Page 22 of Impregnated By the Alpha

“What’s up?” Nile said.

“Penelope wanted help getting a dress from her closet, and when I went in there, it looked like they were all the same. Did you buy them, or were they gifts?” I asked.

Nile winced. “Ah. Yeah, I buy them in bulk from an online store,” he admitted. “I just move up to the next size when she starts growing out of the ones she has. I know they aren’t very stylish, but I don’t know a lot about fashion.”

It didn’t surprise me, and in fact, it was exactly what I expected to hear. Nile loved Penelope, but he was still a very practical man. Being a girl-dad had challenges that were much different than caring for boys.

“Would it be okay if I took her shopping today? I think she might like to choose something with a bit more pizzazz,” I said.

“Of course,” Nile said. “I’ll leave my credit card on the counter, and you two go have a good time.”

Penelope was thrilled when I asked if she wanted to go shopping with me. We drove down to a children’s boutique that I had seen a few days ago. Her eyes lit up when she saw all the options.

Since she didn’t have a lot of experience with choosing her own clothes, I decided to have her try on a few different styles and materials to see what felt comfortable to her.

“I get to wear all of these?” she asked excitedly as I hung the choices up in the dressing room.

“We won’t buy them all, but you can try them on here and decide what you like best,” I explained.

She squealed with excitement as she went inside to try on her first dress. Some of them she found too itchy or not the right length for her preference, but in due time we had whittled the choices down to ten.

“I know you like all of these,” I began. “But you can only wear one dress a day. Can you pick your top five favorites, and we’ll put the rest back?”

I worried that she would be upset or disappointed about not getting all of the dresses, but she happily sorted through the pile and pulled out the ones she wanted to leave behind. While she did that, I grabbed a few pairs of kick shorts for her to wear under the dresses. She was an active child, after all, and some of the outfits she picked were quite short. Nile would have been less than impressed if he got a call from preschool saying that Penelope had exposed her underwear to the class.

With our selections made, we checked out at the register. I carried the bags out while Penelope skipped along next to me.

“You up for some ice cream while we’re out?” I asked.

“Yes!” she said enthusiastically.

I stopped at the ice cream shop just up the road and ordered each of us a cone. On the way out the door, I accidentally dropped one of Penelope’s bags just as I caught sight of the last person I wanted to see today: Diana.

“Hello, dear!” she said to Penelope, hurrying over to her granddaughter and giving her a big hug. “What are you doing out with Violet? Where’s your daddy?”

“He’s at home. We went shopping!” Penelope said.

Diana raised her eyebrow judgmentally at the bags in my hand. “I can see that,” she said. “Spending all your daddy’s money, are you?”

She was talking to Penelope, but she was looking into my eyes judgmentally as she spoke. I wondered if she thought I spent all my days shopping on Nile’s dime.

“Not all of it, Grandma,” Penelope said with a laugh.

“Well, you let your daddy know that I need some time with my granddaughter soon, okay, sugar? Grammy misses you,” Diana said, ruffling the girl’s hair.

“Okay, Grandma,” Penelope said, concentrating more on her ice cream than on Diana’s words.

“Pen, go have a seat over at that table so you can eat your ice cream. I’ll be right there after I grab this bag,” I said.

I reached down to pick up the fallen shopping bag as Penelope moved off toward a chair.

“You seem pleased with yourself,” Diana sneered at me.

“Excuse me?” I asked. She had never been kind to me, but the venom in her voice was unmistakable.

“All of this,” she said, gesticulating at the shopping bags and ice cream. “You have no problem spending Nile’s hard-earned money, do you. It’s just despicable. My poor granddaughter is growing up without a proper woman to look up to now that her mother is gone. Instead, all she has isyou.”

Her words stung me, but I refused to back down to a bully.

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