Page 52 of Secret Baby for Dr. Billionaire

“No, it’s okay. I want Billy Anne to meet her sister.”

As Chloe finished dinner, I grabbed Sofi from her room and changed her diaper before I brought her to her highchair. Her hair was a mess, but she was mumbling something joyfully when she saw her mother.

She was the chunkiest baby I’d ever seen, and I was glad her molars weren’t bothering her as much. Chloe had told me she was sleeping through the night again and wasn’t throwing a fit as often.

Maybe she had sensed the shift in our situation, how her mother seemed happier, and how life just seemed to be in order. Can babies sense that? I sure hope so.

After we had breakfast together, I said my goodbyes to my girls because I was going to pick up Billy Anne from her aunt’s place before school started. She didn’t have her uniform there, so I needed to iron it really quick and prepare her bags and lunch for the day.

***

My entire day went so fast that I couldn’t believe I had managed to do five successful surgeries. What can I say? Chloe was my lucky charm. Since I had opened up about telling Billy Anne, I couldn’t stop thinking about how happy we could be together.

We could go to restaurants as a family, maybe go to the park when it wasn’t so hot. Heck, we could go with them to watch the sunrise every morning.

Now I was waiting for my girls and my oldest daughter was the first one to show.

“Billy Anne?” I stared my daughter down as I watched her buckle herself. She halted and looked up at me like she was guilty. What did she do now?

“Did Aunt Maggie tell you?”

“Tell me what?”

“That I spilled paint all over her carpet?” She sighed in defeat, and a frown painted her forehead.

Billy Anne was a lovely child, and it wasn’t in her nature to lie. She just didn’t always tell me things. She believed that not telling was not lying. And where did she learn this, you ask? My sister, of course.

I knew that hanging out with family was good for Billy Anne’s shyness, but sometimes, I wondered if my sister was a good influence.

“You spilled—on the white one?” Maggie valued her white home with light wood surfaces and especially liked her white rugs. She’d get them shipped in from Europe, and those things didn’t come cheap. She’d always berate me not to step on them with my shoes. But she couldn’t get mad at an innocent girl for spilling some paint on them, especially if she didn’t mean it.

“Yes.”

“Oh, we should get her a new one.”

“We probably should.”

I tugged the belt to test if she buckled it right. Her little feet dangled over the edge of the seat, and she swung them as she looked around the car for snacks. “Look, I invited someone to dinner with us tonight. Is that okay?”

“Do I know her?”

“She’s your art teacher.” I wish I could make her look this happy. Her eyes grew so big with joy I thought they’d jump out of the sockets, and the smile that appeared on her face was so wide it literally almost reached her ears.

“You’re inviting her over to dinner? Is she going to teach you how to paint, too?” she squealed. The sound of her voice made me smile. She was so excited that she didn’t care that people were listening to her.

“No. But I’m going to tell you a secret. Can you promise me that you’ll be on your best behavior?”

“Is it a juicy secret?” she narrowed her eyes.

“You need to stop spending so much time with Aunt Maggie. But sure, it’s juicy.”

“Okay!”

“Good. You don’t have to talk to anyone if that makes you feel comfortable.”

“I like talking to Ms. Kenn—Oh, look, there she is!” She looked past me and pointed a finger at someone. When I turned, sure enough, Chloe was walking towards us, carrying Sofi with one arm and her bag with the other.

She looked so beautiful even after a tiring day. I didn’t know how she was able to look like that after being around so many children and teaching them how to draw when I couldn’t even sometimes handle Billy Anne.

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