Chapter 72
The next couple of days were tense. Will hadn’t come home at all. He immersed himself in work during the day, and at night he was nowhere to be found. She felt like a bubble in an open field inside of that mansion. It was beautiful and vast, and she did not belong in it. She just floated around inside. Nowhere seemed suitable to land. Memories of Conrad lingered everywhere, triggering her guilt. He was probably rolling over in his grave at the state of them. The housekeepers and attendants kept their distant, and were very good at minding their business. But the house had eyes and ears in hidden places. She was certain they knew what was going between them.
“Are you coming home tonight?” Emma asked, calling him after two nights of being gone.
“No,” he was short with her.
“Have you been with Grace at the hospital?” Emma had a feeling she knew where he was. She just hoped she was wrong.
“Of course, I am. She needs me. She’s not well after you attacked her. Are you even sorry?”
“I’m sorry she isn’t well, but this is ridiculous! You haven’t even let me tell you what actually happened. I’m going over there.”
“Don’t bother.”
“I’m going. See you there.”
This was incredible. Not that long ago, they were in a reverse situation where Will was the one trying to explain and she wouldn’t let him. Being on the other side of it was frustrating. She couldn’t understand why Will didn’t want to hear her side of things. When she shut him out, it only made things worse. So, why was he doing the same thing when he knew how bad it got before?
“Ugh!” Emma yelled to no one. Her hands flew into her hair, and she pulled at it in anger. “This is insane! We’ll never get out this damn cycle!”
Emma threw on some clothes and huffed out the house. When she arrived to the hospital, she was surprised to find Grace alone in the room.
“Where is he?” Emma asked in lieu of a greeting.
“How funny,” Grace sneered. “Your husband has chosen to spend all of his free time with me.”
“He made it seem like you weren’t doing well. Where is he?”
“A few well timed tears and whimpers can do wonders to convince someone.”
“Where. Is. He?” Emma asked through clenched teeth.
“You just missed him. He didn’t want to see you, so he left.”
“I’m going to find him.” Emma turned to leave, but Grace needed her to stay. She needed every chance possible to continue to further divide them.
“He was with me, you know. When he got back from Italy. Instead of going home to his new bride, he chose to spend his time with me. I’m the one he wants. You’re just in our way.”
“You’re lying,” Emma turned back towards Grace. A devious smile took over her face.
“Oh, didn’t he tell you? I called him and he dropped everything to come be at my side. He’s made his choice. And it’s me. It’s always going to be me.”
A flash of white-hot anger surged through Emma. Their whole fight had been about that fact that Will had lied to her about that day. And he chose to leave out the most important and damning detail. He had abandoned her for Grace. She waited for him all day, sat in darkness and despair for him. And had been with Grace. Emma walked closer to Grace, and leaned into her face.
“You know, that may be true. He may choose you in the end. But right now, I’m Mrs. William Anderson Stewart. Not you. If you want to keep playing this game, sneaking around behind my back, go right ahead. I am his wife, and you’ll be his mistress. You’ll be ‘the other woman’. And unless I agree to divorce him, that’s all you ever will be.”
Grace reached up to slap Emma. Emma was faster and side stepped the attempt.
“Slapping his wife? Classic mistress behavior,” Emma wagged her finger at Grace, mocking her as though she were an errant child. “You want to fight over him so badly? Fine. But I will not stoop to your level.”
“You wish you could even reach my level!” Grace screeched. “I am a lady of society! And I am his greatest love!” Grace hardly recognized herself. She *was* once a lady of high society, but after leaving her husband, she had been shunned from some of her social circles. Her parents had cut her off for embarrassing them, and now she had no one. Loneliness and grown into desperation in her heart. The need for someone to love her superseded all other things. And no one had ever loved her more than Will. This should have been easy. Will was once blinded by his love for her. But now it seemed he loved someone else. It seemed Emma would be competition after all.
“Is this what loving Will Stewart gets you?” Emma mused as she looked at Grace. She thought of the crazed woman who had crashed their wedding, and now at Grace. Someone who was once the picture of sophisticated beauty was now a desperate, wannabe homewrecker. “I didn’t want to love him. I swear I didn’t.”
“But you do,” Grace gasped, her hands over her mouth.
“I do, and it makes me sick that I love the same man as you.” Emma turned and walked out of the hospital room. She couldn’t stand being in there another moment. At that point, she didn’t know if she could even face Will.
“Shall I take you home, Miss Emma?” Jack asked as she emerged from the hospital.
“Not right now. I need some time to walk and clear my head. Go home. I’ll call you if I need anything.”
“Yes ma’am.” Jack got back in the car and left Emma. She drifted around for a while, her brain buzzing with Grace’s words. Had he really been with Grace right when he got back Italy? Why would he do that? And why wouldn’t he tell her if that was really the case. She wanted to confront him about it, but she was also afraid of the answer. She was beginning to learn that there were no limits in Will’s heart when it came to Grace. And that thought was terrifying.
Grace watched from her window as Emma wandered, her momentary shock from Emma’s confession dissipating. This would not be the cakewalk she had originally anticipated. But she was up for the challenge.
“So, it’s a fight you want, Emma Wells? Let the games begin.”
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