Enemy Ex's Secret Baby: A Best Friend's Brother Romance (The Solace Sisters), page 1
ENEMY EX’S SECRET BABY
CALLIE STEVENS
Copyright © 2023 by Callie Stevens
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
CONTENTS
1. Gillian
2. Axel
3. Gillian
4. Axel
5. Gillian
6. Axel
7. Gillian
8. Axel
9. Gillian
10. Axel
11. Gillian
12. Axel
13. Gillian
14. Axel
15. Gillian
16. Axel
17. Gillian
18. Axel
19. Gillian
20. Axel
21. Gillian
22. Axel
23. Gillian
24. Axel
25. Gillian
26. Axel
27. Gillian
28. Axel
29. Gillian
Epilogue
Baby For The Off Limits Single Daddy
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
1
GILLIAN
I’ve never liked hospitals. I can never seem to get comfortable no matter how I cross my legs in these waiting room chairs. Of course it doesn’t help that Stella, my daughter, has her head on my lap, waffling in and out of an impromptu nap. I can’t blame her. It’s been a marathon of a day.
Harley, the second to youngest of the Solace sisters, went into labor early this morning with her first baby.
Everything has happened so fast, from her pregnancy to falling in love, to getting engaged to her now fiancé, Grant Neville. Boy, was that dramatic. But now, we’re all happy as clams.
I was her first phone call, if you can believe it. We’ve come a long way from our past sibling rivalry. But since I’m the only mom of the five of us (until now, that is), she and I formed a close bond as I helped her through her pregnancy.
So, I rallied the troops. Dana, Kira, Amy, Dad, Stella, and me have been here since three A.M. camped out in the waiting room. Doesn’t matter that it’s her first labor and will probably take all day. This is just the Solace way.
Victoria, supermodel and Grant’s younger sister, arrived shortly after we did and cancelled her full day of photo shoots and a red-carpet appearance to be here. “I’m not missing the birth of my first niece for Versace,” she explained. Then, my best friend, Lola got here an hour ago after keeping an eye on the bakery we run together. Harley’s got a full house waiting for her.
Stella stirs in my lap, stretching out her legs and sighing. I brush her blonde hair, same shade as mine, around the crest of her ear and smile.
“Is the baby here yet, Mommy?” she asks, blinking her eyes open, corners crinkling.
We’re the spitting image of one another except those eyes. Mine brown, hers a gorgeous green. Like leaves and bark. Together, we are our own little tree. “Not yet, honey.”
“Dad, you’re going to create a hole in the floor if you keep pacing,” Dana pipes up in her chair across from mine. Dana’s the eldest of us and is, consequently, the caretaker, especially since our mom left.
I look across the waiting area at our dad. He’s been pacing for the last hour since the doctor let us know Harley was getting ready to push.
Amy pats the chair beside her. “Come sit and relax, Daddy.” Amy’s the youngest. Always as sweet as a peach…unless she’s not, in which case she’s a menace.
“Pacing won’t make the baby come faster,” Kira, the middlest, says in her usually rational, clipped cadence.
“Can’t help it, I’m nervous,” Dad says, pushing a hand through his hair.
Victoria puts her magazine down on her lap, her lacquered nails clacking against the pages. “You know Grant is taking good care of her, Kent.”
Dad grimaces and I can’t help but laugh. Grant is Dad’s best friend since their fraternity days. The fact that Grant and Harley somehow found their way into each other’s arms still hits him funny on certain occasions.
“Oh, don’t make that face,” Victoria says, smacking her magazine against his leg.
“You’d think you haven’t done this five times before from the way you’re acting,” Lola says. Lola is practically a sixth Solace sister. After all, she grew up right next door and we’ve been friends with her since we were in diapers. Lola and I just happened to be in the same grade and managed to be desk mates all through elementary school, so I get her as my best friend.
Dad sighs and crosses his arms over his chest. “It’s different being out here than in there. At least when you’re in there you know what’s going on and where you stand. Out here, I have no idea if something is going wrong or…”
“The doctor said she was doing great when she came out, Daddy. Let’s just trust the process, huh?” I say with a smile.
He looks over at me, Stella in my lap. The nervousness on his face softens. “Can you believe? Five years ago?”
“Six!” Stella replies with a scolding tone. “I’m six now, grandpa.”
Dad clutches his heart. “Six. You’re right. They grow up so fast, don’t they?”
Yes, they do. Way too fast. Six years ago I was getting ready to be a single mom and terrified of the future. Now, I’m twenty-nine, my daughter’s a kindergartener, and life is cruising down the highway.
Dad comes over and reaches for Stella. She latches onto him fast and leaps into his arms.
“Dad, your back!” I cry out. She’s average for her age, not particularly big or small, but she’s not as pick uppable as she used to be.
“Oh, relax, I’m fine!” he replies, holding Stella on his hip and rocking her back and forth.
