. It felt like something had happened to her. She’d been lied to by her father and had a brother she didn’t know about. “Not directly,” she admitted. “But Daddy did something terrible to Mama, and I didn’t want to be around to watch their marriage fall apart. I’m not ready to hear Daddy try to apologize to me or the other kids, either.”

  Adelia Chamberlain snorted indelicately. “Do you think your father is going to apologize to anyone? He is many things, but self-aware is not one of them. I doubt he sees that he’s done anything wrong in the situation with Logan. The child was conceived before he married Helen, so he won’t allow her to be angry with him. He probably believes that keeping the secret was the noble thing to do, protecting you kids.”

  “I doubt Logan would agree with that assessment.”

  “No, I very much doubt that as well. But again, none of this is about you. Yes, your father lied to you while protecting his secret, but that’s hardly the end of the world. So tell me the truth about why you haven’t been to the house. There has to be more to it than that.”

  There was. Really, the breakup with Emmett had been what had kept her in the house this week. She didn’t want to talk about that, though. Her grandmother had played an unwitting role in that debacle and she’d rather Granny not know about it. “I’m just not feeling very sociable, Granny.”

  “I hear you’re also not feeling much like serving your remaining community service. You missed Wednesday and Judge Griffin told me that if you didn’t show up Saturday, you’d be facing contempt charges and he’d issue a warrant for your arrest. Did you go yesterday?”

  Maddie shoved a dry bit of scone into her mouth to prolong her answer. When she finally chewed and swallowed, chasing it with a sip of tea, she had to shake her head. “No, I didn’t.” Not because she didn’t value the local government or feel like she’d served the price for her time. She simply hadn’t wanted to spend all those hours alone with Emmett. Not after their blowup last week. She’d rather get arrested than deal with that right now.

  “Something happened with you and Emmett,” her grandmother said. “I can tell. What did you do?”

  “Me?” Maddie said with a near-hysterical edge to her voice. “Why is it that you assume I was the one who did something wrong? And anyway, since when do you know Emmett so well as to take his side on anything?”

  Adelia sighed and sat back against the plush cushions of the chair. “My dear, there are a great many things you don’t know about me and your Emmett.”

  “Like what?” Maddie challenged. “Like how you’re giving him loads of money?”

  Adelia’s white brows went up in surprise, but she recovered quickly. “I told you he was lining your mother’s closet with cedar.”

  “Try again, Granny. He told me that wasn’t true and the check I saw was for a hell of a lot more money than a cedar closet upgrade.”

  “Ah,” she said, folding her hands in her lap. “I was wondering what had tipped you off.”

  “That wasn’t the only thing. If the story about the closet is a lie, why did you sneak into Woody’s that afternoon? What was that about?”

  Her grandmother narrowed her gaze at Maddie. “I should just tell you that I was visiting for a little afternoon delight. That would certainly shut down the questions, wouldn’t it?”

  Maddie winced. “Granny, please. I don’t want to even think about the idea that you two were . . . ugh.”

  “Relax, Maddie. I’m not paying good money for afternoons with your man.”

  “Emmett is not my man,” she said a touch too quickly. Her grandmother pinned her with her sharp gaze for a moment and Maddie felt the tears well up. Her granny could see right through her, whether she was a seven-year-old lying about taking a brooch from her jewelry box or a twenty-seven-year-old bottling up all her feelings about Emmett.

  “I like Emmett Sawyer,” Adelia said. “I’ve known him a long time, and I’ve always thought he was a good man. When he moved here to Rosewood, I began to wonder if he wouldn’t be a good match for you.”

  “Wait,” Maddie interrupted, wiping her cheek. “You knew Emmett before he came to Rosewood?”

  “Yes,” she replied, but failed to give Maddie the information she was craving at this point. Emmett never talked about his life in Florida. The fact that her granny knew him back then was intriguing. It also complicated everything.

  “When you chose the house right across the street from Emmett’s bar, I was certain this was fate bringing you two together. A shouting match ensued, of course, because you’re both such strong personalities, but even that gave way in time.”

  “After we ended up in court, yeah,” Maddie said. “Granny, did you even talk to Judge Griffin? You said you were going to talk to him about me before we went to the courthouse.”

  “Yes, and I did speak with him.”

  “It didn’t seem like it,” Maddie noted. “I was expecting him to take my side in the case or, at the very least, sentence me to a less harsh judgment. And less time with Emmett.”

