“I’m Emma’s older brother.”
“Her brother?”
“That’s right!”
“You two know each other?” Emmeline’s eyes widened as she stared at the pair.
Before Doris could even blurt out, “Mr. Adelmar’s your brother?” Waylon was already explaining, “She was the one who scratched both my cars.”
Emmeline blinked, then burst out laughing. “I see! So did the two of you get up to any mischief after that?”
Doris stared at Emmeline in confusion. Mischief? What mischief?
“Nothing of the sort,” Waylon replied. “I went to collect the money for the repairs from her, but she’d twisted her ankle and couldn’t walk, so I made her something to eat.”
“That’s not entirely accurate,” Doris corrected, lifting her brows. ‘Mr. Adelmar, you made two plates of spaghetti; one for you and one for me.”
Emmeline looked from one to the other, her eyes sparkling. “Well, well! My goodness, Waylon, two plates? You really made yourself at home, didn’t you?”
“I did indeed make two servings of spaghetti,” Waylon conceded. “However, I only ate one plate of it. That way, Doris wouldn’t feel the need to be indebted to me.”
“You two!” Emmeline was obviously extremely amused. “It seems you might even become friends despite your initial differences.”
“Well, I certainly never expected that Mr. Adelmar’s sister would turn out to be you, Ms. Louise!” Doris exclaimed.
“I definitely didn’t expect you to be Emma’s pastry chef,” Waylon said.
“Abel’s the one who set everything up,” Emmeline replied happily. “Doris is really good at this.”
“As long as you’re pleased with my efforts, Ms. Louise, I’m happy.” Doris looked rather bashful. “I’m still a bit of a clumsy oaf.”
“That you are,” Waylon agreed, rolling his eyes. “I’ve been the victim of your clumsiness twice now.”
Emmeline grinned. “I admit I’m wondering at the coincidence myself. You ended up scratching my brother’s car twice, after all, Doris!”
“I must have owed him a debt in some past life!”
“I must have owed her a debt in some past life!”
Both Waylon and Doris spoke simultaneously as if they had planned it in advance. The former looked disgusted, while the latter looked embarrassed.
“There now, stop fighting about who owes who and when,” Abel cut in. “It’s clear that you’re both fated to cross paths. If you’re not destined to meet, you could be sitting in front of each other and not even be aware of it.”
Doris turned a beautiful shade of pink at this, and even Waylon looked a little embarrassed.
Not too far away, Janie tugged at Benjamin’s sleeve and murmured, “Do you think they’ll end up together?”
“Your imagination running away with you,” Benjamin replied in an equally low voice. “Waylon’s not into women.”
“What?” Janie’s brows shot up; she looked startled.
“Shh!” Benjamin shushed her hurriedly. “He’s not into guys either; the only thing he’s really into right now is medical research.”
The food catered from the Nimbus Hotel arrived at this point, and was immediately sent up to the third floor. There was a buffet set up for the adults, while five children’s meals had been specially prepared for the quadruplets and Quincy.
The quadruplets were particularly boisterous that day, so Kendra and Daisy took them and Quincy out to the terrace garden to feed them.
The rest of the adults stayed on the third floor, mingling and chatting. Adam, Adrien, Lizbeth, Paul, and Erin were all present.
Adam poured a glass of wine and proffered it to Waylon. “It’s been a long time, Mr. Waylon!”
“Heh.” Waylon smiled faintly. “Five years ago, you barged into my room to try and steal something from me. I would never have imagined we’d be meeting again under these circumstances five years later.”
“I sincerely apologize,” Adam replied, his brows drawing together. “At the time, my grandfather had given me orders to investigate if you were a member of the Adelmar Clan. I’m very sorry, Mr. Waylon. I hope you’ll forgive me for the impertinence!”
“Well, now you know the answer,” Waylon said with a grim smile. “What are you going to do now?”
“I fully support Abel and Emmeline being together,” Adam answered firmly. “I’m not going to say a word about this to my grandfather.”
“That’s the way, Adam!” Adrien chimed in. “I don’t know what grudge there is between the Rykers and the Adelmars, but that happened in Grandpa’s time. It has nothing to do with us!”
“I feel much the same way,” Adam agreed. “Besides, Emma and Abel’s boys are almost five years old already. Why dig up old grievances again?”
