Beautiful Lies (Breaking Belles #2) - Alta Hensley Page 0,6

worked the speculum beneath the sheet set up to cover my bottom half. I jumped a little at the cold metal but otherwise it wasn’t too uncomfortable. The doctor was female, and I appreciated that. She was quiet and had a gentle touch.

“So, you’re here for them?”

I nodded, trying to relax. “We’re about to get kicked out of the trailer and my sisters, well, they depend on me for a lot of reasons.”

I went on and explained everything, and Mrs. Hawthorne got real quiet.

“They just cut off our electricity again, and we’re a month behind on rent after Reba lost her temp job. Then Tanya went and quit working her fast-food job when her boss wouldn’t stop making passes at her.”

I bit my lip and tried not to shift as the doctor opened the speculum wider inside me. “We were just down to LeAnn’s afterschool job bagging groceries, but she’s just fourteen and can’t get a ton of hours, and it’s just minimum wage anyway. My job doing eldercare assistance—well, I just never had a chance to go to college obviously, so it’s not like official nursing or anything.” I shook my head. “And the bills just keep piling up…”

My family was my responsibility, and I was failing them.

The doctor finished up and left the room without interrupting us.

“Listen here, lassie.” Mrs. Hawthorne sat on the bed beside me as I cradled the sheet to cover myself.

“I love these boys like my own kin. The man who’ll be doing the choosing, he’s a little… rough around the edges. Deep down, he’s a good boy. I can’t say much more than that, but he could use a woman like you to keep him on an even keel through this. You could help each other. Tell him why you’re here. It’ll help.”

She was talking like she thought I actually had a chance at this. It brought back that little bud of hope I’d barely dared spread any sunshine on.

Could this really be it? Salvation dropped from the sky? Or at least in the form of a stranger in a tux knocking on a door a couple nights ago with an oddly formal invitation, followed today by an extravagant dress and limo?

The truth was, we were out of options. This was our last Hail Mary pass. We’d been riding the edge of the poverty for a few years now, ever since—

But no, not thinking about that right now.

Mrs. Hawthorne got up looking as if she was about to leave. “The doctor will be back with the birth control shot any moment. All that’s left is to tell me what you want out of this. What is your greatest wish?”

I paused, not wanting to mess it up. What if it was like a genie wish in the old stories and if you worded it wrong, they’d screw you out of everything you were entitled to because of some unforeseen loophole?

“What did the last girl ask for?” I hedged.

“At first? Money.”

“How much?”

“Ten million.”

Then I frowned. “Wait, what do you mean at first?”

Mrs. Hawthorne paused and then leaned in like it was a secret. “It’s never happened before, so don’t get your hopes up. But by the end of the trial, she and the Initiate fell in love. She gave up the money and her only wish was to simply be with him.”

That sounded romantic… and impractical.

“But you’re making me feel as if it doesn’t just have to be money. That the Order has power to give me anything I want. Anything?”

“Within means.”

I made my request. Which saying out loud, even in a whisper to a woman I felt I could trust, scared me I would jinx everything. Saying it out loud made it real. I was taught as a child you never told someone your wish when you blew out your candles on your cake because it wouldn’t come true, so from this moment on, my wish out of all wishes would remain locked away in the impenetrable safe of my soul.

“Can they do that?” I asked.

She nodded. “They’ve done it before.”

I closed my eyes and breathed out in relief, sinking back against the wall. It would be over, hopefully once and for all.

I looked back up at Mrs. Hawthorne. “Let’s do this.”

And now here I was, standing and waiting for the choosing ceremony. Waiting behind this mahogany door, praying to be picked by the Initiate. I wanted it so badly. Needed it.

But guys hated needy chicks. I had to be calm, cool, and collected.