  “Ah, well, you see, that part of the punishment was actually my idea.”
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br />   “What?”

  Adelia shrugged off Maddie’s shriek. “You told me to talk to Judge Griffin. You never said anything about talking him into reducing or commuting your sentence. Both of us were stumped on how best to put an end to the nonsense. Forcing you to work together for the greater good was the perfect solution. I think it worked well. You two stopped fighting and really seemed to hit it off. I was expecting you two to last longer than your sentence, to be honest.”

  Maddie looked down at her hands resting in her lap. “So did I,” she admitted. “But he was keeping things from me. What was all that money about, Granny?”

  Adelia sat forward and watched her granddaughter with a thoughtful expression. “First, tell me honestly how you feel about Emmett.”

  “How I feel? Well, before the Halloween fallout, I felt really good about us. He was the first man in a long time who really seemed to see me. He made me want to be a better person. For the first time, all the things I thought were important in a man I dated, like money and a successful career, seemed silly. He made me start to believe that someone could love me for me, not for who I am or what my family could do for him. I started to think that maybe I was falling in love with him, but I was wrong. I think that’s what made it hurt that much worse when I found out he was lying to me. I thought I could trust him, but the moment I let my guard down, I found he’s just like the others.”

  “What makes you think that? The check you found?”

  “Yes. I asked him about it and he wouldn’t answer me. I accused him of using me to get to you.”

  “And what did he say about that?”

  Maddie opened her mouth, but then found she didn’t know. She’d been in such a red rage, she’d barely listened to a word he said until he started hurling insults at her. “He denied it, I think, but I wouldn’t listen. Then it turned into a verbal brawl and we both said terrible things.”

  “He’s more stubborn than I thought,” Adelia noted. “I thought for sure that if he was pushed hard enough, he’d tell you the truth.”

  “The truth about what?”

  Adelia sighed. “That is not something I can tell you. Only Emmett can do that. But what I can do is assure you that Emmett is not after your money, dear.”

  Maddie felt her heart start to soar in her chest. Could it really be true? She wanted it to be, but she was so uncertain. “How do you know that?”

  “Because he works for me and has for a very long time. I’m the one who told him about the bar and suggested he move to Rosewood when he was looking for a change of pace. That check you tore up—which I had to get replaced, by the way—wasn’t anything nefarious at all. Your earlier instincts about Emmett were spot-on. He’s a good person, and I think he genuinely cares about you.”

  Maddie shook her head, her doubts creeping in again. If he cared about her the way she said, why didn’t he just tell her the truth? “You say that, Granny, but how can I know it for sure while he keeps secrets from me?”

  “Sometimes you just have to follow your heart and take a leap of faith. You’ve been hurt before and I know it’s hard, but I think this is a risk worth taking.” Her grandmother reached for her purse and stood up. “This was a lovely chat, but I’d better be going. I expect to see you next week at supper.”

  “Yes, ma’am. Are you headed back to the house?”

  “No, I’m going to the bar.”

  Maddie’s nose wrinkled. “Really?”

  “Yes. For one thing, I’ve got to take Emmett the new check. And for another, I’ve got a hankering for a nice, dark lager. See you next week, dear.”

  Logan wandered into Woody’s on a quiet Tuesday night. Emmett was surprised to look up and see the reclusive lawyer sitting at the bar. He hadn’t been at the Halloween festival, but there was no doubt he knew what happened. Emmett figured he’d been hiding out until things settled down.

  “Hey, Logan,” Emmett said, turning to face his customer. “Can I get you something to drink?”

  “Scotch. Neat,” Logan said.

  “That good, huh?”

  Logan shook his head. “I doubt it’s even that good, but I don’t want to crawl home on my hands and knees.”

  “Fair enough.” Emmett poured Logan’s drink and set it down on a paper napkin in front of him. “How’s the fallout been?” he asked. To be honest, Emmett hadn’t really kept up with it. He’d been more focused on his own life and how it had suddenly gone awry.

  “Surprisingly negligible,” Logan said. “I guess in my mind I had thought that a scandal like this would actually hurt Norman Chamberlain’s reputation, but he seems to be made of Teflon. Nothing sticks.”

  “How did you find out about it?”

  “Grant and Pepper came by the house after the video clip aired. I kind of held my breath waiting for something to happen, but nothing really did.”

  “Really?”

