“Get inside,” Cecilia hissed. “Don’t you dare cause a scene.”

“What on earth is going on?” Gracie looked from her sister to her mother and back again.

“It’s Conrad.” Emmaline’s chest heaved, the words catching in her throat. “He’s been cheating on me.”

“What?” Gracie blinked, stepping back to allow the two women through her front door.

She led Emmaline to the living room and set her down on the couch. There must be some mistake. There was no way Conrad would cheat on Ems. She was the most caring wife anyone could possibly have.

“He’s cheating on me, Gracie.” Emmaline’s breathing came in short bursts.

“Hey, hey.” Gracie rubbed her sister’s arms, her brows knitting together. “Don’t hyperventilate on me. Take it slow and tell me what happened.”

“Your sister is making a mountain out of a molehill. You shouldn’t encourage her, Gracelyn.” Cecilia huffed and dropped into a wingback chair, facing them. Her frail hands twisted in her lap, absently wrenching one of her bauble-like jewels around and around.

“I went to visit him at the office.” Emmaline heaved the words through sobs. Her eyes were wide and unblinking, as though she were staring directly at the scene she’d uncovered earlier. “And his secretary said he was out, so I let myself through to drop off his lunch, because he’d left it at home and I didn’t want him to go hungry—”

Of course she didn’t. Gracie sighed. Her sister was by far the sweetest, most selfless person she knew. Conrad had always seemed like the perfect choice for Emmaline, despite the fact that Gracie had never warmed to him. But he’d ticked all the boxes—wealthy and educated, ran his own optometry practice. He came from a high-class family.

Not that any of it mattered now. She was going to set Conrad straight when she saw him next…if she didn’t claw his face off first.

“—and then when I was dropping it off I noticed his car was still in the parking lot. I asked his secretary where he was and she said he was offsite, which didn’t sound right if his car was still there, but the receptionist is old and I thought maybe she was confused. I went to leave, and then I heard his voice coming from one of the exam rooms and I walked in on them.”

Gracie didn’t need to hear what was next, but she let Emmaline get it all out.

“He was in there—screwing the other optometrist right on the examination chair!”

Oh, no.

“You’re being ridiculous Emmaline.” Cecila threw her hands up in the air. “One indiscretion is not worth throwing away your marriage.”

Emmaline’s hands fluttered at her neck. She looked like a baby bird who’d been pushed out of the nest. “We took vows, Mother. Vows!”

“I’m so sorry.” Gracie stroked her sister arm. “I think you’re absolutely right to be upset. He should never have done that.”

“I’d had a funny feeling for a while, but I kept ignoring it thinking I was worrying for nothing. God knows how many times it’s happened before. He tried to tell me it was only this once but—”

“She wants to get a divorce, Gracelyn. A divorce.” Her mother said the word as though she were spitting out poison. “What will they say at church?”

Ah, that was why Cecilia followed Emmaline there. Only one member of the family had ever gotten divorced before—Cecilia’s older sister left her husband for the exact same reason Emmaline was at Gracie’s house now. Her mother had all but disowned their aunt, ostracized her from family functions because apparently she had brought shame to the family name.

Gracie drew in a deep, calming breath. She had to be strong for her sister. Fighting Cecilia’s out-dated views was not what she needed right now. She needed love and support, the two things their mother seemed unable to provide.

“Is there anything I can do?” Gracie asked.

“Can you wave a magic wand and take me back five years so I don’t marry that stupid son of a…well, Helena isn’t a b-word, but you know what I mean.” Even in her state of complete distress Emmaline couldn’t swear or even speak ill of her mother-in-law. “I can’t believe he would do this to me.”

The girls sat in silence.

“I can’t believe it, either,” Gracie whispered.

“You’re as bad as each other,” Cecilia crowed, her ice-blue eyes narrowed. “This is not worth ruining the Greene name for.”

“You know I only married him because you were determined that our families should join up.” Emmaline let out a sharp, bitter laugh. “I didn’t love him, but I respected him. I respected what we committed to in getting married, and I never once even contemplated cheating on him. I guess it serves me right.”

“It’s not your fault, Ems. Don’t even try to blame yourself because he couldn’t be as good a person as you are.”

“Think about what’s important here.” Cecilia shook her head. “You know I’m never going to live this down if you file for divorce.”

“This isn’t about you.” Gracie couldn’t hold it in any longer.

Cecilia Greene’s face froze, her mouth hanging open, her eyes unblinking. It may have been the first time Gracie had ever seen her mother speechless.

The frustration from pushing Des away came tumbling out. In the clear light of day she saw how flawed her mother’s ideals were, how much she hurt her daughters with her refusal to let them live their own lives.

“Can’t you, for once, put your daughter before yourself?” Gracie slipped her hand into Emmaline’s. Her sister didn’t deserve this judgement when she wasn’t the one who’d broken her vows. “Your reputation is not worth destroying the happiness of your child.”

A smile wobbled on Emmaline’s lips. “Thanks, Gracie.”

“Our family name is important.” The fight left her mother’s body, her bony shoulders hunched forward and she seemed to shrink in front of Gracie’s eyes. “Your father gave us his name and I want to protect it. It’s all I have left of him.”

Gracie swallowed. Her whole life Cecilia Greene had been a force, an imposing woman that stood proudly by her husband’s side and led their family with an iron will and determination to rival any military leader. She’d been terrifying at times, hard and inflexible.

But her love for her husband could never be doubted. He’d been the only one who could soften those hard blue eyes, who could break through that tough outer shell. Grief had turned Gracie’s mother into a tougher, harder, more rigid version of herself.

“You have us,” Gracie said. “We miss him too, you know.”

Cecilia swallowed, anguish flashing across her face as fast as lightening before the mask returned. She folded her delicate hands neatly in her lap, lips pursed.

“I’m not trying to hurt you, Mother.” Emmaline said, her voice shaking. “But I can’t go back to Conrad after this.”

“If you love them it hurts more when they leave.” The words came out so softly that Gracie wondered if she’d imagined them.

Cecilia stood and hesitated before turning on her heels and leaving the room without a backwards glance.

“I think she needed to hear that,” Gracie said, nodding as if to convince herself. She’d never stood up so openly to her mother before, and she had certainly never seen her mother react like that.

“I think so, too. You didn’t say anything that wasn’t true.” Emmaline frowned. “Is it okay if I stay here?”

“Of course.”

Emmaline sighed, rubbing her temples. “Smug bastard had the audacity to say that if I slept with him more then he wouldn’t have been forced to go elsewhere.”

“He did not.”

“Yep.” Her sister nodded. “I’m sorry, but I can’t get excited for a beer belly and unwieldy pubic hair.”

Gracie snorted and then cringed. She was tempted to call TMI on Emmaline, but the girl deserved her chance to vent now that their mother had left. She slung an arm around her sister’s shoulders and squeezed.

“You never know, Ems, this might turn out to be the best thing that ever happened to you.”