I can’t help but smile as she tucks her head on his shoulder. The first Solace grandchild. Sooner than anyone expected, probably. But Dad never flinched away from me with disappointment or concern. He was with me every step of my pregnancy, even held my hand in the delivery room. He was the first person to hold her, after me of course. Because of that, Stella and her grandfather will always have a deep bond. More of a father figure than her father will ever be.
“Gillian–” Lola pokes my arm. She points up at the TV screen in the corner. It’s the seven o’clock nightly news; I can tell by the logo in the corner and the ticker rolling by on the bottom of the screen, but that’s not really what catches my eye.
It’s the image of me helming a protest in front of the empty lot near Stella’s school. I’m holding a bullhorn and shaking a sign high in the air that reads, “Community, not condos!” while a crowd with various other signs shouts back at me in solidarity.
“Turn it up, turn it up,” Dana says.
Kira rushes to pull a chair out in front of the television and gets up onto it to turn up the volume. As she does, the voice of a newscaster gets clearer.
“…another weekend of protests at the Seton playlot ended with a standoff between protesters and developers.”
The footage shifts to a few men in suits approaching the crowd of people. One of the suits is, unfortunately, not just a suit.
It’s Lola’s brother, Axel Hitchins.
“Oh god,” she mutters next to me, tucking her head in her hand as if she can’t watch it.
“The protesters, made up of mostly parents from Seton Elementary School, have been trying to stall plans for a new condo building being built by Hitchins Property Developers that will take over the lot that has historically been linked to Seton Elementary. However, the school’s lack of ownership over the land and zoning issues keep things at an impasse on both sides.”
“You’re famous, Gilly,” Amy says cheekily.
I’d rather not be. At least not for this. For the past two months, protecting the play lot by Stella’s school has taken up all the time I’m not working at the bakery or being a mom. “It wasn’t a standoff. All they did was come to survey and we said no,” I say as if it’s the most pedestrian thing in the world.
Thankfully, they don’t show the shouting match Axel and I got into only a few moments later.
Before I can retune into the broadcast, my phone starts ringing in my pocket. I pull it out and find it’s Fran Shapiro, my lawyer and fellow parent at Stella’s school. Her son, Jacob, and Stella have had many playdates dedicated exclusively to Lego while Fran and I go over the case we have against Hitchins.
“Fran, what’s up?” I answer quietly. I can feel Lola shrink further into her chair.
“The temporary hold has gone through. It’s going to be brought to city council.”
I can’t hold back my absolute delight. I gasp, “Are you serious?”
“Serious as I’ll ever be. Just got word five minutes ago and called you.”
“This is fantastic!”
Fran huffs, “It’s something. We can’t get ahead of ourselves.”
“Of course not, but–” I can’t find words. I’ve been a part of protests before. Usually, though, it’s just a formality. Just a fucking show of support for something. It’s rare anything actually gets done. This time, though, something might actually get fixed. We might be able to protect the play l
“Honey, just relax. You’ve got a baby on the way,” Fran chuckles.
Fran and I have become fast friends through this process. She’s about fifteen years older than me, but motherhood transcends age. It’s amazing how you connect with other moms just based on the fact you’re both moms. “Okay, you’re right.”
“Just celebrate the win and give that baby a big fat kiss for me when you get to. Aw, I want another one.”
“Not too late, Fran…”
“Don’t even think about it, my husband would kill me. Anyway. Talk soon, Gill.”
Fran hangs up before I can reply as is her way. She’s a full-time lawyer and a mother with a penchant for scheduling. Every minute she has is worth its weight in gold.
“I wish you’d just drop this, Gillian.”
I look at Lola with a raised brow. “Excuse me?”
“It’s just–”
“Aren’t you proud of me?”
My friend sighs, brushing her dark hair out of her face. “Of course, I am. It’s just…you know, I’m sort of between a rock and a hard place with all of this.”
“Which is why we don’t talk about it,” I reply. We promised to put an embargo on talk about the development as soon as I got involved.
“Gillian, it’s been so hard on Axel. He’s barely even sleeping because of all this.”
My insides twist and my lips pucker like I’ve just bit into a lemon. I have to hold my tongue or else a torrent of curse words might pour out of me. Since we became adults, Axel is a sore subject. Me and him don’t get along for a variety of reasons. I know that the Hitchins company is what Lola’s whole family grew up on, their bread and butter. But she’s different than them…I wish she wouldn’t protect Axel and his feelings so much when he’s causing such harm to the community.
I keep this all inside. It wouldn’t be helpful to say. Plus, even if I wanted to argue, right now couldn’t be a worse time.
We’re saved from awkwardness when Harley’s doctor walks in with a serene smile on her face. All of us are silent, but Dad manages to croak out, “What’s the word, doc?”
The doctor’s smile grows. “Why don’t you come back and see for yourself?”
“Be very careful, Stella. Support her head…” I say softly, crouching next to my daughter who is sitting in a chair at Harley’s bedside. In her arms is little Tana Neville, Harley’s daughter. Fresh out of the womb and red-faced.
