We Ran From Our Babies' Fathers, Then One Toddler Went Viral novel · Chapter 6 of 24

Chapter 6: Handled

Preston's POV

Hannah didn't answer my question.

She looked at the torn pieces of paper at my feet and said, in a flat voice, "Ask your mother what the word handled means."

I stood very still.

I had spent thirty-six years learning to keep my face in order.

It stopped working somewhere in the middle of that sentence.

"Stay with Poppy," I said. "Please."

She didn't argue.

That told me more than anything else could have.

I took the stairs two at a time.

My mother had taken the master suite, the one with the sea view, and she was sitting in the armchair by the window with her shoes off.

Her bag lay open on the table.

She didn't look up.

"You went and found a very noisy girl," she said.

"I read a text, Mother."

"Did you?"

"Hannah kept it on an old phone for three years. It came from my assistant's number. It said I would be handling the matter through a settlement and a clinic appointment."

"Well, it's accurate. You would have."

I put both hands on the back of the chair opposite hers because I didn't trust them anywhere else.

"I never saw that message."

"No. I saw it."

The room went quiet.

"My assistant answered to you," I said slowly.

"She answered to the family. She told me when a stranger called your private line crying at midnight. She was loyal. She understood what you were worth, which is more than you did that year."

"She told you."

"She forwarded me the voicemail. I listened to it twice. It was quite clear. A little waitress with a baby and a story." She finally turned her head. "You were thirty-two and about to be introduced to the right families. I did what a mother does. I handled it."

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