Hillbilly Girlie Marries a Billionaire – Episode 37
Emily returned to Lucas’s private mansion rather than the Anderson estate. The smaller household felt peaceful after weeks of surveillance and conflict. Lucas assigned security outside but kept the interior free of guards, giving her the privacy she had missed.
He became impossibly attentive. Every staircase inspired an offered arm, every meal underwent nutritional inspection, and every yawn prompted a suggestion that she rest. Emily tolerated the first day before banning him from reading alarming pregnancy forums.
Lucas argued that information was responsible. She pointed to his open laptop, where he had searched whether laughter could disturb an embryo. He closed the screen without defending himself.
Their first prenatal appointment confirmed the pregnancy was progressing normally. The ultrasound showed only a tiny shape and rapid flicker, yet the heartbeat reduced Lucas to silent wonder.
Emily watched his face rather than the monitor. He had once approached marriage as a shield for corporate control. Now emotion stripped away every defense, revealing a man already devoted to someone he had not met.
The doctor reminded them that early pregnancy required caution but not panic. Emily could walk, work, and live normally. Lucas asked enough follow-up questions that the doctor finally addressed Emily instead.
Afterward, they visited Mrs. Davis. She cried over the ultrasound photograph and promised to teach the child how to plant corn before Lucas could introduce it to boardrooms. Lucas said farming sounded safer.
Emily’s mother disagreed, describing tractors, storms, and territorial geese. Lucas reconsidered. The ordinary family conversation gave Emily exactly what she wanted: a future not defined by rescue.
At the company, Noah continued leading the clinic investigation. Prosecutors had recovered the genetic records, and affected families were being notified confidentially. Lucas praised his work without reservation.
Noah asked whether becoming a father changed the succession fight. Lucas said there was no fight if both brothers stopped treating the company as proof of worth. Noah admitted he still wanted leadership someday, but he wanted to earn it.
Grandfather Anderson proposed dividing authority according to skill rather than birth order. Lucas would remain CEO, while Noah would lead a new ethics and compliance division created after the clinic scandal.
The solution did not erase their rivalry, but it gave it healthier ground. Noah accepted. For the first time, the brothers could compete through results rather than sabotage.
Victoria requested permission to visit Emily. She arrived with no gifts beyond a handwritten note accepting Emily’s boundaries. She apologized to Mrs. Davis as promised and did not defend her past behavior.
Emily listened, then said forgiveness might become possible if Victoria continued changing. The older woman thanked her for leaving the door open without pretending it was already crossed.
Victoria asked whether she might know the baby someday. Emily said that depended on whether the child met a grandmother who offered love without conditions. Victoria accepted the standard.
That evening, Emily found Lucas measuring an empty bedroom. He claimed the tape measure was unrelated to a nursery. The paint samples behind him weakened the denial.
She took the tape from his hand and reminded him they had months. Lucas said months seemed dangerously short for choosing a crib, checking every window, and removing furniture with corners.
Emily kissed him until the planning stopped. When they separated, she asked whether this was the ordinary life her mother recommended. Lucas said ordinary life with Emily appeared unexpectedly entertaining.
A delivery arrived containing the stuffed Officer Bunny from their earlier joke, now fitted with a tiny shirt reading BIG SIBLING. Emily laughed so hard she had to sit down.
Inside the toy’s pocket, she found a card instructing her to wear boots the next morning and trust her husband. Lucas pretended ignorance, but his satisfaction betrayed him. Emily realized the private proposal was already underway.