The Billionaire's Substitute

Romantic Bubble Bath

Rachel sat across Caroline who was holding Ava in her lap, trying to feed the little girl green drab this time, as Valerie would call it. Ava was moving her hands around, making it hard for Caroline to get the food into the baby's mouth. Caroline wasn't giving up though, neither was she losing her patience. Her husband who sat beside her was amused by the sight. Mateo was usually distant, he was present during visits and social events but he rarely spoke up. He always did his own thing and that was okay. When it mattered the man spoke up. She was certain Ethan did not get his charming personality from his father. She didn't think there was anything charming about Mateo. Ethan's good looks he probably did inherit from his father. It made her trail her eyes back to the giddy Ava, her baby girl didn't quite look like her father, but when you paid close attention you could tell she was indeed Ethan's little girl. She couldn't quite point her finger on it.

"She's being difficult." Rachel told her fiancé, "Maybe you should assist your mother?"

Ethan raised an eyebrow at her, "Mom is doing fine on her own."

Rachel doubted Ethan believed that. The amused glitter in his eyes matching Mateo's. Father and son probably enjoyed seeing Caroline behave out of character like that. She wasn't that amused though. She felt sorry for the woman. Ava was not making things easy for her.

"Fine, if you're going to be like that I'll let her spend a lot more time with her uncle Gabriel." Rachel quietly told her surprised-looking fiancé, "We both know that Gabriel is her favorite person." Those words left her lips just to add some more salt to the wound. It definitely did the trick because Ethan got to his feet and approached his mother.

He sat down beside his mother and grabbed the spoon and bowl of baby food from his mother, "You just hold her, I'll feed her."

Rachel got up and headed to the living room, taking out the wet wipes to clean Ava's face. When she headed back to the dining room she was greeted by sounds of laughter. She would never have imagined having this family moment with Ethan's family. They were known as people who rarely showed any sign of emotion, yet now that Ava was in the picture both Caroline and Mateo were not living up to their known image. She could tell Ethan enjoyed spending time with his family a lot more.

"Your brother and sister are going to attend the wedding. They want to meet Rachel and Ava." Caroline told her son, "The other day I sent Maddison a picture of Ava and she couldn't stop gushing about her."

"Ava's round face is cute to look at." Ethan joked.

His mother gave him a shove against the shoulder, "Ava is cute. Anyway, Maddison is coming over in two weeks. She'll be staying here for the wedding."

Ethan frowned, "The wedding is in four weeks. Is she staying two weeks? Here?"

Caroline looked utterly happy about that. Her children rarely stayed over, all her children were always doing their own thing. She never met Ethan's siblings due to that. She was curious about them. She knew Gabriel's family behaved more friendly, they were always around each other. Ethan's family was different. She couldn't wait to meet the family members she had never seen before.

"Rache, she's getting this stuff all over me." Ethan met her gaze, "You're going to clean her face and hands?"

She realized she was standing in the middle of the room, just staring at her fiancé and his family. Clearing her throat she moved. She cleaned her little girl's face and attempted to clean her little fists as well. Ava didn't look happy about that though.

"There is nothing to cry over." Rachel sighed, "You're very cunning for your age."

"She gets that from Ethan," Caroline muttered.