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“Oh, just a friend of mine.” Jessica waved a hand carelessly. “He’s sitting in the car keeping warm while I talk to you. Can you let us in? We weren’t anticipating how chilly it is today.”
Elena had a bad feeling about this, and Fleur’s expression said the same thing. They exchanged glances.
“You said ‘he’,” Fleur said slowly. “When you say ‘he’, is he someone close to our age?”
“Why does that matter, Fleur?”
“It matters if you’ve brought another guy here to set him up with one of us.”
Jessica’s eyes were round as she stared at her daughter. “Why would I do that?”
Elena groaned. Not this again.
“Seriously, Mom? We cut off contact with you for a few reasons, and this is one of them! When are you going to stop doing this?”
Jessica sighed. “And when are you going to stop being so stubborn, Elena? You’re pregnant, and there’s no dad in sight. You were abandoned.”
Elena went cold, and it had nothing to do with the cold air coming through the door.
“What did you just say?”
“I asked around in town, and I heard that you were pregnant, and the dad is someone nobody knows, because there’s no sight of him.” Jessica shook her head. “Honestly, Elena, I raised you better than that.”
Elena folded her arms. “I seem to recall that you didn’t raise me at all. That was all dad.”
“You’re still my daughter. I thought you knew better than that.” Jessica put her hands on her hips. “So, I decided to find a dad for you.”
“You looked for a guy who was willing to take on a pregnant woman and be a father to a kid that isn’t his?”
“Well, he doesn’t mind. I think I did quite well to find him, considering.” Jessica looked very pleased with herself. “After all, a baby needs a father, doesn’t it?”
Elena almost wanted to say that her babies would have a father, but she held that back. They had all agreed that Jessica would not know that she was having sextuplets; that would just make things more frustrating, and Jessica might end up having an aneurysm.
Even so, Elena was furious. She had hoped that Jessica would realize that she was pushing her daughters away by trying to force these ideas onto them, but it was like she wasn’t listening to anything.
Stepping around Fleur, Elena squared up to her mother.
“Get out,” she snarled.
“What?”
“Both of us have told you that we don’t want you to find a guy for us. We have told you not to contact us until we reach out. Yet you ignore us every single time. You don’t care about us at all. Only about yourself, and how you’re portrayed with your friends.” Elena snorted. “After all, you can’t really tell them that your daughters don’t talk to you because you keep trying to mold us into what you want and treat us like dolls.”
Jessica gasped. “Elena! I would never do that to you!”
“It’s all you’ve been doing since we left college, Mom. The father of my…child…is around, and while we’re not together now, he’s going to be present. There will be a father around, and it won’t be someone you’ve picked out for me.”
“But…but…he’s very wealthy!” Jessica protested. “He will have you set for life!”
“You do realize that Jason is one of the wealthiest men in America, Mom. You’ve made a comment about his wealth before, if I recall.”
Jessica’s face paled. “What?”
“He’s on the list in Forbes magazine. I know you read that. Why don’t you look over it again?” Elena put her hand on the door. “I’m meant to be taking as much rest as I can, and you’re raising my blood pressure. So take that young man you’ve found and go. We don’t want you here.”
Jessica spluttered. “But…what about my grandbaby?”
“You want to see a baby, back off and leave us alone. We’ll contact you.”
