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Thank You For Today
Last Updated:
2024-12-19 13:30:31Related chapters
She's No Beauty Queen I'd Like To Talk To You
Lily was tiredly working on homework she hadn’t been able to do because of her ordeal the day before when the doorbell rang. Genevieve, her father, and Emma were out but her mother wasn’t able to get the door for some reason or other so Adam—always the window watcher—came to get her.She hoped it wasn’t anyone important because she was wearing a pair of baggy men’s sweats, one of her old 5k t-shirts, and no bra. Her hair didn’t look that great either because she hadn’t done anything with it today. She hadn’t seen the point since she was inside the whole time.Seeing her own face staring back at her when she opened the door was about the last thing she expected. Adam, who was hovering beside her, seemed especially confused as he looked back and forth between the two of them.Angel looked a lot more like she did than usual today since she had her glasses on and wasn’t wearing makeup. But that didn’t explain what she was doing here.“Hey! What are you doing here? I would have thought you
Last Updated : 2024-12-19She's No Beauty Queen Uh, Thanks?
When they arrived back at the Todd house, Eddie said he would keep Aria busy so the two of them could talk. The little girl didn’t seem terribly pleased about that since she had barely gotten her mother back but this conversation wasn’t fit for baby ears.Lily and Angel ended up going to the backyard and sitting on a rather fancy porch swing set up in the grass. She wasn’t quite sure what to make of her twin sister now that they were together and not under threat. She seemed so much more casual and composed today than she had while having a nervous breakdown in a grubby evening gown.“So,” she began awkwardly. “Are you cool with being called Angel? Because that’s how Eddie refers to you so I started thinking of you that way too. I mean, you did introduce yourself like that to my mom but I wasn’t sure.”Angel shrugged. “If I minded it, I wouldn’t have let Eddie call me that in the first place. In case you were wondering, I didn’t want your mom knowing I’m Miss California. I keep the tw
Last Updated : 2024-12-19She's No Beauty Queen I Would Love That
Aria must have been an accident then. That could explain why Angel and Eddie’s relationship was so stilted. If they were only together for the baby’s sake and because he felt bad about what happened, she could very easily come to resent him.But Lily definitely wasn’t going to ask about that. She had already pried too much.“I’m sorry,” she said lamely. “That must have been hard.”Angel shrugged but had a rather bitter expression on her face that indicated she didn’t feel as casually about this as she wanted to appear. “What’s done is done. The real question is what I do next. Almost dying makes you take a step back and examine your priorities. But enough about me. I want to know more about you. I saw your little brother earlier; how many siblings do you have?”“Four. I’m the second oldest. My oldest brother is married with a baby on the way and lives in L.A. The rest of us are still at home because we’re either too young or too sick to live on our own. But you should know what that’s
Last Updated : 2024-12-19She's No Beauty Queen That Obvious, Huh?
Lily finished her meal with a satisfied sigh. The housekeeper here really knew what she was doing. Unfortunately, she really did need to get back and work on her homework.“Hey, Angel? I have to get back to my homework now. Thanks for having me over though! I had fun talking to you.”Her twin smiled. “I had fun talking to you too. Is there any chance I can convince you to join us for dinner on my birthday? It’s two Saturdays from now and I would totally understand if you were busy but I would like to have you there.”Lily was touched. Inviting her over to celebrate with her family was a pretty big deal.“I would love to! I don’t have anything going on then. I’ll keep the day open for you. Can we exchange numbers? I already have Eddie’s but it would be easier to contact you about things directly.”“Of course! I don’t have my phone on me so I’ll just tell you mine. You can text me so I have yours. Are you ready? It’s 831-220-3495.”She made sure she had the number down and listed the co
Last Updated : 2024-12-19She's No Beauty Queen A Good Laugh
Lily figured it was time to change the subject. “What are you planning to do for Angel’s birthday? So I can schedule my day accordingly.”A small frown appeared on Eddie’s face. “I’m still trying to figure that out. We normally don’t go out together since she’s worried about being recognized but we were fine at that amusement park because she dressed down so much. I was thinking we should do some sort of activity before coming home for cake and presents. Maybe go out to eat as well.”“Well, what does she do for fun?”“She likes reading and movies. Aside from that, I don’t know what she actually enjoys because most of what she does is pageant related. Pretty lame considering I’m the one that knows her best, huh?”Just a little. But it didn’t seem to be entirely his fault. “I guess you’ll have to pick something random then. Maybe something you know she hasn’t done before for the sheer novelty of it.”“That’s a good point. It will have to be something Aria can do too though. She’ll be ve
Last Updated : 2024-12-19She's No Beauty Queen You Knew Her Before All This?
