Longing For The Beach Billionaire Daddy
Chapter 62

*Shelby*

“They ruined your last Christmas here? What happened?” I asked, curiosity getting the better of me.

Lucille looked out the window to make sure Michael was still occupied. Content that he was, she looked back at me and continued her story.

“Well, Marmie was honestly more at fault,” Lucille explained.

“When was Marmie here for Christmas?” I asked, really confused. Michael and his ex had a contentious relationship, so it didn’t make sense that she would join them for a holiday.

“It was the year that they first found out that Lauren was Michael’s biological daughter. They decided to try out the relationship one more time for Lauren’s sake. Things weren’t going well, so Michael decided to bring both of them to the cabin for the family Christmas. It was his last-ditch effort at trying to mold together a stable family relationship for Lauren,” Lucille explained.

My heart sank. In the months that I had been dating Michael, he had never told me that he had tried to make things work with his ex. In all honesty, he hadn’t told me much about his past other than when he found out he had a biological daughter that he didn’t know about until she was fourteen.

“I take by the look on your face that Michael didn’t tell you about this. I’m sorry to bring it up; I’ll keep my mouth shut,” Lucille said, reacting to my shock.

Lucille tried to stand up and head to her room, but I grabbed her hand, and with a pleading look, I asked her to stay.

“No, please continue. The curiosity will wear away at me until I replace out what really happened,” I explained.

“Okay, but I am only telling you this because I think you deserve to know. If Michael is mad, he only has himself to blame for not telling you in the first place.

***

*Lucille*

** Christmas Morning at the Cabin 10 years earlier **

“Please, Lucille, I am begging you,” Micheal pleaded with me.

“Alright, alright, we will switch, and she can stay in my room this year,” I conceded.

“Thank you so much; I will make it up to you, I promise.”

Michael had brought his ex, Marmie, and her daughter Lauren to Christmas at the family cabin this year. Michael was shocked to replace out that Lauren was actually his biological daughter, fourteen years after the girl’s birth. He was now trying to make up for lost time. At least, that was how he put it.

The rest of the family realized that he was just spoiling the girl. The worst part of it all was that now, he was trying to mend his relationship with Marmie to give Lauren a shot at a stable family. I disliked Marmie with a passion, and she wasn’t helping the matter by insisting her guest room wasn’t up to her standards.

She needed a room where the morning sun wouldn’t wake her, and the only acceptable option for her was my room. The very room I had stayed in for every Christmas of my entire life.

“I know that Marmie can be a bit demanding, but I am just trying to give this relationship a chance,” Michael explained, picking up on my frustration.

I sighed, staring at my cousin’s furrowed brow and tense posture. I knew he was trying to do what he thought was right, but he was bound to give himself a heart attack trying to hold this relationship together by the strings.

“I understand, Michael. I just have to say, though, you don’t have to make yourself unhappy for the rest of your life because you’re trying to give Lauren the father she lost.”

Micheal sighed, but just as he was about to respond, Lauren came sulking into the room.

“Hello, Lauren. Is everything alright?” Michael asked, pasting a fake smile onto his face.

“No, everything is not alright. That old lady downstairs told me we had to wait to open presents until everyone came downstairs. I want to open them now,” she said, stomping her foot.

I clamped my mouth shut at the disrespect she was showing my grandmother. She was in her nineties and may not have many more Christmases left with us.

“This is her cabin Lauren; we do things the way she asks because she was kind enough to invite us all to stay with her,” I said, trying to keep my tone even.

Lauren rolled her eyes at me and turned her attention back to Michael.

“I will see what I can do,” Michael said, shooting me another pleading look.

In the end, Lauren got her way, and we all gathered downstairs around the tree to open presents.

The wrapping paper flew around Lauren as she tore through every present, not caring who they were from. She was done with her piles of presents before the rest of us had even started.

I tried to ignore the girl’s disappointed sighs and enjoy the time with my family. I opened a small box with a broach my grandmother had given me.

“Oh, Grandma, this is so beautiful. Thank you so much,” I said, holding the piece up to the light, admiring it.

“You’re so welcome, my dear,” she responded as she beamed at me.

Lauren let go another exaggerated sigh. I sucked in a deep breath and turned to her.

“Is everything alright, Lauren?” I asked.

“It’s fine, I guess. It’s just nothing like the Christmases I used to have. I would get way more presents than this.”