  Logan shrugged. “Well, Blake and Simon came by the house to see me. They seem to be taking the news okay. They apologized on their father’s behalf, and like Grant, told me they wanted to build a relationship with me. A few people have pulled my mother aside at church or in the grocery store and told her how bad they felt about Norman’s treatment of her. But that’s about it.”

  “Norman hasn’t shown up to see you, has he?”

  Logan nearly snorted his sip of scotch. “No. I don’t imagine that he will, either. He probably knows that if he waits long enough, people will forget or not care.”

  “I know it’s disappointing for you, but it’s probably disappointing to Lydia, too. I imagine she was hoping that clip would cause an embarrassment to the family. Maddie seemed to think that she was trying to settle the score for what happened with Ivy.”

  “I wasn’t surprised. I should’ve known something like this was going to happen when Grant and I saw her with her phone. It was just a matter of when, not if, she’d expose it. It was a perfect opportunity, really. How is Maddie taking all this? Lydia was her best friend, wasn’t she?”

  Emmett sighed and leaned against the back counter of the bar. Crossing his arms over his chest, he said, “I don’t know. I know she was really upset Halloween night. But we broke up the next day and I haven’t spoken to her since then.”

  Logan’s brows went up in surprise, his blue eyes widening and bringing to mind Maddie’s own baby blues. “That’s a shame. I thought things were going well for both of you. What happened?”

  “Stupidity,” Emmett said. When he got down to the core of it, that’s what it was. “Stupidity and stubbornness. She found out I was lying to her and she didn’t take too kindly to it.”

  “Why did you lie?”

  Emmett thought he knew the answer, but when he went to tell Logan, it eluded him. “I don’t know. When I first came to Rosewood, I just wanted to fly under the radar. I didn’t want anyone to treat me differently.”

  “Why would they? Are you a runaway prince in hiding or something?”

  Emmett snorted. “No. I just used to live a different life—a lucrative one that tended to draw the wrong kind of attention from women who wanted more to do with my money than me. When I started over, I was just Emmett, the cool guy who owned the bar. Maddie made me so crazy because she reminded me of those fancy women. There was something different about her, though, a spark of someone I wanted to know better. And I wanted Maddie to want me for me. I guess I was being a chicken shit. I thought if she knew the truth, things would change between us. That she’d expect me to change.”

  Logan narrowed his gaze at Emmett. “Wait a minute . . . you broke up with Maddie because you were afraid she’d find out you were rich and you’d break up?”

  Emmett frowned. “It sounds stupid when you say it like that.”

  “Well,” Logan said, “I can tell you from personal experience that lies don’t help anything. You might think that keeping something from someone is bet
ter, that you’re protecting them, or yourself, but it just makes it worse. Why didn’t you just tell her the truth when she pushed you?”

  That was the question Emmett had asked himself repeatedly over the last week. He hadn’t come up with a satisfactory answer yet. “Because she made me mad. She jumped to conclusions, assuming the worst and not listening to anything I had to say. Instead of fessing up and ending the argument, I accused her of being hypocritical and greedy.”

  “So, you fell on your sword instead of telling the truth, but you just spilled it to me without much provocation. Does that mean you’ve changed your mind?”

  “You mean this conversation isn’t protected under lawyer-client privilege?”

  “Well, you’re not my client. I didn’t have you fill out any paperwork or even charge you before, but heck, now that I know you’re rich, I’ll gladly take a retainer to keep that information to myself.”

  “Eh,” Emmett muttered dismissively. “I don’t think I’m going to be able to keep the secret much longer. I can’t keep lying to everyone, especially Maddie. If this town can overlook Norman Chamberlain’s secret love child, I think that finding out I’m a secret millionaire will be a nonissue.”

  “I don’t know,” Logan said. “The Chamberlains get away with a lot more than us normal folk.”

  “I’m in love with a Chamberlain. Does that count for anything?”

  Logan’s eyes widened in surprise and Emmett realized what he’d just said. “Wow. You just went there.”

  Emmett sighed and leaned his palms on the countertop. “I guess I did.” He felt better for it, too. It was like a weight had been lifted from his chest by letting it out. It’d been a long time since he’d considered something that serious with a woman, but he knew that Maddie was different. He may not have meant to say it, or even realized it before he did, but it was true.

  “And if I do love her, I can’t lie to her anymore. She needs to know the truth. If she’s really the woman I fell for, it won’t change anything when she finds out the truth about my money. Right?”