Page 59 of Auctioned to the Billionaire Surgeon

“Yeah. There’s a reason for that. More than one, really. I guess the first part is that my mom had me when she was a teenager. I’m not sure exactly how old she was. My grandparents wouldn’t talk about her after she left.”

“She left you?”

I studied his face. There wasn’t pity there, maybe empathy, but not pity. I was okay with that. Mainly he just looked interested. “Yes. But it wasn’t until I was around ten. I was old enough to know she was leaving me with my grandparents.” I swallowed hard. I never talked about this. It felt… strange. Like I was laying myself open, baring my soul. “I begged her not to go, not to leave me with them. But she went anyway.”

He flinched. “I’m sorry.”

I nodded. “Anyway, her name was Anjelique, and she was so beautiful. Everyone said I looked just like her. They called me little Anjelique. But after she left, I hated hearing that. It hurt too much. It wasn’t long before I told people to just call me Jelly. Even my grandparents agreed, so I knew they were bothered by it, too. Every time someone called me that, we were all reminded of her andhow she’d left.

“And that’s why you’re Jelly.”

“Yep. It’s short for Angelique.”

“You say you begged her not to leave you with your grandparents. Were they bad people?”

I considered the question. “I mean, they weren’t great. But they weren’t bad in the sense that they beat me or anything like that. They were just very narrowminded and they cared so much about what other people in town thought of them.”

“And what did people think of them?”

“They had always been these upstanding people, you know? They were super religious, but more in the sense that they wanted to beseenin church all the time. Not that they were actually listening to the sermons and taking them to heart or anything. And they had my mom, which was kind of a miracle. They were both plain-looking, so they loved that she was beautiful. She could sing, too. So, they had one of the most beautiful girls in town and she sang solos in the choir on Sundays, and they were just so proud of her. But then she got pregnant and everything changed.”

“How so?”

“They wanted her to get an abortion, but she wouldn’t. They were so embarrassed of her. They told her she was a sinner and that God would condemn her and her baby, all this crap. She didn’t listen, though. She just had me anyway.”

“What about your father?”

I shook my head. “I never knew who he was. If my grandparents knew, they didn’t tell me. I think she didn’t tell them, though. I always wondered if it was some older, married guy who took advantage of her or something. But that’s just me trying to piece out why she wouldn’t just say who it was.” I lay there thinking about it for a minute and he just let me be silent; he didn’t push me to keep going. I liked that. “I looked like my mom, like I said, so it wasn’t long before my grandparents started to be proud of me, too, because I was beautiful. I couldn’t sing, though, so I guess that sucked for them. But then I got boobs and an ass. My mom was very thin. She didn’t havemuch in the way of curves, so I must’ve taken after someone on my dad’s side.”

“They were upset by this?”

I nodded. “They were terrified I was going to turn out just like Mom did. They started dressing me in very loose clothing so I wouldn’t entice anyone to sin.” I rolled my eyes. “Like men can’t help themselves. They see tits and just have to fuck someone, right?”

“You were just a kid,” he said, still rubbing my back.

“Yeah. Anyway, I refused to dress like that. Instead, I dressed kind of in a… unique way. I wore very pale facial makeup, heart shaped glasses, purple lipstick and nails, and baggy black dresses with black and white striped tights. And always Doc Martens. I didn’t want to go to church with them anymore, and they didn’t want to take me when I looked like that. So, we both got what we wanted.”

“You avoided the same fate as your mom.”

I gave a bitter laugh. “Not really.”

He frowned. “What do you mean?”

I didn’t want to tell him this part, but I could feel myself doing it anyway. It’s like the floodgates had opened.

“When I graduated from high school they said they’d pay for two years at the community college. I got my LPN and a job at a local hospice center. I also worked for a caterer with Nadine. Everything was going along okay, until…” I trailed off, not really wanting to get into the next part.

“What happened?” he prompted. “Why don’t you see them anymore? I mean, don’t get me wrong. They don’t sound like grandparents of the year or anything…”

“I got pregnant,” I interrupted, then my face turned crimson. I hadn’t meant to tell him that part. “And they wanted me to abort the baby so they could save face with their church friends.”

“Their church friends wouldwantyou to have an abortion?”

“No, of course not. But if they never knew Iwas pregnant in the first place…” I shrugged.

“That sucks.”

“Yeah. I didn’t want an abortion. I wanted to have the baby. So, I went to the dad. That was horrible. He asked if it was his, and that was like a slap in the face. Then he told me he was about to propose to a girl he’d met overseas. He was in the army.”