Adaline (The Wallflower Series Book 3) Read Online Free Page A

swept to one side of her face; her dress was beautiful, accentuating her pregnant belly. Adaline didn’t know what it was about the couple, but they intrigued her. There were few interracial couples in Dover, it being a dominantly white upper-class community. But they looked perfect together and their happiness was almost transcendent.
    “It is nice to meet you Adaline. This was a very beautiful wedding,” Natalia spoke to her.
    Adaline nodded her head in thanks. “I’d hope so; Carla worked very hard for this.” She stopped herself from gritting out the words; while it was partially true, there was no denying that her cousin had hardly lifted a finger, instead resorting to ordering people around to do her bidding.
    There was a burst of laughter and so Adaline turned to find Dominic with his shoulders shaking in amusement. The rest of his family gave him weird looks but he ignored them. Instead, he looked up and winked at Adaline. And she knew then that her act had not gotten past him. He seemed to still know when she was lying. And that unnerved her quite a bit.
    Knowing that no one else would understand, he signed to her, “ Hard to believe. ”
    A wide smile broke across her face at that. She didn’t know why she was surprised he still knew how to sign. He had always been quite intelligent, catching on to any and everything with ease. A part of her hoped that he had kept it up for her, though.
    Instead of responding, she gently thanked them once more for coming and continued her rounds.
    After she had left their table, Sasha turned to Dominic with a wide smile of her own. “I had no idea you knew sign language. Is she deaf?”
    Dominic merely shrugged. “We knew each other for a bit, and I picked up on some words. She has an implant but, yes, she was born with severe hearing loss.”
    “And that is exactly why she stalked you,” Dominic heard Nadia mumble while she ate from her plate.
    Again, he decided not to comment. “How are you feeling, Sasha?”
    His sister-in-law responded, “If you tell this one over here to stop breathing down my neck, I’ll feel much better,” referring to her husband.
    Dmitri playfully pulled at one of her locs before leaning down and placing a gentle kiss against her cheek. “You’re five months along. With the way things are already going, I’d be surprised if you could sit up on your own pretty soon.”
    Sasha gasped, going along with his teasing, “You can’t call a pregnant lady fat!”
    “I said no such thing!”
    Dominic and Nadia exchanged glances as the two continued in their repartee. It was almost sickening how happy they were. It brought up his bitterness about Dina, which was something he really didn’t want to focus on; it would only ruin his mood. After watching couples dance and his own dear brother and sister-in-law join in the festivities, Dominic decided enough was enough and he needed some fresh air.
    Making his way out of the tent, he recalled the bench that had rested endearingly beneath the large tree towards the front lawn and made his way over. As he made his way closer, however, he spotted a familiar figure sitting alone. There was a feeling of déjà vu before he remembered a similar event so many years ago.
    An eighteen year-old Dominic watched his girlfriend’s cousin storm out of the front door as he parked his sports car in front of the Lang household. Brow perked with interest, he looked on as she scurried to the large oak tree on the front lawn and propped herself down on a wooden bench. Dominic had come to pick up Carla who he had planned to take to the movies that evening. She had been begging him all week to take her out with their friends being that they were the new ‘it’ couple on campus. The pride she took in their social status was off-putting but it had been expected for him to date one of the more popular girls in school being who he was- a Vikhrov.
    At the same time, he knew next to nothing about her younger cousin, who was