Falling for the Billionaire

10

The next morning, even as she readied herself and Colby, Lil wavered. She really should call a halt to this whole insanity. Maybe she should just tell Abby everything and let her decide how to move forward with it.

No, putting the weight of this problem on her sister would be the coward's way out. Why ruin her happiness if there was a chance that this was all a paranoid conspiracy theory hatched up by Alethea?

Alethea. The mere mention of her friend's name would be enough for Abby to dismiss any allegations unless there was hard proof of wrongdoing.

Abby had never made a secret that she disapproved of her best friend. She didn't liked that Alethea had been booted out of every private school before her parents had sent her to public school as a punishment–a punishment Alethea had embraced.

Born to an upper class family, Alethea had no fear of authority and she had the resources to defy them. Abby had spent many nights attempting to explain the danger in the differences between their situations to Lil, but Lil had refused to listen to her. Yes, Alethea broke the rules sometimes merely for the rush of doing it and some of her ideas had landed Lil in some sticky situations but a friend isn't someone who never makes mistakes. A friend is someone who loves you right through the ones you make yourself.

And Alethea always had.

It had been Alethea she'd called the night Dirk had walked away from her, Alethea who had convinced her to eat if only for the sake of the baby growing within her and had bolstered her confidence enough to tell Abby she was pregnant.

Looking back now, Abby hadn't said anything wrong when she finally had told her; she just hadn't said what Lil had yearned to hear–that she loved her and that they would get through it together. No, instead, she had talked about getting health insurance, finding a good doctor, and starting prenatal care immediately.

All very good advice.

And maybe the only way Abby knew how to deal with the unexpected. She'd had to be strong for so long, maybe she'd forgotten how to share a moment of weakness.

It hadn't been with malice that Lil had chosen Alethea to bring to her first ultrasound and to invite to be her Lamaze partner. As much as she'd known that Abby had been hurt by the decision, it had also been Alethea she'd chosen to be with her in the delivery room. Things had become so bad between her and Abby by then that they'd barely been speaking; neither knowing quite how to remedy the situation or if it was even worth trying to.

Lil had considered explaining her choices to Abby, but none of her explanations would have improved the situation. The simple fact was that birthing someone had been full-on scary to Lil and she'd wanted someone at her side who could overlook any weakness she might reveal in the process.

So, Colby had been held first by a friend and then by her aunt; something Abby hadn't yet forgiven Alethea for, not even as her happiness with Dominic had spilled outward and given them a second chance at sisterhood.

With motherhood had come the humility to recognize that Abby was not the only flawed member of their tiny family. Abby had always been there for her even if it hadn't been the way Lil would have liked, but Lil hadn't returned the favor. Beneath her tough exterior, Lil acknowledged that insecurities had driven some of her–oh, hell, many of her actions.

But wasn't that what a new day provided?

A chance to begin again?

She was going to become the sister she should have always been. This time she was going to rescue Abby.