As soon as Mark wrapped his arms around her, Abigail broke down entirely. Sobbing against him, she just cried. And Mark held on to her for a good few minutes, as she just cried against him.Eventually, Abigail's sobs passed, and turned to sniffles. Eventually, those passed as well. But Mark held on to her through the entire thing. Until eventually, she was too tired and drained to keep standing.Mark seemed to sense her exhaustion, and guided her back onto the rock, and sat down beside her. He grabbed his jacket and threw it over the both of them, cradling her against him. He kept both arms around her the entire time.They sat for a long time in silence, though it didn't feel oppressive at all. It felt, oddly comforting, just sitting there with him.The breeze had picked up a little, but Mark had nestled her inside his jacket, and pressed against his chest, she didn't even feel the cold."I'm sorry for my assumptions," Mark said, eventually. "That would have been very wrong of me

Later that day, Adam summoned Abigail to his office."There are just some things we need to sort out," Adam told his daughter as he motioned for her to sit down in the chair in front of his desk. "Like I said, some life formalities.""What do you mean?" Abigail asked her father, confused.She sat down on the sofa he offered her, in front of a roaring fire. And she glanced to the three huge ring binders on the table."Before I show you these," Adam said, placing his hand on one of the binders. "I need you to understand something. If you are at all like me, you would be much too proud to take a hand out. And I need you to understand that this is not what that is."Abigail made to object, already guessing her father was going to give her access to more money than she'd ever had in her entire life."Please, Abigail," Adam held up a hand. "If your mother had gone to the courts, and demanded child support for you as you were growing up, would you have called her a golddigger? Would you

Abigail watched calmly, stepping back slightly, as Olivia had her temper tantrum. She spotted Mark, out of the corner of her eye, making his way over to her."You stole that dress from me!" Olivia screamed, on the verge of tears as she clung to her own pearl necklace, as though she'd been personally attacked. "And look how you've ruined it! That was not like that when I gave it to you!"Mark knew of the torture she had already endured at the hands of her new family, and she guessed that he had put together, roughly, what was happening, and he looked ready to jump in. But Abigail waved him with a discreet motion of her hand, and Mark stopped in his tracks, watching anxiously.Abigail briefly wondered why Mark was even here, but she had no time to linger on that thought, given her sister having a full on enraged episode in the middle of what Abigail assumed was the dance floor."Are you done?" Abigail asked calmly, as Olivia finished screaming about her stealing the dresses from her.

Abigail woke with her alarm again, though she'd set it a few times to make sure she was up by breakfast. She didn't want to have such an amazing night wasted simply because she couldn't wake up the next morning and be on time for her breakfast with her father.She also knew that if she was on time, neither Olivia nor Charlotte would be there, and she would get some time with him alone before either of them arrived. Then she would be able to make an exit if they did appear, without having lost any valuable time with her father.She really couldn't imagine what kind of mood they might be in, after everything that had happened last night at the party.Though Abigail was very far from feeling guilty, everything that had happened to Olivia had been her own doing. She would simply have to be a big girl and deal with the consequences of her actions. And if that meant she couldn't inherit the company because she couldn't behave like a sane adult, then Olivia should just be grateful that she

Abigail woke the next morning, absolutely excited. She planned to shower and dress before breakfast, since she wanted to get an early start on the project her father had set to her. She wanted to make him proud, a part of her acknowledged.But she also wanted to spend time with Mark, another part of her whispered to herself.And she had to acknowledge that, too. He was incredibly kind to her, he had done nothing but help her wherever he could, and Abigail was entirely grateful for everything.She got into the shower on her own, thankfully, it seemed that since the party and the whole dress debacle, those same nine women had been appointed, either by themselves or her father, as her default servant crew. She hadn't been helped or assisted by anyone else except them since the party. And thankfully, those women understood her need to shower alone.Many, many benefits had come from that night and Olivia's dresses.Abigail showered carefully, a voice in the back of her head telling her