Chapter 277: Babe
Abigail was still sleeping when a knock on the door pulled her out of her dreams.
Her eyes blinked open, heavy with sleep, and she sat up slowly, blinking at the sunlight coming in through the window.
She glanced at the door when another knock came.
"Who is it?" she called, her voice rough from sleep as she pushed off the blanket.
"It’s Brenda."
"And Bella," two soft voices answered. "Sorry to wake you. But Jamal said it was sort of urgent."
Abigail frowned as she got off the bed slowly so as not to disturb Josh, and padded barefoot to the door.
She opened it, and the two identical looking girls stood there with an apologetic smile on their faces.
"Sorry, we didn’t mean to disturb you. Mom said you were to be left alone until you both woke up," Bella whispered, biting her lip. "But Jamal asked us to give you the phone. He said you must speak to him now."
Abigail nodded and reached for the phone in Bella’s hand. She turned to return inside, and the girls slipped inside quickly, their feet almost tiptoeing. The moment they saw Josh stirring on the bed they went straight to him.
"Wakie wakie, Joshy," Brenda sang, brushing her fingers over his cheek.
"Rise and shine baby," Bella said, ticking his side.
Josh yawned, turned, and giggled sleepily as he sat up.
Abigail turned her back to them as she pressed the phone to her ear. "Jamal?"
"Sorry I disturbed your sleep, but I thought you’d want to know that Ryan released a video some hours ago. It’s everywhere. It’s gone viral."
Her heart skipped a beat. "What video?"
"About you being the real Dawn Hank and stuff. Ask the girls to show you," Jamal said. "You can check it out while we talk."
Abigail turned to Brenda. "Can I see the video?"
Brenda nodded quickly, her fingers already moving on her phone. She handed it over, and Abigail made sure to reduce the volume as she stepped into the bathroom before pressing play.
She didn’t want Josh hearing Ryan’s voice just yet.
The bathroom filled with Ryan’s voice and his face on the screen. Abigail’s brows pulled together as she listened. Her heart dropped and her eyes burned with heat when she saw how he’d so easily discarded Genevieve to save himself. She clicked the screen off and pressed her hand to her forehead.
"Why would he do this?" her voice cracked. "Why would he push such lies at a time like this? Doesn’t he care what this will do to Genevieve?"
"I don’t know. At this point I don’t think anyone understands why Ryan does what he does. Maybe he’s hoping that by sharing his side of the story nobody will believe you if you decide to expose him," Jamal reasoned.
"Why am I surprised. He has always been selfish. It’s his nature. I can’t believe he pulled such a move just when I was beginning to feel sorry for him. He really doesn’t deserve sympathy of any kind from me. Do you think Genevieve might have seen it yet?" Abigail asked, her voice worried.
"I tried reaching Stefan after I saw the video but he’s line is unavailable. Although I spoke with him last night and he was planning to talk to Genevieve about everything. I’ll keep trying to reach him but I’m sure he’ll call me when he sees the video. Hopefully when he does you can speak to Genevieve."
Abigail sighed hard and rubbed her eyes. "When are you coming here?"
"Sometime around noon," Jamal said. "I want to stop by the company briefly to see what’s happening there, and then I’ll go see Callan. I need to check on him."
Abigail sighed. "Oh. I forgot about Callan. You should see him."
"Yeah," Jamal said softly.
"Okay," she whispered. "Take care of yourself. Maybe later I’ll ask Lucy to take me out. I need a phone of my own so I don’t have to inconvenience the girls."
She could hear Jamal smile through his voice. "I’m pretty sure Lucy already thought about that."
"I hope she has."
Jamal’s voice turned gentle. "How’s Josh?"
Abigail looked into the bedroom. Josh was now laughing as Bella and Brenda made funny faces.
"He just woke up," Abigail said softly. "He’s playing with Brenda and Bella."
"I should say hello to him," Jamal said.
Abigail walked over and held the phone out. "Josh, Daddy wants to talk to you."
Josh took it and pressed it to his ear. "Daddy? Where are you? Why talking in phone? Come home."
Jamal’s laugh came through the speaker. "I’ll be there later today, buddy. Daddy has to do some things first. But I’ll see you soon. I’ll get you some toys when coming."
"Promise?" Josh asked with a wide smile.
"Promise," Jamal said.
"I love you, daddy," Josh grinned and gave the phone back to Abigail after Jamal responded.
"See you later, babe. Take care of you. I love you," Jamal said.
"I love you, too," she said, grinning at his use of babe.
"I love you, too," Bella and Brenda called out to Jamal loudly and both Abigail and Jamal laughed as they ended the call.
"Thank you for letting me use your phones," Abigail told the girls as she handed the phones back to them.
"It’s not a big deal. Now that you’re up you should probably freshen up and come downstairs for breakfast. Mom has your whole day planned out," Brenda said, and Abigail raised a brow.
"The whole day?"
"That’s an exaggeration. Not exactly the entire day. But you know shopping takes a lot of time and we have to go shopping for your clothes. We offered to do it before your arrival but Mom insisted that she didn’t want to get your clothes without you because she wasn’t sure exactly what you’d like. So, this is like shopping for all you need, including a phone and stuff and then a pamper session. She’s already planning your official welcome party," Bella said excitedly.
"What welcome party? Wasn’t that what we did last night?" Abigail asked, confused.
Both sisters exchanged an amused look. "No. That wasn’t a party. That was just us welcoming you home. You’re Dawn Hank. There has to be a befitting welcome party for you. You know like the biblical story of the prodigal son that came home? The father threw a big party to welcome him. In this case, you’re not a prodigal daughter, so the party has to be even bigger," Brenda said with a wink.
"Anyway, we will all be going shopping together. I can’t wait! We are going to have so much fun!" Bella said, grinning at Abigail.
Abigail smiled at both girls. Their excitement was contagious, and found herself looking forward to the experience.
As she freshened up and got Josh ready to go downstairs for breakfast, her thoughts drifted to the video Ryan had made, and she prayed silently that Genevieve would be alright and would return to Ludus with Stefan so they could both have the kind of life they deserved, surrounded by loving people.
And she hoped that when the time came, Ryan would rot in the hottest and ugliest part of hell for pulling such a move.