She's No Beauty Queen

The two of them did end up going back into the party separately but that didn't stop the manager from catching on. He reached out to Edward a few days later about having dinner with his client to try and nail him for a sponsorship. He had no intention of sponsoring Angel but he did want to see her again so he agreed.

When she met up with him the first thing she did was raise an eyebrow at him and speak wryly. "Edward Todd huh? My manager says you're a pretty big deal."

He shrugged. "Doesn't prevent me from getting taken advantage of. In fact, it's the primary reason people do it. By all means, don't get all formal with me now. You're the only person that has ever called me Eddie and I kind of like it."

Angel relaxed slightly at his words. "Fair enough. I'm the one that got all informal on you last time anyway. Sorry about that…I'd never had alcohol before and my tolerance seems to be low. Guess that's another reason to stay away from it. I didn't do anything too weird, did I?"

"Aside from asking a complete stranger to be your pillow while you took a nap? No. But I didn't mind. I was actually flattered that you trusted me so much right off the bat."

Edward didn't want to do that but he agreed so he wouldn't make her uncomfortable. He appreciated her straightforwardness if nothing else. It was unlike everyone else he knew. Drunk or sober, she held to the same principles and that was definitely a good thing.

Dinner was the most pleasant experience he'd had in longer than he could remember. So he kept making excuses to see her again by stringing the manager along. Angel got a good laugh out of that and didn't complain because she also got to eat better food than she usually did.

They had dinner together nearly every night for two weeks and he learned more about her, such as how her mother actually died and the fact that she was already signed up for online college courses in the fall that could work around her pageant schedule. Her goal was to get her biology degree online in preparation for medical school once she made her way up to the top pageant in the country.

She was beautiful, witty, and their shared experiences made him feel like he wasn't alone for the first time in his life. He was head over heels in no time and that where things went wrong.

The manager wasn't happy with how slowly things were progressing on the sponsorship front and delivered Angel to him one night doped up with an aphrodisiac drug to seal the deal, thinking nothing career ruining would happen because she was on birth control. Edward misread the signals based on their time together and thought she genuinely wanted to spend the night with him.

The next morning Angel was horrified and ran out on him without giving him a chance to explain that she came onto him first. He was confused and miserable but after realizing what happened he wasn't about to give that horrible manager what he wanted in terms of a sponsorship.

At this point he would gladly sponsor her if she asked him personally but that manager had to go. He had abused her limited trust in him horribly.

About a month later the manager dragged her back to see him—the first contact they had since that night—and explained that she was pregnant. She couldn't keep the child but to compensate her for the trauma of having to abort it he demanded sponsorship money or they would sue.

Angel wouldn't even look Edward in the eye. She looked like all of her hopes and dreams had been crushed, which stabbed him right through the heart. He needed to fix this.

"Get out," he said furiously to the manager. "Don't you dare act like you care about her when you did this in the first place. We will discuss this but not with you present. Leave before I call the cops to escort you off my property."

The manager's smug expression was wiped right off of his face but he left as Edward said. Once they were alone he desperately tried to appeal to the woman sitting in front of him. He didn't want her to lose her dreams but he also didn't want her to abort their child.

She had been the first person to accept him for who he was rather than his wealth or status. She hadn't wanted anything from him but a listening ear that he was happy to provide. He loved listening to her talk.

If Angel would let him…he would make things right. He would marry her and pay for her medical school himself. He told her so too. He would provide for her and the child for the rest of their lives.

She looked up at him with dead eyes. "Then what, Eddie? Everything my mother put me through was for nothing? I've come this far to lose my chance right before I make it to the big league? Married women or women with children can't compete."

"Then we'll wait!" Edward blurted. He hated seeing that look on her face. "My offer doesn't have to happen now. The next major pageant you need to compete in shouldn't be until after the baby is born anyway, right?

"I'll sponsor you. You can take that time to prepare in any way you need to. I'll swear everyone involved in the birthing process to secrecy and we won't get married until after you make it to the Miss Americana pageant, win or lose.

"I'll make sure our baby wants for nothing and support your dream of being a doctor no matter what. Just don't do this. I don't have anybody in this world except for the two of you so please don't take that away from me."

His begging made her agree and he did his best over the next few years to take care of everything Angel could possibly need. She was very well taken care of physically but there was nothing he could do about her depression. She was little more than a shell the entire pregnancy.

As soon as Aria was born she fell in love with her so that helped a little but there was still always a wall between them. Her warmest smile was reserved for their daughter alone.

Edward didn't care about that as long as he still got to see it. Angel might be busy with all of her pageants and insisted on separate rooms but she was undeniably a part of his life. They had a contract; she couldn't back out on marrying him in exchange for his financial assistance.

He did his best to show her he cared but no matter what he did it wasn't enough. Her losing her memories of all the pain he unintentionally caused her might be a blessing in disguise. Even thinking that way made him feel like a horrible person though.

She had already lost her freedom; losing her memories too was horribly unfair. Especially if it ended up benefitting the man she resented. But that didn't change the fact that he wanted to make things up to her and see if their relationship could change for the better.