Billionaire's Accidental Wife

Chapter 20 Later that evening, fireworks burst overhead, eager laughter swirled around Chelsea, and an attentive waiter pressed a margarita with freshly crushed mint into her hand. After dinner earlier, she managed to call Jane and Catherine, and they decided to have a girls' night out, which involved Shawn Richmond driving the car and giving them VIP passes through the most expensive, new, and well-known pub in the city. It had been a wonderful reunion, and the three of them ended up sobbing and hugging and eventually ruining their make-up.

Ah, this was life. After almost another drink, Jane was almost wasted and Catherine called her younger child on the phone, singing a lullaby. God knows what sort of Peppa Pig song it was. She shook her head and smiled at the embarrassed mom. It had been a couple of years, yet Chelsea saw how the couple still looked at each other's eyes like they were the only ones in the room.

"This is life, right?" Jane grumbled to Chelsea with a grin. She looked beautiful in a knee length dress of shimmery silver gems, while Catherine wore the same sparkling mini-dress accentuated by moonstone clasps at the shoulders and a simple belt that brought out the deep brown of her eyes. "Chelsea, would you believe Shawn wanted to have this fundraiser in a stuffy old ballroom? On a beautiful clear night like tonight?" "It's a good thing he has Cathy to talk him out of it," she said with a playful dig at Shawn's tuxedoed ribs. "I would not have wanted to miss this."

"I second the motion," Shawn said, raising his glass as if for a toast while Catherine was still busy talking to her kid on the phone.

Chelsea was excited to see them, and they had already arranged for some time this week to visit the couple's mansion. Earlier, Catherine asked about her and Dave, but she just gave her a cold shoulder. For now, there was nothing to talk about just yet; for now, she wanted to forget the beautiful bastard.

However, tonight's dance, banquet, and general-purpose give-us-your-money event were to raise funds for Richmond's latest favourite charity, a group that bussed children in homeless shelters to the library every day, and watched over them while their parents were out working or looking for jobs. This time, two years ago, the only charity Shawn had been interested in was the society for the relief of young naked bimbos, but Catherine had made him a changed man. These days he actually sought out opportunities to do good without the help of his late grandfather, now on his own without any prompting, and when he encountered a cause that didn't have a fundraiser-or even one that did but didn't seem big enough or glamorous enough to raise the necessary awareness or funds-he made one. "So, how much are we getting so far?" Chelsea asked Shawn.

He pulled up some numbers on his phone. "Oh, about nine hundred thousand," he said off handedly. "But I think we can get up to a million by the end of the night, maybe even to five. Thanks for donating those beautiful pots to the auction table, by the way."

"Well, I just hope you guys aren't counting on me for that last two million," she joked, trying

to cover up her blush. Anything close to a compliment about her work tended to do that and being asked to donate an item for a high-end auction definitely counted as a compliment. "I mean, I'm good, but I'm not that good on the fringes or anything." She said and thought about how she missed going like this, but with a guilty feeling that those children in Kenya were the ones who taught her pottery, and it was just a mere coincidence that what she made was left untouched by her sister. "Every little bit helps," Jane added. “And don't underestimate yourself, Chelsea. I'm pretty sure I saw the famous singer giving them the eye at the auction table earlier." "Woah, the hot Michael Libson?! He is here?!" She squealed, travelling up the scale in about three seconds. Shawn rolled his eyes fondly. "I'll leave you three ladies to the fangirling. I've got to circulate, press the flesh." Catherine made a mock-warning face. "Press the flesh, huh?" Shawn kissed her cheek. "Only of the oldest, ugliest, and most wealthy couples in London, dear, I assure you." Catherine gave his butt a little swat. "Well, alright. As long as they don't press back" They gave each other a lingering kiss on the lips before Shawn headed out, and Chelsea looked steadfastly away, trying not to feel the jealousy warming up inside Chelsea. She wants that sort of relationship.

It was easier with Shawn and Catherine than it had been with Jane and her lawyer husband, who had a puny dick, probably because she knew and laughed at it. But it was still hard to see that affection and to know that it was going to be a while before Chelsea had that level of ease and comfort and love with another person again.

Catherine turned around just quickly enough to catch the chink in Chelsea's armour, and her eyes went wide with sympathy. She patted her arm and lowered her voice. "How are you, really? Is Dave still being an ass?"

"Calling that douchebag an ass is an insult to both donkeys and human anatomy," she snapped. Jane was laughing while she was boiling. "I can't believe what I saw in that guy! No hard feelings mean, Catherine, he is your brother, but he is nothing like you. I want to find a time machine and travel back in time and slap myself in the face the second I said yes to a date with him, and then slap him, and then slap him again, and then maybe push him in front of some oncoming traffic!" Her drunk volume had reached the point where people around them were pricking up their ears, so she took a deep breath and continued, slightly more quietly: "Or maybe just leave an anonymous tip to his comrade to kick the hell out of him out of that treasure hunting business. How could he choose them over me?"

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