Frances was sitting in a coffee shop; she had gotten a message from Ophelia that they had to meet up. As much as she did not want to have to go out there to meet her, she was curious to see her face after reading the news. She had not thought to publish the news like that because she did not want to do anything that might affect Cael, be it directly or indirectly, because she still believed that they would be able to get together soon.
She was however happy for whoever had taken that news and ran with it; the entire city was buzzing while waiting for a statement on the family. She felt that now that Cade was so put in the public eye, Charles might consider Cael as a better-suited candidate for the position.
“Did I keep you waiting for long?” Ophelia asked as she sat down.
Frances swallowed as she saw how good she looked; she was tempted to almost comment on it; she did not look like she had seen the news. “No, I just sat down a minute ago,” she said, and Ophelia nodded.
“Have you ordered? I will get you a drink,” Ophelia offered as she took out her wallet from her bag.
“I will take any tea that they have,” Frances replied, still star-struck at the sight before her. None of it made any sense; she had come there because she believed that she was going to have the upper hand, but with the way that she was looking, she knew that she could not.
“I will be back soon.” Ophelia stood up and walked to the counter.
“How does this make sense? I would be able to hold my head as high as this if I were in her shoes; how is she doing this?”
“I have been meaning to take you out for something after the wedding,” Ophelia said, sitting back down and dropping the buzzer to the middle of the table.
“You asked to see me so you could treat me?” Frances asked, blinking hard. She wondered if her head was screwed on right or if this was just her method of coping. She knew for a fact that if this were happening to Cael, she would not be sitting in a place drinking coffee; she would have been all over the place trying to make it go away.
“Of course”
Today?!”
“You sound shocked like you do not want me to treat you,” Ophelia said. Of course, she was not there to treat her; she wanted to know if the rumour started from Frances and Abigail, and she knew that a few moments with her would allow her to see the truth.
“I mean, with Cade’s armour flying around, I thought you would be a bit shocked,” Frances responded.
“It is not like it’s a lie; I mean, it’s true, and the truth was bound to come out anyway. And even if I do worry, there is basically nothing I can do about it,” she said, shrugging, and the buzz went off. “I will be right back,” she said, standing up and making her way to the counter. She came back with a tray that had two cups filled with some tea and some croissants, and Frances’s eyes were fixated on her.
“Is there something wrong with my face?” Ophelia asked, sitting down as she touched her face with so much consciousness.
“There is nothing; I just can not understand how you can be so calm about this.”
“What else do you want me to do? There is nothing much that I can do about it.” Ophelia shrugged and took a sip from her cup before savouring the taste with her eyes closed.
“I guess it might be nothing if you are this unworried about it,” Frances said, taking up her cup and drinking from it.
“But can you imagine that anyone would do this?”
“I know right, this is just so wrong to play dirty.” Frances’s response did not give Ophelia much to deal with. She needed to make her talk some more.
“Did Abigail do this?” she asked directly.
“Of course not!” Frances exclaimed, dropping her cup to the table. She was not sure who would have done this, but her first instinct was to protect her mother-in-law.
“Are you sure about that? I mean the interview yesterday.”
“She was only called to ask the question, and since she did not want to lie, she did not give any comment on it. The rumour had already spun up from someplace else before now.”
Ophelia wanted to call bullshit on the theory, but it was either Frances did not know anything about this or she was a pretty good lair. “So who could have done this?” Ophelia asked, taking up her cup.
“Oh, I see,” Frances said, tracing the rim of her cup with a finger.
“What do you see?”
“You did not call me out here to treat me; you wanted to get answers, and that even makes more sense now,” Frances said. “And to tell you the truth, I am glad this happened to Cade; it gives Cael, who is the rightful heir, an edge, Let us see if Charles would still support you and your husband after this.”
“I wonder why I even thought you were a good person,” Ophelia murmured, dropping the cup back to the tale.
“You know, for someone like you who can not hold a candle to me, you have some big dreams.”
“One has to dream big, don’t they?” Frances asked with a smile.
“Be careful though; you do not want to be stuck in your dream.” Ophelia picked up her bag and stood up.
“Be careful as well,” Frances said, raising her eyebrow at her.
“That leaves only one more suspect,” Ophelia said as she stopped at the door, turning to Frances, whose eyes remained on her. She gave her a forced smile and then pushed the door before stepping out.
“Diana, you need to get me to meet Hsrper.”
“Harper?”
“Harper Davis, the only person who could have done this.”