Tana already met her grandfather, auntie, and all her aunts. Now it’s Stella’s turn. She was miraculously patient, though she ran from person to person, eagerly looking up at them to try and get another glimpse of the baby.
Harley looks on from her bed, eyes lazing tiredly, and her short hair frizzed from sweat. The smile on her face, though, hasn’t disappeared for one second. The work she just did is no joke. I should know.
“What do I say?” Stella asks, looking to Harley and then to me.
“Introduce yourself,” Dad says from behind the chair, looking down as his two grandchildren meet for the first time.
“Hi Tana,” Stella says. “I’m Stella. I’m your cousin. I was the first one here, so you need to respect me.”
“Stella,” I admonish.
“Don’t worry, she will,” Harley says with a gentle laugh.
“Needs to learn to respect those who came before her,” Grant adds with a deferential nod toward Stella.
Harley and Grant exchange a look of love that’s so intense every one of us can feel it. I hate to say I’m jealous, but I am. Harley deserves it. Each and every one of my sisters does. And yet, love like that seems to elude me. Especially now that I’m a mother. Who has the time?
Before Stella, for a while, I had a boyfriend, love, I had found someone. I had looked for my person and was determined to have my happy ever after, my mother’s abandonment be damned. I saw how she and Dad were before everything fell apart. It felt real. Some of that must have been real. So, I searched high and low for that, determined that, unlike my mother, I wouldn’t screw up my family. I would run headfirst into love at any cost and I had found the perfect guy.
Unfortunately for past me, it didn’t last forever. When we were done, it hurt.
When the perfect chance for a rebound happened, I was all in. Stupidly, in time I fell for him, but he didn’t feel the same. We ended things.
So, you could say I was a bit surprised to learn about my unplanned pregnancy. More than a bit, actually. I thought I’d been careful. I’d been wrong.
“She’s big,” Stella mutters with wide eyes.
“You’re telling me,” Harley grumbles.
I laugh. “You’re in good spirits.”
“Oh, of course, how could I not be?” she replies.
I go to her bedside and plant a kiss on her forehead. “You did so good, sissy.”
Harley sighs in relief. “Thanks, Gilly.”
I look at Grant. “How are you holding up?”
His blue eyes widen. “Good. Better than I…expected.”
“I only cursed him out a couple times.”
“Like I said, better than expected.” Grant chuckles. Then, he looks down at Harley. “I’m very lucky.”
Another pang to my heart. You’re happy for them, Gillian. Stay happy. “And don’t you forget it,” I say, wagging my finger at him playfully.
“I won’t. Promise.”
I swallow and nod. “Good.” I need a break from all the lovey-dovey, so I turn back to my daughter. She’s in good hands with Dad behind her and Dana now crouching where I once was. On the other side of the room, Kira, Victoria, and Amy are arranging a food order for Harley. She’s desperate for sushi since she wasn’t able to eat it while pregnant.
I’ll leave them to that and instead go to the window where Lola is leaning, taking in the whole scene. “Thanks for inviting me, Gill,” she murmurs.
“Of course. You’re family, Lola,” I reply. It’s true to me beyond a shadow of a doubt.
She smiles at me and holds up her pinky finger. I put my pinky up to hers and we squeeze them together. An unspoken tradition between us, something we’ve done over and over since we were little. The love is always there regardless of what happens between us. I hope. “You know…” she says with a sigh, looking back at Harley and Grant as Dad helps return the baby into Harley’s arms. “I’m glad we have a pact about Axel being off-limits.”
I do a double take. “Wha-what?! Why are you bringing that up?” It’s been a rule since we hit puberty. Axel was off limits to me; my sisters were off limits to her (on the off chance her sexuality took a turn toward the female persuasion).
“Just cause…” Lola jerks her head subtly toward Grant and Harley. “The drama, ya know?”
I glance back at my family. Yeah, there was a lot of drama. There was a lot of arguing, at least one punch involved, and some work to get us all to a point where our sort-of-uncle Grant was now more than that. “But it all worked out. They’re happy. It doesn’t matter how they got there, it’s just…” I trail off as I look at Lola. “Never mind. Yeah. You’re right.”
What Lola doesn’t know can’t hurt her.
2
AXEL
“Do you know what this is going to cost me?”
I blink at my father. Best to stay quiet when he’s angry to keep his blood pressure down.
“Axel.”
Unless he demands a response. Then it’s best to actually respond. “A lot of money.”
“Yeah. A lot of fucking money,” Dad growls and throws the newspaper down on his desk. “I should have known twenty years ago that she was going to be a troublemaker.” On the very front page is a picture of Gillian with her bullhorn and “Community, not condos!” sign overhead, looking as vicious as a wild beast. He’s somehow managed to get the issue before it went to print. Just the Hitchins way. Throwing money at the problem to get what he wants. Or someone owed him a favor.
