Southern Charmed Billionaire (32 page)

An exaggerated cry escaped my lips as I rolled my eyes
in disbelief
.
Don’t get me wrong. I was relieved this wasn’t about me, and I was definitely relieved the secret was out. But couldn
’t there have been anything more substantial to report?
 

“How about that? A little unorthodox, I’ll say
,
” Kim retorted.
 

“But the interesting thing, Hillary, i
s that i
t seemed to work! And rumor has it Atticus the
T
hird had another steamy secret of his own. Or did.”
 

“Okay, let me get this straight
. H
e enlisted a girlfriend
,
righ
t? W
ho was rumored to be an escort,
until
those
allegations were proven false, correct
?”
 

“Yes, completely false. You’re right.” She smiled back with the charm of a beauty pageant contestant.
 

“Hell yeah it’s false!” I yelled out to them practically wanting to throw my coffee mug at the screen, my Brooklyn side coming out in full fury.
 

“So, it gets juicier. He hired her to become pregnant, to fake a pregnancy to make his Grandfather happy on his last days on Earth.”
 

“Aw, that’s so sweet
,
”
s
he cooed
, adding a
high pitch
squeal. It rivaled that
of a kindergarten
er
playing
at recess
.
 

“I know
,
”
s
he replied in an equally annoying baby tone.
 

“
As it turns out,
he didn’t even have cancer.” There was an audible gasp in the audience
, so scripted
that I
just
had to laugh lightly at
it.
 

“If I'm understanding this correctly
,
she is
not
pregnant but the two are still an item. Is that right, Kim?”
 

“That’s correct. Aaaaaand they are the latest
,
hottest Charleston gossip. Speaking of the latest Charleston gossip, Brittany Branch stopped by our studios to issue her statement on the matter. Take a look at this clip right now.”
 

“Oh dear God…” I muttered. “What on earth do you have to say now?” I blew my hair out of my eyes
,
bracing for the worst of it.
 

There she was, heavily made up to perfection and probably using this footage for her reality show.
 

“What do you think of your family’s recent antics?”
 

“I think it’s fu— stupid. Moving on.” The word was bleeped out since it was a family friendly network.
 

“Oh, you do know we are on live TV.” Kim corrected
Brittany
with the
melodic
tone of a songbird
and the
bullshit smile
of a
political candidate
running for offic
e.
 

“
Of course,
d
uh.” She rolled her eyes, obviously annoyed. Boy was she a piece of work!
 

“Any other thoughts or comments on the matter?”
 

“My brother dear may be dating her for real, but she’s still Brooklyn trash with her daddy in jail. Oh yeah, I forgot to add that. TTYL.” She waved at the camera and stared deeply into the lens, as if she knew exactly who would eventually hear her memo
loud and clear: me.
 

My blood boiled. She really, truly was a horrible,
horrible
person. But the truth was, if I were going to live an authentic life, I had to take Atticus the First’s advice: be like Ford, hit this on the head with my own PR.
 

“We caught up with Atticus Branch senior, on this matter and his clip is very funny. Take a look.”
 

There he was, in his comfortable Wranglers, cowboy hat, and his retriever at his country home, rocking in his chair while overlooking the rolling hills and majestic mountains. The visual instantly made me feel peaceful. Gosh, I needed to get back there fast.
 

“My oldest grandson finished his EP, my youngest granddaughter completed her first modeling portfolio breaking out of her shell, and my other granddaughter, well I’ll just have to let the good Lord do His work with her because…”
 

He shrugged. He had nothing!
 

There was a flash of Brittany’s last final words immediately following his statement. “My family doesn’t get that I have like a real career with
Charleston’s Finest
show. Ugh. But whatever.” She rolled her eyes like a professional valley girl.
 

I sat there, stunned, yet waiting for anything more to appear on the screen. When the gossip queens moved on to another story, I turned off the TV and sat there just dazed, absolutely dazed, taking everything in slow bits, trying not to have a full fledge panic attack about the entire town knowing my business.
 

And knowing my father was in prison.
 

Part of me wanted to grab the largest bucket of Ben and Jerry’s ice cream, a bottle of Rosé bubbly, and hide under the blankets all day. That part of me would have watched movies and pretended this wasn’t real, that this wasn’t happening.
 

But cowardice wasn’t in charge. She didn’t run the show.
 

I did – and like everything else, I’d have to face this head-on.
 

I took a brave breath. I’d have to do damage control on this, especially with that last part where she outed my father being in prison. Even if my own boyfriend didn’t approve of what I knew I needed to do, I had to do it. This was my life and I had to own every part of me. I knew this somehow would be connected to the success of my business
launch. If I was authentic, then I’d truly shine and have nothing to hide.
 

I marched downstairs, poured another cup of coffee, and wrote out my speech, rehearsing it before filming it to upload to my Kate’s Kitchen Facebook page.
 

“Hey guys, it’s Kate Longhouse with Kate’s Kitchen. You may have heard a lot about me recently in the press. Perhaps you’ve even seen the gossip segment on Charleston’s local news this morning.
 

“I really hope you’ll give my bakery and my Paleo cupcakes a chance despite what you may have heard or think. At Kate’s Kitchen, you will not only find a yummy, delectable selection of healthy treats here, but it is here where you can count on finding inspiration from me and
my
story. You see, it doesn’t matter where you’ve come from or who your parents are. If you are a hard worker and you have vision, anything can happen.
 

