A Ruling Passion – Chapter 1758

Mark relaxed his guard. “Oh, that’s all? Not a problem. My hands are tied at the moment, so I’ll have Arianne go. It’s her best friend’s daughter, after all, she would be pleased to help. Besides, women have this magical way of making things look better in photos than they really are, so she might be able to take just the right picture to mollify Tiffany.”

He made a lot of sense, Jackson thought as he rose from his seat and straightened his collar. “’Kay then. I’ll get Arianne’s help. Heads-up, I won’t be coming back here,” he said. “Also... I really don’t think any magic’s gonna be able to touch up the painful truth, man. I dunno, with the state my girl’s in, it’s... not gonna work.”

Arianne left Tremont Tower in the late afternoon and headed to the hospital to visit the Wests’ ill-fated child on Jackson’s behalf. It was, personally, a breather, without it, she would have to remain cooped up in the office with her back hunched over her drafts, and that was not counting the possibility of being summoned to Mark’s office for lectures.

Now that Arianne Wynn was the undisputed, definitive “Mrs. Tremont”, it effectively silenced the office’s gossip mills from talking about her publicly. However, it did little to curb scrutinizing eyes from watching Arianne’s moves quietly. If she had gotten her job through the backdoor Mark opened for her, she dared not imagine the sort of things these people might say behind her back!

Arianne stood outside the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, peered through the clear window into where Tiffany and Jackson’s daughter was, and instantly held a sharp inhale of breath. The baby now looked slightly larger than when she was delivered, but her growth was so minuscule that she was still far, far too small compared to other healthy, normal infants delivered at the same time. The West family was one of means, and it showed in the infant’s treatment. She enjoyed the best the hospital could offer, along with a few hired hands to care for her every need and inspection.