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Chapter Sixteen

Author: Excel
last update publish date: 2026-03-31 13:36:20

OLIVIA'S POV

Three weeks before my due date, the braxton hicks contractions started.

I knew what they were. I'd coached enough pregnant mothers through them as a nurse to recognize the difference between practice and the real thing. But knowing something clinically and experiencing it at two in the morning alone in an apartment was different.

I breathed through it and didn't call anyone.

The second one came twenty minutes later and I sat up and turned on the lamp and looked at the nursery door
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  • Remarrying My Billionaire Ex   Chapter Twenty-Three

    DAMIEN'S POVI stayed for dinner.Olivia made pasta, the simple kind, olive oil and garlic and whatever was in the refrigerator. I sat at the kitchen counter with Nathan in the bassinet beside me and watched her move around the small kitchen with the ease of someone fully inhabiting their space.This was different from the Ross house. There she'd always been slightly careful, slightly aware of the edges of what she was allowed to occupy. Here everything was hers. The coffee cups hung in a specific order. The windowsill had three plants and the ultrasound image she'd never moved. The dish towels were mismatched and the good knife was in the wrong drawer and all of it was completely and specifically Olivia.I liked being in it."You're staring," she said without turning around."I'm watching you cook.""Same thing.""Different intention."She paused briefly at the stove. Just a pause. Then she kept stirring.The monitor on the counter crackled softly. Lily shifting in her sleep. We both

  • Remarrying My Billionaire Ex   Chapter Twenty Two

    OLIVIA'S POVGrace watched Lily for two hours on a Saturday afternoon so I could shower without listening for sounds and sit in my own living room without a baby attached to me.I lasted forty minutes before I missed her.I was standing in the kitchen making tea when Damien knocked. Scheduled visit, eleven o'clock. I'd forgotten to check the time.He came in with Nathan in the carrier against his chest and stopped when he saw my face."What happened?""Nothing. Grace has Lily. I was trying to have two hours to myself and I've spent forty minutes missing her."He looked at me with something that was almost amusement. "That doesn't go away.""Helpful.""It gets easier to sit with." He unclipped the carrier and settled Nathan against his shoulder. "You look better.""Than what?""Than three weeks ago. You had this look like you were running on reserves you weren't sure would last.""I was." I poured a second cup without thinking and pushed it across the counter to him. "The six week mark

  • Remarrying My Billionaire Ex   Chapter Twenty-One

    DAMIEN'S POVThree weeks after Lily was born, Emma filed for expanded visitation rights with Nathan.My lawyer called on a Tuesday morning while I was at Olivia's apartment for the scheduled visit. I stepped into the hallway to take it."She's claiming the current arrangement limits Nathan's connection to his maternal family," my lawyer said. "She wants biweekly overnight visits starting at six weeks.""He's four weeks old.""I know. The filing is aggressive and unlikely to succeed at this stage. But she's establishing a paper trail.""Counter it. Full opposition. Nathan is four weeks old and overnights at this stage are medically inadvisable. Get a pediatric statement from his doctor.""Already on it. But Damien, she'll keep filing. This isn't going away."I knew that. Emma was methodical. She'd been building toward something since Catherine died and Nathan's existence gave her a permanent foothold. I'd underestimated how far she'd take it."Keep me updated," I said and went back ins

  • Remarrying My Billionaire Ex   Chapter Twenty

    OLIVIA'S POVI came home on a Thursday.Grace had the apartment ready. Clean sheets, the refrigerator stocked with things I could eat one-handed, the nursery nightlight on. She stood in the doorway while I carried Lily in and didn't say anything sentimental, which was exactly right.I stood in the middle of my living room with my daughter in my arms and felt the particular quiet of a life that had changed while I wasn't looking."I'll be down the hall," Grace said. "Shout if you need me.""I'm fine.""You've said that in approximately every difficult situation I've witnessed. Shout anyway."She left.I stood there for another moment. Then I took Lily to the nursery and set her in the crib she was too small for yet and stood over her in the yellow light.She slept like she had no concerns.I wished I had that.**************Damien came the next morning with Ethan.I'd told him ten o'clock. They arrived at ten exactly, which I expected from Damien and was surprised to find was also Eth

  • Remarrying My Billionaire Ex   Chapter Nineteen

    DAMIEN'S POVI stayed until seven.Grace woke at six, assessed the room with the efficiency of someone who'd raised three children, declared Olivia needed real food and went to find the hospital cafeteria. The midwife cycled in and out. A pediatric nurse came to check Lily's vitals and declared everything excellent with the cheerful certainty of someone who loved their job.Olivia was exhausted in a way that was different from tired. Deep and cellular. She held Lily through most of it, only handing her to nurses when required, and watched everything happening in the room with the careful attention of someone cataloguing it.At six thirty she looked at me. "You should go home. Ethan will be up soon.""Mrs. Patterson is there.""Still. He'll want to see you."She was right and she knew I knew it. I stood and looked at Lily in her arms. Dark hair, fists unclenched now, sleeping with the absolute commitment of someone who had no concerns whatsoever."I'll come back this afternoon," I said

  • Remarrying My Billionaire Ex   Chapter Eighteen

    OLIVIA'S POVLabor started at eleven forty-seven PM on a Tuesday.Not the practice contractions. The real ones. I knew the difference immediately, the way every nurse who'd ever coached a mother through it said you would. A different quality of pain. Purposeful. Insistent.I breathed through the first one and looked at the clock.The second came eight minutes later.I called Grace first, purely instinctively, then remembered what she'd said about practice and picked up the phone again.Damien answered before the second ring. "Olivia.""It's real this time."A beat. "How far apart.""Eight minutes. Just started.""I'm leaving now. Call your midwife. I'll meet you at the hospital.""Damien—""Midwife first. Then pack what you need. I'll be there in twenty minutes."He hung up.I called my midwife, who told me to come in when contractions hit five minutes apart. I had time. I moved through the apartment slowly, gathering the bag I'd packed two weeks ago, checking things I'd already check

  • Remarrying My Billionaire Ex   Chapter Seventeen

    DAMIEN'S POVTwo weeks before the due date, Emma called.I let it go to voicemail. She called again. I let that go too. The third time I picked up because ignoring it wasn't making it stop."I want to see Nathan," she said."You can arrange a visit through my lawyer.""Damien. He's Catherine's son.

  • Remarrying My Billionaire Ex   Chapter Fourteen

    OLIVIA'S POVThe eighteen week appointment fell on a Monday. I'd been awake since five. Not anxiety exactly, more like anticipation with nowhere to put itself. The baby had been active all weekend, long rolling movements that Grace said meant a strong personality, which she delivered like a warning

  • Remarrying My Billionaire Ex   Chapter Twelve

    OLIVIA'S POVEthan stood on the stairs. He'd known for four days. I'd told him myself, sitting on the edge of his bed after school, keeping it simple. I was moving to my own apartment but staying in New York. I would see him. That part wasn't changing.He nodded like he was processing a forecast. T

  • Remarrying My Billionaire Ex   Chapter Nine

    DAMIEN'S POVI'd spent two days trying to find the right words and kept arriving at the same problem. Nothing I said could undo what I'd already said. The night I'd called sleeping with her a betrayal. The months I'd spent making her feel like furniture in her own temporary home. The fact that she'

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