“It’s true, I was very poor growing up. And yes, I do have a father in prison. But I’m honest and I’m hardworking. And I’ve always sought to do better in my life.
 

“I am from Brooklyn. I took the bus to get to Charleston. There is no shame in my hustle and I have proudly come to grips with this. There is nothing that can be said about me that's going to make me feel shameful and knock me down.
Nothing
.”
 

I conveyed that last part of the message with my eyes, hoping that Brittany would get that download.
 

“I believe everything works out as it should. I guess these interesting stories are making the Charleston people interested in my bakery, so for that I'm thankful. I learned from the best of the best. Granddaddy Branch taught me all publicity is good publicity.
 

“Part of bettering my life was being a part of a small white lie. It was created to add some joy to someone else’s life; a life that we all thought was coming to an end – which ended up being another small white lie. But if it were not for these small white lies, I would not be making this video inviting you to my grand opening.
 

“Life happens. It gets messy. But in the grand scheme of things, if we go with the flow and we don’t give up, a beautiful picture will be revealed with all the missing pieces.
 

“We have to own all parts of these pieces. Not just the good but also the bad. We have to embrace all of the colors necessary to make the picture right. I embrace all my colors and all my pieces and I encourage you to do the same.
 

“I will personally be there awaiting your business and I truly hope you’ll get to know me and try out these delicious goodies. They taste good, but they’re actually good for you, too!
 

“I also want to thank my boyfriend’s kind sister for disclosing my business plan because you know what? My notebook had plans for something smaller than a store. Sometimes we are thinking cupcake truck, but God is thinking cupcake store. Don’t be afraid to dream big. Don't let
anyone
water down your dreams or steal your sparkle. See you soon.”
I blew a kiss into the camera, ending the video.
 

I put up a teaser on my Instagram, uploaded the video to my YouTube channel and decided to take a nap. God, knows I needed one!
 

When I woke up, I was surprised to see a tag from Lacey on Instagram. She had made a video. I could tell by the little play emblem. I clicked to watch.
 

“Hey guys, Lacey Branch here. I’m Atticus’
other
sister. The sane one.” She got that in quickly, which made me laugh. Oh guuuuuurl! No you didn’t!
 

“You guys are going to love these Paleo cupcakes. I’ve personally tasted them, and I, like, crave them every day.” Her blue eyes sparkled as she licked chocolate off her finger. Underneath her video she explained the day she spent making cupcakes with me and using avocados. Oh, that was a fun memory.
 

There was no better way to wake up from my nap than this: seeing someone else take steps towards their expansion and being part of it.
 

Okay, that or sex.
 

With Atticus.
 

Chapter Thirty-Five
 

Kate
 

Even though I hit the ground running once we returned from Bali, those flappy butterflies filled my stomach day in and day out until the opening day for Kate’s Kitchen.
 

I encountered a few more ridiculous rants from Brittany. She was a hot mess to put up with, but I didn’t expect anything less from Brittany the Bitch, who filled her days tweeting about her brother dating a kitchen worker. I really couldn’t care less. I was actually starting to grow amused by her behavior and felt pity for her.
 

“I’m just a girl from Brooklyn dating a billionaire with a heart of gold. How’s that a crime?” or “So sue me. I bake cupcakes. Oh no, lock me away!” I’d sometimes subtweet back into the Twitterverse just for the fun of it. Not too often, just here and there. I didn’t want to look like I was playing too much in Brittany’s pigpen. I was too busy building up my baby and dating a billionaire.
 

And speaking of, dating a billionaire it sure had its perks. I told Atticus my French-décor inspired vision, and what does he do? He whisks me away to Paris to visit the best bakeries so I could take personal photos of them to help design the bakery of my dreams.
 

I was in my element, planning, and Atticus was in his, going on a small tour and writing more music for the new young adult dystopian that was set to start shooting in the fall.
 

He had proposed to me at least a dozen more times but I told him I would not make any lifelong commitments to any man until I knew him two years. In my mind, that was the real way to see a man’s true colors.
 

Three months after we landed back home, the news I had been waiting for finally aired regarding Granddaddy’s false flag with cancer.
 

Sitting down in Atticus’s one hundred year home he purchased on the square, sipping our fine wine, a habit I was spoiled to death by, Atticus shook his head in shock. I had to bite my lip so I wouldn't spill the beans that I had known all this time.
 

"I... I just can't believe he'd go that far. I just can't."
 

"Are you sure?"
 

“Are you serious?” he asked.
 

"What? It seems to me the apple doesn't fall far from the tree." I winked at him. "We had a fake pregnancy. Come on."
 

Six months. Our “love child” would have been born. The beautiful irony was this month, instead of scrambling to give birth to a false baby, my business – my real baby – was having it’s grand opening. I was ready to launch.
 

I had worked hard and slaved for hours in the kitchen. I hit up every high-end Pilates and barre fitness studio to not only stay in shape from all the cupcakes I was sampling – all from trying to get the flavor just right – but I networked with owners and became a business woman in my own right. I didn't want to just be about cupcakes, Kate's Kitchen would be a Paleo empire. This was just the beginning.
 

I woke up at 5 am in my boyfriend’s bed having barely slept a lick on opening day. A beautifully wrapped aqua box—my bakery’s main color— greeted me on the bedside table. I rolled my eyes playfully at his persistence; I wasn't going to say yes until two years. He knew that!