Page 76 of The Fiancé Hoax

“Did you ever see her act like a loving mother to her daughters?”

Dad thought for a moment. “No, I haven't. I know how much those girls mean to Cooper. But Gen…” He shook his head. “She's a piece of work.”

“Yeah, from what I've seen, she wants very little to do with the girls. She's just after money.”

Dad snorted. “That doesn't surprise me.”

“And those little girls deserve to be with someone who treasures them. They deserve to be with Cooper.”

“Yeah. They do.”

“So don't you think Cooper deserves all the help he can get?”

Dad heaved a big sigh. “I suppose so. But I hate the idea of you getting mixed up in this… ruse.” He said the word with disdain.

“I know you don’t approve. But…” I took a deep breath. “Will you keep this secret? If this gets out, Cooper will lose custody for sure.”

He heaved a sigh. “Yeah, I'll keep my mouth shut about it.”

I exhaled in relief.

“But this has to end soon, Felicity.”

“Yeah, I know. And it will. After the custody trial in a few weeks.”

I swallowed the lump in my throat. I hated to think of the ticking clock over my head. Soon, I would no longer be a part of Cooper's and the girls' lives.

* * *

“Daddy, can we watch a movie tonight?”

Eva brought her plate to the sink and looked up at her father. “Lily and I can go brush our teeth and change into our pajamas. Right, Lily?”

Lily nodded. “Yeah. And we'll go straight to bed as soon as the movie’s over.”

Cooper looked at his watch. “Sure, why not? It's still early. But it'll have to be a short movie.”

“Yay!” The girls cheered and ran out of the room.

“Be right back!” Eva shouted from the staircase.

Cooper and I exchanged a smile. He rinsed the plates off and began to put them in the dishwasher. “So the interview with Dana went well today?”

I told him a little about it earlier, but this was the first time we’d been alone tonight.

“Very well. Except for the part where I said I designed custom-made fashion for children. Talk about jumping in head-first.”

He grinned. “I think that was a wise business decision. I bet you won't regret it.”

I cleared the table and brought the remaining dishes to the sink. “Let's hope not.” I leaned against the counter and took a deep breath. “After Dana left, Lauren brought lunch over.”

Cooper smiled. “That was nice of her.”

“Yeah. And then I had one last visitor this afternoon.”

“Oh, yeah? Who?”

“My dad. He said he wanted to check out the children's clothes.”

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