Eddie got up to get the remotes before resuming the position he was in before. Angelina had told him to do what he would have done if he wasn’t holding himself back so she had to wonder how many times they sat here watching movies with Aria when he wanted to cuddle with her.Was that why he usually sat on her other side? To be able to stop himself from doing something he thought would make her uncomfortable? That was both incredibly considerate and incredibly sad.She sat there watching the show—which was admittedly hilarious—half-heartedly because she couldn’t help but wonder how many other ways he restrained himself so he wouldn’t supposedly burden her with his affection. She knew from watching him with Aria over the years that he was an extremely affectionate man.An extremely affectionate man that didn’t know how to express himself very well. It was water under the bridge now but she was low-key bitter that she felt so alone all that time when she could have been enjoying this. Cu
Last Updated : 2024-12-19She's No Beauty Queen You're Cute
Once Mark was gone, Angelina voiced her thoughts from before. “I think he likes Lily.”Eddie looked up in vague surprise. “You too? And you’ve spent much less time with the two of them together than I have. Your observational skills truly are astounding.”She smiled at the compliment. Most people didn’t compliment her on anything aside from her looks or whatever talent she performed at the latest pageant. She certainly wouldn’t be happy to receive any compliments on her singing voice in the near future after the fiasco it had unwittingly caused.“Thanks. I feel kind of sorry for him though. I don’t think Lily likes him much.”“Did she say something to you?” he asked with a raised eyebrow.“Sort of. She compared him to a drill sergeant, which isn’t flattering at all. She sounded exasperated while talking about it too. That doesn’t exactly scream ‘like’ to me but I could be wrong since I didn’t think you liked me either,” Angelina said a bit sheepishly.Eddie frowned and spoke sarcastic
Last Updated : 2024-12-19She's No Beauty Queen Thanks For Worrying About Me
The real question was with what. After having time to think about it, Angelina realized she didn’t want to go to medical school and miss so much of her daughter’s life.Her priorities had been completely rearranged after her brush with death. She needed to see Miss Americana through to the end but she wasn’t sure what she wanted to do after that was over and done with.She would like to be able to experience some normal things for people her age. Since she never got the chance to be a normal kid, she should at least try to be a normal woman in her twenties. At least as much as she could be with a child and fiancé in tow.Angelina could easily spend the rest of her life living off of Eddie’s money but she didn’t want to do that. She still wanted to do something to help kids like her that suffered with neurological conditions.What could she do though without going all the way to medical school? She supposed there was always the PR route. She did have plenty of experience. She would hav
Last Updated : 2024-12-19
Latest chapter
She's No Beauty Queen Incredibly Grateful
Lily and Mark had a small simple wedding at a garden venue. Angel convinced her to let her apply light makeup for the occasion with the rationalization that she would only be getting married once. It did make her stand out in the pictures so she supposed that was something.All of their friends and her family were there to support them. Aria was the most adorable flower girl ever and her nephew Hunter was the ring bearer. Angel was the matron of honor and Randi and Genevieve were her other bridesmaids. Mark’s best man was Eddie and two of his bowling friends rounded out the wedding party.They went on their honeymoon to Hawaii where they took another submarine tour and hiked what felt like every inch of the island of Maui. Lily was happy but exhausted by the time they got home.Despite experiencing a major life event, not much changed in terms of work or their general schedules for another year when she got pregnant with their son Damien. Her job was kind enough to let her take a year-
She's No Beauty Queen I Thought You Would Never Ask!
Lily inhaled deeply and let the smell of the salty air soak into her soul. It was impossible to worry about anything right now when she was this relaxed.“You certainly seem happy,” Mark noted with a smile as they bobbed in the water.“I am. No one ever wants to go swimming with me. Thanks, Mark. Today has been wonderful and it’s not even over yet. You spoil me too much.”“There’s nothing wrong with a little spoiling.”Lily knew it was pointless arguing with him so she let it go and closed her eyes as she floated there. The ocean was oddly tranquil today. There were hardly any waves at all, which was perfect for swimming.She wasn’t sure how long they stayed in the water like that enjoying the quiet and each other’s company but, eventually, they headed back to shore. He read a book on a towel while she took a nap and let the sun soak into her soul.When she woke up, she felt more at peace than she had in ages. Her boyfriend had planned the perfect day for her. At times like this, it w
She's No Beauty Queen That Wasn't Like Her
Lily’s ongoing struggle trying to be okay with Mark not wanting to move forward in their relationship became more difficult as time went on. On the rare occasions she tried to bring it up, he would quickly change the subject so she gave up after a while.That wasn’t like her. She was so frustrated she was ready to blow a gasket but didn’t want them to fight.So she ambled along expecting nothing knowing that was all she was going to get. It didn’t help that Angel was pregnant with her second child and very excited about the fact. She would be having a boy this time and she and Eddie had already decided to name him Eli.Aria had hoped for a sister but was still looking forward to having a baby to play with even if it was a boy. She was a good kid and Lily had no doubt she would be a great big sister.As much as she looked forward to meeting her new nephew, it got her wondering if she would ever be able to have a child of her own. Her twenty-fifth birthday passed recently and Mark still
