Billionaire Flawed 1(125)

They were packed and ready when the carriage arrived to take them to the station. They were grateful to Miss Bess, who had provided her private driver and carriage for the girls to get to the station. They were nervously holding hands the entire way to the station. Both were tense and quiet, thinking about the fact that they were traveling to an unknown place to meet strangers who may or may not accept them the way they were.

Lilly was praying hard, sometimes with Angelica, that the man they would meet would understand their situation and not judge them harshly. Lilly had sent a telegraph that Angela would be arriving but made no mention of herself.

That fact weighed heavily on them both as they boarded the train and settled themselves in one of the cabins. What if they were both sent back? Or simply sent away? What if the man was not accommodating and wouldn’t accept them at the train station?

Fear and anxiety gave them both headaches. They sat silently as the train made its way across the country. They went to get food once and did so without a word. Other passengers watched them curiously. Lilly wondered if they made such a strange pair that people would feel the need to stare at them in such a way.

When they were back in their seats, Angelica whispered, “Lilly, let me see the letter again, please.”

Lilly handed it to her without a word. She’d kept it tucked in her pocket and often would touch it to make sure it was there. She wanted to have it to prove Angelica was the one he had sent for. She had already decided to let Angelica go to him alone and that she would go immediately into the building to retrieve a newspaper. She would need to find a boarding house right away.

She watched Angelica read through the letter again, her eyes focusing on the name at the beginning, “Angela.” It was only a different version of her own name and she felt she would be able to get used to it. She had worked hard on her English, harder than she ever had before, just in the last four days. She wanted to make a good impression.

Please, God, help me be what he wants. She prayed, folding the letter and clutching it tightly in her hand. “I will give him the letter, Lilly,” she said.

Lilly pulled in a deep breath and pressed her lips together. She felt shaky and faint. Every mile took her closer to being more alone than ever before. She did not regret letting Angelica take the place of the bride for the man. But she hadn’t really thought about how alone it would leave her. Alone 4000 miles from anywhere she’d ever known.

A sense of dread covered her.



They were 20 minutes from the train station and gathering their things together. They no longer needed the coats they had started out wearing and had stripped off the gloves and bonnets, as well. It was cool but not nearly enough for the extra clothing. The sun was dropping behind the horizon when they stepped off the train.

They were not given time to separate.

They were the only ones departing the train at that station, and a man was standing there waiting for Angela. He was the only one there and watched them both get off the train, talking in low tones.

They stopped and stared at him.

He blinked and then approached, removing the cowboy hat from his head.

“Angela?”

He looked from one to the other.

“Uh…” Lilly looked at Angelica. “This is Angela,” she said instinctively.

Angelica nodded. “Hello, yes, I am Angela.”

Lilly just realized how thick her Italian accent was. They both stared at Adam, and he stared back at them, his eyes moving from one to the other. The first thing he noticed was that they were both beautiful women. The second was that there were two of them and the one saying she was Angela was definitely not an American.

“I’m sorry. I don’t understand what’s going on,” Adam stated in a low voice.

Lilly looked at Angelica with worried eyes. She didn’t want to speak up when it was Angelica who was supposed to be the one here for him. She tried to send telepathic messages to her friend by thinking very hard, talk to him, talk to him!

“I…” Angelica started. She reached down and picked up her two bags, which surprised both Lilly and Adam. Adam took a step back, and Angelica took a step forward. “I am ready. I do say sorry for confusing you. I travel with Lilly very often. She is my friend and companion. I do hope you do not mind.”

Adam wasn’t sure. He didn’t exactly mind one way or the other. But he’d been expecting one woman, not two. He couldn’t possibly marry two women. He looked at Lilly. Which one of these women was he supposed to be with? It was obvious Lilly had written the response letter for Angela.

“I sent for one woman to marry. What is your intention here?”

Lilly followed Angelica’s lead and picked up her bags. “As Angeli… Angela says, I have been her traveling companion for some time. I would like to stay nearby, perhaps in a boarding house and continue my friendship with her. Also, I have been helping her learn English. As you can see, she is still working on it.”