Chapter 544

"Mae, I didn't expect you'd be heading to Heston too," Ellie said, still cheerfully calling me "Mae" like always. She acted like she hadn't seen all the stuff online about Brandon, but I knew she had. She was just pretending it wasn't a thing. Even though she was Brandon's sister, she was her own person, and I wasn't about to let my feelings for him change how I treated her. "Maybe you should just call me 'Madeline' from now on instead of Mae," I said with a light laugh. "After all, Brandon's marrying someone else." My words wiped the smile right off Ellie's face. Her eyes started to fill with tears, and she shook her head. "No, I'm still calling you 'Mae'. You're the only sister-in-law I recognize. No one else can take your place." Her words didn't heal my pain, but they did bring a bit of comfort to the emptiness I felt. She really hadn't let me down, not after everything we'd been through. "Mae, Bran still loves you, I swear." Ellie suddenly raised her hand like she was mak