Page 48 of Rags to Riches Baby

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Somehow, the idea of Oliver thinking she was scamming his aunt hadn’t hurt her that much. He didn’t really know her, and given his past experience with his stepmother, she understood his suspicions. It was a lot of money to give someone who wasn’t family. If she had been in his shoes, she might’ve had the same concerns, even if she didn’t need a penny of Alice’s money.

But when he accused her of getting pregnant on purpose—to hedge her bets, so to speak—that stung.

She wasn’t just some woman he hardly knew anymore. How many hours had they spent together over the last month? How many times had they made love and held each other? Enough to know she wouldn’t do something like that.

And yet there wasn’t a single moment, a flicker of expression across his face at that restaurant, where the news of her pregnancy stirred anything but anger in him. He’d probably think that her having twins would be karmic retribution for her scheming.

Lucy looked down at the apartment brochure for the place she’d liked the best. The price for the two-bedroom was pretty steep. Add tuition and books, furniture, baby everything times two…she wasn’t even certain she could afford it all. Not on what she had saved, and that was all she could count on getting. Oliver certainly wasn’t going to back down on his protest of the will. The news of her “deliberately trapping” him with a pregnancy would likely hurt her case, so odds were she wouldn’t see a dime of Alice’s estate.

In truth, that was fine by her. That was more money than she could fathom, much less handle properly. She was much better at barely getting by. Her mother had taught her well. But getting by with babies meant a job with medical insurance for all of them. Day care expenses times two. Diapers times two. Chaos times two. She’d always admired her mother’s ability to make it work, but could she do the same?

She let the brochure fall from her fingers down to the desk as tears began to well in her eyes. Could she even do this? Was going back to school a pipe dream now? Was it smarter to put her savings into a place to live and things for the babies instead? Hell, maybe she needed to spend it on a plane ticket back home to Ohio. At least there, she would have her mother to help her with the twins. And she wouldn’t run the risk of seeing Oliver again.

“Yes, this was absolutely deliberate, you ass,” she said aloud to Alice’s large, empty office. “I ruined all of my plans of going back to school and building my future so I could trap you with a child. Because that’s the best way to keep a man you love in your life forever. But you get the last laugh, don’t you? Twins!”

Lucy dropped her face into her hands and let the tears fall in earnest. She hadn’t really let herself cry yet. It had been almost a week since the trip to New Haven and her breakup with Oliver, but she hadn’t really let herself wallow in it. It seemed like a misuse of valuable time. Instead, she’d tried to keep herself busy with other things. After her earth-shattering doctor’s appointment, she spent hours in different stores, studying everything from prenatal vitamins and stretch-panel jeans to onesies and twin strollers.

It was a tough realization to find she was completely unprepared for any of this. Before Oliver came around, she’d almost forgotten she had a uterus, much less spent time anticipating it to have not just one but two nine-month occupants. Kids were a far-off idea. One that came after love and marriage and the decision that it was time to start a family with someone she could count on.

At least she’d found the love part. Lucy did love Oliver. He didn’t love or trust her one iota, but she had done her part and fallen for him. She knew now why they called it falling in love. It had been that easy, like tripping and smacking her face against the rough, hard sidewalk. Like a fall, she wasn’t expecting it, but all of a sudden there she was, in love with Oliver. She could only hope that falling out of love with him was just as easy.

Easing back in the desk chair and resting her hand on her flat tummy, she knew that wouldn’t be the case. Getting over him would be hard. Especially with two tiny, blue-eyed reminders of him staring at her from their cribs each morning.

It was easier than she expected to picture two wide-eyed toddlers standing in their crib in matching footie pajamas. Wild brown curls. Devious smiles. Pink cheeks. One sucking his thumb with a furrowed brow of concern while his sister clutched her favorite stuffed bunny and tried climbing over the side. In her mind, they looked like tiny clones of Oliver, although the boy had her freckles across his nose.

It was just a daydream, not a reality, but it made Lucy’s heart ache. Life didn’t always go to plan, but that didn’t mean that she couldn’t come up with a new plan. She needed to find a way to be happy about this, no matter what happened with Oliver or the will or with school. Things would work out and she had to keep that in mind. One of the pregnancy books she’d picked up had mentioned how her emotions could impact the babies. She didn’t want that. No matter what happened, they would be just as loved and cared for as if they’d been planned.


Tags: Andrea Laurence Billionaire Romance