She's No Beauty Queen An Irreplacable Existence
Patience wasn’t Lily’s strong suit. Mark hoped Donovan got back to her quickly because he didn’t want to prolong this more than necessary. Mark didn’t want to ruin the surprise either though. If she knew what he was planning in advance, she might get suspicious.Thankfully, Donovan’s family was available two weeks from then. And so were two spots for what Mark was planning to take Lily to do. He booked the tickets immediately so now all he could do was wait.He already knew his girlfriend would accept his proposal but he was still anxious. Who wouldn’t be asking such a loaded question to the person that mattered to them most?At least she didn’t seem to have caught on yet. She chatted normally on their longer-than-expected drive down to L.A. due to traffic. They didn’t arrive until nearly 2 AM so it was a good thing Eileen told them where the spare key was kept in advance so they could let themselves in.An air mattress had already been set up for them. All they had to do was flop ont
She's No Beauty Queen Alright Then, Be Mysterious
Talking to Angelina about her seizure frequency being pregnant only made Mark feel worse because he knew Lily wanted multiple kids. She would be putting herself at risk more than once and he wasn’t sure he would be able to live with the anxiety. As it was, he wasn’t sure how Edward was able to do it.Maybe that was who he needed to talk to in order to ease his fears. Someone who had been in the position he would potentially find himself in twice.Mark knew that it wasn’t fair to leave Lily hanging forever. He wanted to spend his life with her, he truly did, but he needed to get his fears under control first.“How do you handle knowing your wife could have a seizure any time?” he blurted when he and Edward were in the car on their way to a meeting the day after his conversation with Angelina.He didn’t seem terribly surprised by the question. It seemed that she had told him what they talked about yesterday. “I don’t know. I guess I’m used to it by now. She did have one within five minu
She's No Beauty Queen Her Heart On Her Sleeve
They exchanged numbers and Angelina excused herself to get back to work. She should be able to focus now that she had gotten a bit of a break. It was nice knowing that at least one of her former associates was doing well these days. She hoped they were all able to find things that made them happy the way she had.Mark didn’t even look up when she came back in. He was that focused on his work. She wasn’t able to catch his attention at all until she called his name three times after finishing what she needed.“Sorry, I was in the zone. Are you ready to go?” he asked sheepishly.“Yeah. Thanks for sticking around.”Angelina felt a bit guilty to be inconveniencing him like this but at least he already knew Eddie was a worrywart when it came to her. That was why he wasn’t letting her drive on her own.He didn’t say anything until they were nearly back at her house. “Hey…um…do you always have seizures when you’re pregnant?”That was completely out of the blue. Why would he ask about that?“T
She's No Beauty Queen Small World, Isn't It?
Over time, Taylored’s customer base did grow, if not as quickly as the owners wanted it to. Genevieve and Lita got a huge order to make costumes for a local theater company’s production of The Music Man and that kept them pretty busy for a while but that wasn’t the only big thing happening.After a few months of actively trying, Angelina found herself pregnant again. It was a much happier experience this time and everyone was excited about it. Particularly Aria. She was thrilled at the prospect of having a little brother or sister because a lot of her friends had them.She asked a million and one questions about what she dubbed “our baby.” It was adorable.Though her emotional state was much better, things weren’t too different physically than they had been with Aria because she had to change her medication again and that took getting used to. At least she was planning on it in advance this time and did it before getting pregnant rather than after.She was fairly miserable but hated b
She's No Beauty Queen Me Too
Angelina had been rather busy preparing herself for the grand opening of their shop Taylored and didn’t notice her twin’s distress. Lita’s son was named Taylor so it was a sort of play on his name and the fact that they were tailors on top of designing custom clothes.By the time Genevieve graduated, everything was just about ready to go. Their grand opening was the week after and they had already gotten an impressive amount of advertising done so there should be a decent turnout. It didn’t hurt that they had a great location where they should get a lot of traffic.Having a real estate mogul for a husband could be surprisingly helpful. Before this, she never thought she would utilize his skills for finding great locations.Angelina went to the grand opening for a while since Aria was playing with Emma. Preschool was out for the summer and she missed her friends already. She was such a social little thing.She thought it went pretty well, all things considered. A lot of people came in
She's No Beauty Queen You Know I Thrive On Chaos
Genevieve caught a real break when Angel met Lita. She never would have suggested going into business otherwise but the three of them got on like a house on fire.Lily had been surprised to say the least and asked her twin about it. She smiled softly as she explained that all she ever wanted was to make a difference for people like her and this gave her the chance to do so without taking her away from her family for long stretches of time unlike her original dream.She certainly seemed excited about it. Talking about her potential business venture made her much more enthusiastic than usual. It was cute.Angel had made her own friends too in the various clubs and classes she had joined trying to figure out what she wanted to do so she joined Lily’s friends maybe once a month these days. Lily was happy for her. She deserved to have a life of her own after living someone else’s dreams for so long.Lily looked forward to seeing where this clothing business went. She had already commission
