My Fiancé Chose My Brother, So I Chose My Brother's Best Friend novel · Chapter 8 of 24

Chapter 8: One Way

I went home that night because I wanted my mother to say it to my face.

She was in the front hall with the lilies gone brown in their vases and Hugh behind her in his coat.

"Estelle," she said. "You look thin."

It was the only kind thing she said.

"I'm pregnant," I said.

Nobody moved.

My mother's eyes went to my stomach and then to Hugh, who had gone still.

"Whose is it?" Hugh asked.

"Mine."

"Estelle."

"It's mine and nobody else's."

My mother took a slow breath through her nose.

"Then it can be fixed," she said.

"Fixed."

"There are doctors. Quiet ones. We would pay. You'd be back at your desk by Monday and Spencer's father need never know."

"Mom."

"Or." She lifted one finger. "Spencer's father has been generous. If the child is born after the wedding, nobody counts the months. We say it's early."

I had thought nothing my mother said could still surprise me.

"You want me to marry the man who cheated on me with Teddy," I said, "and give him a baby that isn't his."

"I want this family to survive," she said.

"Who is the father?" Hugh asked again. "Someone you met after you ran out? Someone at that bar?"

"It doesn't matter."

"It matters if he talks." He had lowered his voice. "Is he somebody with a camera? A bartender? Estelle, if he sells this to a magazine we lose the Lyles for good."

"You're worried about a magazine."

"I'm worried about everything."

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