All Chapters of More Than Just Her Stepfather: Chapter 21 - Chapter 30

I woke up the next morning with a migraine. I tried to convince myself it was solely because I didn’t get enough sleep the night before, but I knew it wasn’t. Well it sort of wasn’t. I didn’t sleep because I spent the night crying. I felt completely betrayed and was devastated every single time Natalie’s voice echoed in my head.‘I’m his fiancee and we are going to have a baby!’It was such a big thing to lie about. Did he not think that I was going to find out? For God’s sake, she lived with him! There was no hiding that! I knew my mother lied to me. I didn’t really let myself get close enough to anyone to let them be able to hurt me. The only person that I had let get that close to me was Tom, and it seemed like he couldn’t be trusted either. Tom defended Rip, even knowing that I was crushed by his lies. Was I ever going to matter to anyone enough to be loved like I loved them? I didn’t lie. I wasn’t cruel. I didn’t tear people down. Not at all. I had been torn down by everyone aroun

RipI woke up at 5 AM Saturday morning to get ready. I had to be very careful about what I did today. This might be the only chance I had to talk to her. It had been a really rough week. Between Naomi fleeing from my life again and getting confirmation from my doctor that Natalie was in fact pregnant, I had been miserable. The only enjoyable part of my day was the few hours I got to spend with Becky after I got off of work.She really was the sweetest little girl. They were all incredibly amazing. They were definitely not how I expected them to be. I expected them to be standoffish and scared, but after the initial visit with Becky, they all started running up to the fence when I pulled up. I had hired a couple of helpers to assist with the children during the week in the hopes that it would help the caregivers be able to get more done. It seemed to be helping a little. When I was there the day before, they all seemed happier, which made me happy.I knew that when I arrived this morni

CarolineI stopped on the way to Rip’s house to pick up some cough and cold medicine for Natalie. I had never liked the girl, but I understood why Rip thought he needed to have a surrogate. I just wish he had chosen a better one. But oh well! Orders were orders! My entire purpose in life was to do whatever Rip needed me to do. After I left the store, I called the doctor and relayed Rip’s orders. He was more than happy to comply. Natalie had rubbed him the wrong way too. She rubbed everyone the wrong way. As I was gathering the bags to go inside, my phone dinged, alerting me to a message. I huffed in annoyance as I let the bags go. I had to check it.It might be Rip with new orders, and with how much he paid me every year, I had no problem with dropping everything for him. It wasn’t like I really had anything in life. My ex-husband and I had divorced 17 years ago, and I hadn’t allowed myself to become involved with anyone else. Even though I had been tempted. I sighed dreamily when I s

NaomiI sat at a surprisingly small table with Becky sitting between me and Rip. I knew that she had been frightened when we arrived, but she had quickly warmed up, especially when Keke had grabbed her hand and started giving her a tour of the rooms we passed on the way to the dining room. Maids stood in the doorway of every door we passed, just waiting for us to want to enter so they could open them for us. I was floored by how decadent everything was. I was even more confused by the fact that Raja had been introduced as ‘Uncle Raja’. That hadn’t been how I had been introduced to him. When I met him at my mother’s and Rip’s wedding, he had been Rip’s friend. Had he lied to my mother? Was he really related to Raja? Just because they didn’t look like each other didn’t mean anything. They could have different mothers, or fathers. I let my eyes move over Becky. One of them could have been adopted. There were just so many ways that they could be brothers.Once we were sitting at the table

He took a deep breath as his hands fisted at his side. “Naomi, can you please come back into the room and talk to me. Really talk to me. I promise not to yell at you again, but we really do need to talk. Especially about Natalie, because everything you just said is so wrong! Please, Naomi, let me explain everything. I will answer all of your questions, and I won’t lie to you about anything.” He slowly walked up to me, giving me a chance to back away from him if I wanted to, but something in his eyes held me frozen in place. He took my hand, linking our fingers together. “Please, Nomes. I want you to know everything I couldn’t tell you back then, and I want you to understand everything that’s going on now. And I really would like to know what happened to you when I left. Help me understand why you feel the way you do. Help me make sure that I never make you feel that way again.”I hesitated while my heart threatened to race out of my chest. I was afraid to trust him. He had already lie