Free Saving Abby by Steena Holmes Page B

the pregnant teenager. Did she not realize what that would do to his career? He was supposed to be a respected council member and businessman.
    He’d demanded Claire get an abortion, but in a rare instance of holding her ground, Millie had stood up to him and told him it was Claire’s body, Claire’s choice.
    Except she really didn’t have a choice.
    If she kept the baby, she wouldn’t be allowed to live at home. Those were the rules according to her father.
    But if she got rid of the baby, he would pay for her college tuition, take care of her housing, and even provide a monthly living allowance so she could focus on school and not worry about finding a job.
    After a lot of begging and pleading, Millie convinced him to let her and Claire live in their summer cottage until the baby was born, so Claire could give it up for adoption. She did her lessons at home, something her father arranged for her so that she wouldn’t get behind in school. With the two of them at the cottage, he could tell everyone Claire and her mom were traveling as they’d always wanted to do.
    He’d agreed, and the decision had been made. He even offered to send her on a trip to Europe after the baby was born.
    She was supposed to be grateful for his understanding. Grateful. But not once had her parents asked her what she wanted to do. She’d had a desperate need to keep her baby. She knew she was young, but she loved children and dreamed of having a large family one day. Being an only child was lonely, and this baby meant she wouldn’t be alone. She was willing to do whatever it took to be a mother, even if it meant finding a job and working for minimum wage.
    Millie and Claire stayed at the cottage for the first month after she’d given birth. Millie called it her month of healing, but Claire cried every day.
    Her father finally came to pick them up, handing her plane tickets the moment he walked in the door. They were all going on a holiday, a little road trip through the states. They had a timeshare in Florida, and her father thought they all deserved a vacation. From there, Claire and Millie would fly to the UK, where they would tour England and Scotland before coming home in time for Claire to start school in the fall.
    For the first few months, Claire managed to contain her anger toward her father and tried to be a good girl. She lived in a fog, her emotions shut off from everything and everyone. She kept her mouth shut as she traveled with her mom, toured the museums, and went on guided excursions of all the sights.
    They arrived back home just in time to get her ready to move to Toronto to attend college. She hardly spoke to her father after her return, but when he handed her the keys to an apartment he’d found, completely furnished, and told her she’d made the right decision, everything inside of her exploded.
    She could still remember the anger and the hatred behind the words she’d said to him.
    “I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I honestly hate you. You took away my decision, and now you’re trying to buy me off.”
    She’d watched as his face softened for one split second and her words hit his heart. “I love you, Claire Bear. I’m just trying to do my best by you. That’s all. When you’re a parent, you’ll understand,” he whispered.
    She refused to apologize.
    “I was a parent. For one hour while I held my son, I was his mother.” Tears gathered in her eyes, and she wiped them away angrily. “They asked me in the hospital if I was sure. I could have changed my mind, but I decided not to. Do you know why?” She spat the words out, loathing pouring out of her heart as her father just stood there.
    “Because the people who adopted him, who would be a part of his life forever, they wanted him.” She choked on the words. “He deserved to be wanted, and they could give him a better life than I could. That was why. Not because of you, not because of your demands and your threats.”
    For the next four