Her Billionaire Baby Father

As the cold winter air rushes through the quiet library, rustling pages of a few open books, Maryanne shivers, her body tightening up. She presses the start button on her key fob to make sure her car is running. Shaking the chill off, she releases her tied up hair from her dark scrunchie, allowing her pale locks to fall down around her shoulders. After running her hands through her hair, she pulls on a black beanie and shrugs on her winter jacket.

Maryanne sighs, dreading the walk from the door to her warm car. After she places the strap of her purse around her shoulders and tries to pick up her car keys with her gloved hands, she walks away from her desk.

“Have a good night,” Jessica calls out to her, her glasses slipping down her thin nose as she looks up from her paperwork.

“You too. Don’t stay too long.” Maryanne smiles softly before bracing herself against the mid-January air.

She all but bolts to her warm Toyota, groaning out a sigh once she is out of the freezing wonderland. She shakes her entire body, trying to warm up.

“I hate winter,” she mumbles taking off her gloves in order to grab her phone from her pocket. She has three missed calls.

“That’s odd.”

Maryanne only ever leaves it on silent while she is at work, but rarely will she ever receive a call, especially not three. As she clicks on the voicemail, another call from the same number pops up.

“Oh,” she slides the answer button to pick up the call and brings the cold phone to her ear. “Hello?”

“Maryanne Johnson? This is Edward. I am from the Edenville Hospital.” The smooth voice on the other end of the line trembles, and Maryanne can sense anxiety that reverberates through her own body.

“Is everything okay?”

A large stone forms in her stomach and only continues to grow. She swallows passed the lump in her throat as her heart begins to quicken and her mind races.

Who could it be? Who does she even know nearby? Most of her family is on the other side of the country.

“I am so sorry. I am calling because you are listed as the emergency contact for Miss Lucy Morgan.”

Maryanne’s entire body turns upside down, flopping. Her vision blurs as her mind shuts down.

“Miss Lucy was involved in a head on collision with a drunk driver. Her and her passenger were dead on impact,” the voice, Edward, continues solemnly.

No, no. “This can’t be happening,” Maryanne whimpers. Tears stream down her cheeks, but she tries to bite her lip in order to control herself.

Her entire body vibrates with the grief wracking her chest. A sob seeps through her defenses. Her only friend. The only one that understand her. She is gone. What is she going to do?

One thought rushes through her mind even as her car shuts off and the cold winter bites at her soul, “Where is Riley?”

>><<

Maryanne holds down tears for the hundredth time that day, gripping her steering wheel. She stares up at the apartment complex before her. She is not sure she is ready to venture into their home. Their space. Since neither of them have much family nearby, she was asked by Lucy’s mother if she could box up all of her things and send them to her. Her mother did not want to cross the threshold of their apartment.