Page 13 of Alpha's Secret Baby Girl
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The next morning, Gwen woke to the sounds of Lianne laughing. She got up and quickly undressed—she had gone to sleep wearing the same crinkled shirt and jeans she’d arrived at the island in. As she pulled the clothes out of her suitcase, she found herself sorting through them and trying to find her prettiest outfit. She made fairly good money as a waitress and could afford nicer things.
It was ridiculous. Scratch that, it was stupid for her to care about what Rafael thought about how she looked. The man had forced her into this marriage; he certainly didn’t care about what she looked like yesterday. Now, though… she grunted in annoyance to herself. Fuck him.Shecared what she looked like and didn’t want to end up on the receiving end of snide comments.
In the end, she chose an aquamarine off-the-shoulder top and a white skirt. Both were wrinkled, but they flattered her figure, such as it was. She smoothed her hands over her stomach after she was dressed. This strapless bra compressed her breasts more than she liked, but overall, she thought it was a good look. She had put on weight over the last seven years and didn’t like to look at pictures of herself, but she was trying to be kinder to herself.
Hopefully, Rafael would be kind as well.
With nothing else for it, she headed downstairs. The smell of pancakes and bacon greeted her, making her stomach rumble. It took a bit to find her way to the kitchen, but when she got there, she found Rafael at the stove with Lianne standing ona chair next to him. She leaned into his side, holding a spatula in one hand, her eyes fixed on the pancakes.
“Good morning,” Rafael said.
Gwen’s head jerked toward him, her traitorous heart fluttering. He smiled at her, and the softness in his eyes made her heart flutter again. Lianne twisted around, waved, and turned back to the pancakes with a dedicated expression. Gwen joined them quietly.
“Raf-el is teaching me about pancakes, Mommy,” Lianne said. “You can’t flip them until they bubble up or they smear the flipper.”
“Is that so?” Gwen asked.
Lianne nodded once.
“Have you never had pancakes before, Gwen?” Rafael asked, his voice teasing.
Lianne answered with a scoff. “Of course we do! It’s usually at the restaurant, though. Mommy and me cook when Mommy isn’t too tired. I like cooking. Last week we cooked a whole turkey! It was yummy. I helped rip up the bread, and I put the plates on the table, and I put the cups on the table, and I…”
She continued describing their ‘feast.’ Gwen hovered nearby, ready to intervene if Lianne made a mistake and Rafael started getting after her. To her surprise, he was the pinnacle of patience. When it came to doing anything with the cooking, he explained what they were doing and why before showing her how to do it.
He was like this before, too. When they first found themselves sneaking off together, meeting up in strange spots. He was kind, gentle. He listened to her and encouraged her to think about herself in more positive terms. He’d raged againsthis father and had been so patient when he taught her things she didn’t know. The memories crowded into Gwen’s mind, taking her breath away. That version of Rafael was here, helping Lianne.
That version was the sort of man she wanted to be a father to her daughter.
But he was also the man who declared that she had to marry him. Who took away her only means of leaving the island and moved her into his house without a discussion. He was the man who had scoffed at her in front of the pack and said he only slept with her because he was bored. So, which was the real version of him?
“I’ll start setting the table if you’ll show me where the dishes are,” she said, trying to fight back the thoughts in her head.
Rafael pointed them out and thanked her with a smile. The sort of smile that had worn down her guard seven years ago.
She thought that it was over. She thought she’d gotten over him and what he did. She thought she had forgiven herself and healed. But now, it was as though he’d cut those scars open for them to bleed afresh. When she looked at him with Lianne, she could blame herself for keeping him away from their daughter.
When she thought of how he had treated her back then and now, after he realized Lianne was his daughter, she knew she had been right to keep him away from her.
It was all just too confusing.
Gwen tried not to let her stiffness show through, for Lianne’s sake. She was clearly taken by Rafael, asking him questions about the pack, about being an Alpha, and about beinga shifter. Soon, the food was ready and they all sat up at the table.
“Mommy doesn’t go into her wolf very much,” Lianne told him as Gwen helped her with syrup. “She looks like a puppy.”
Rafael smiled, though it looked strained. “I remember that.”
Lianne frowned at him. “What do you mean?”
His eyes widened, startled, but Gwen intervened before he could speak. “Remember how I told you this was the pack I grew up with?”
“Yeah.” Lianne speared pieces of her pancake with her fork.
“Well, I knew Rafael when I lived here before,” Gwen said, trying to keep her explanation bland and uninspired.
Lianne frowned. She put the pancake in her mouth and chewed, her head swiveling back and forth as she stared first at Gwen, then at Rafael. The awkwardness deepened, and Gwen wished she had had the foresight to take her and Lianne’s breakfast upstairs, where she didn’t have to look at Rafael across the table.