I gritted my teeth, “Well, every family does Christmas a little differently.”

Our grandparents had raised us to appreciate the thought behind each gift rather than expecting to get piles and piles of presents. Even as Michael and I got older and could understand that our families were very wealthy, we never expected extravagant Christmases.

“Well, this isn’t my big present anyway. I have to wait a while for that one,” Lauren said.

“What do you mean?” I asked the girl, confused as to what she was referring to.

“Lauren! Hush,” Marmie said in a not-so-quiet whisper.

It caught everyone’s attention, all focus was on Lauren, and she was soaking it up.

“Mom said that I would be getting a baby brother or sister this year,” Lauren said with a big smile.

The room went silent, so silent you could have heard a pin drop.

“Marmie, we need to talk privately,” Michael said, his face as white as a ghost.

Marmie pretended not to hear him and began opening another present. Everyone in the room stared open-mouthed at her. The silent question hanging in the air was, was she pregnant?

“Marmie!” Michael said, raising his voice. “ We are going to talk about this. You get to choose whether we do that in private or in front of everyone. I am not going to let you play this game where you use other people to avoid having difficult conversations.”

The awkwardness of Michael’s statement hung in the air. Marmie stood up without looking at Michael and headed upstairs.

Their fight could be heard from downstairs; apparently, they had started fighting before the door was properly closed.

“Marmie, are you pregnant? How would that even be possible? What in the hell is Lauren talking about?”

“No, I am not,” Marmie’s terse voice floated down the stairs.

“And am I just supposed to take your word for it? You don’t exactly have the best track record of telling me the truth.”

“How could you say that?” Marmie said angrily.

“There is a perfect example sitting downstairs; because of your lies, I didn’t even know I had a daughter for the first fourteen years of her life.”

“Fine, No, I am not pregnant. All I said to Lauren was that someday we might have another baby, and we could all live together as a family like we were supposed to in the beginning.”

“Then why did Lauren say this year? A baby this year! Our relationship is falling apart at the seams as it is. Do you really think a baby is a way to fix things? Usually, when you make these kinds of decisions with the person you plan on having a baby with, not your fourteen-year-old daughter. I was insane to think this was actually going to work out with you.”

“It will work out if you just give it a chance. I know we have a future together,” Marmie answered.

“This isn’t just planning for the future Marmie. You were planning to trap me by purposely getting pregnant, weren’t you?”

The anger rippled through Michael’s voice.

Something crashed against the wall. I got to my feet in seconds, scrambling up the stairs. When I got to my room, my crystal vase lay shattered on the carpet around Michael’s feet. Marmie had thrown it at Michael, narrowly missing him, but he was covered in shards of glass.

“You need to leave now,” I said, standing in the open doorway.

“I…it slipped out of my hand,” Marmie stuttered; she had just noticed the open door. It didn’t take her long to realize that everyone had heard the entire fight. Her face paled as she realized her defeat.

She opened her mouth to argue or try to explain away her actions, but I didn’t let her get out a single word.

“I said get out!” I screamed, wanting to lunge at this manipulative woman.

Michael put a hand out to stop me.

“Pack your bags and take our daughter back home. There will be a driver waiting out front to escort you to the airport,” Michael said, stepping over broken glass and leaving the room.

***

*Shelby*

**Present day**

“Oh my God,” I said breathlessly as Lucille finished her story.

“It was the worst Christmas we ever had at the cabin,” Lucille said, looking sad.

“What happened after Michael and Marmie’s fight?” I asked.

“Marmie and Lauren silently packed and left the cabin. Michael did not say a single word after they left. No one wanted to stay after that, so the decorations were quickly packed away, and the tree was taken down. Michael went to see Marmie when he returned to New York. They fought some more, and Michael found out that she had been sleeping with someone else, trying to get pregnant.”

“She really did that?” I asked in shock

“She thought she could save the relationship if Michael believed the baby was his. She was going to trap him the same way she trapped her first husband, using Lauren. Michael was devastated by the betrayal. We all thought….” Lucille abruptly stopped talking.

“Are you two ready to decorate this tree?” Michael said, working the tree into the cabin through the back door.

“Of course, I was just showing Shelby all of our old ornaments,” Lucille said.

I stared at Michael and couldn’t help but wonder how many other things he was keeping from me.