I had never thought of leaving Clarie and I would never do that.
Dennis, sitting beside me, patted my hands, “No one will force you if you don’t want Clarie to be taken away. Honey, it’s late, let’s sleep.”
But I felt that he was hiding something from me.
…
After Driving Clarie to school, I received a call from Hank.
I didn’t answer, but I did.
“What?”
I didn’t want to have connection with him since we had been taken photos not long ago.
“Are you a person who never fulfills her promise?” He said with a low voice.
I was confused, “What do you mean?”
“You promised to cook for me this month and you forgot?” He sounded a little angry.
Right. I had been so busy these days that I forgot it.
But since Mario wanted to take Clarie away, I had to figure out a way to prevent. No time to cook for him.
I hadn’t thought he took it seriously and let me to fulfill it.
“Hank, please set me free. I have other things to do.” I felt like being cornered in a dead end and lost my way.
He was silent for a while, then sneered ironically, “Set you free? When did I hold you?”
A headache occurred to me suddenly, I pulled the car over on roadside, hung up the phone, and turned it off.
I recovered myself for a while.
I didn’t know what was wrong with me these days, too easily upset by trivial things. Or often in a mood to vomit.
I got out of the car to get some fresh air.
Then Nova appeared, wearing a long camel windbreaker, she came forward, “What a coincidence! Do you want to talk?”
I shook my head, leaving.
She blocked my way, “You don’t want the child to return to the Bennet family. Me neither. So, can we talk?”
I thought for a while, and nodded.
We went to a café nearby.
She seemed glamorous due to the makeup.
“Believe it or not, Diana’s death had nothing to do with me. Her death was really an accident. I know it’s hard to believe, but it’s true. But you all believe that it was me who caused her death.” She told me.
I said nothing.
She continued, “Since you still don’t believe me, I won’t say more on this issue. But as for Clarie, I know you won’t let her go since you have taken care of her for four years. Well, I want to marry Mario and establish myself in the Bennet family. So I hope that it is my child with Mario who can be the legitimate descendent. I don’t want Clarie to go into the Bennet family either.”
“What do you want me to do?” I was impatient.
She paused a little, obviously not having expected my straightforwardness.
“Well, that child sees you as her mother. You and Dennis can adopt her through legal process. But to do that, you and Dennis must tell the public that you two are married and that you cannot have children. And you mustn’t have children in the future. Also, Hank and Dennis might turn against each other. You know how the law works and that it’s easy to do the adoption based on your background. The matter is whether you are willing to do it with the cost of the opportunity to have your own child.”
I replied, “Nova, do you think that Dennis will be afraid of conflicting with Hank?”
She shrugged, “No, of course he won’t. He is rich and powerful. But won’t he be afraid of the gossips?”
Yes, Dennis was rich and powerful enough to have Clarie stay with me. But once the Bennet family made her origin public, I wouldn’t be able to keep her legitimately anymore since she was not an orphan. Her father was alive.
I became more upset.
Nova must have told these on purpose to make me feel bad.
I got up angrily, “This is all you want to say? Then we have nothing to talk about.”
I was leaving but she blocked me, “You can think about it.”
“Get away!” I failed to repress my feelings.
After a few steps from the coffee shop, I felt nauseous.
Squatting on the side of the road, I spit out everything in my stomach. I felt feeble.
It seemed that I became feebler recently.
When I went back to the villa, I did nothing but sat on the balcony, feeling the cold wind.
If Dennis hadn’t come back, I probably would have forgotten what I was doing.
He carried me to the bedroom, and put a blanket on me. He was furious, “Are you a child? Don’t you know how to take care of yourself? ”
Looking up at him, I suddenly recognized that it was already late autumn, and the weather was getting cold.
Looking at him, I wrapped my arms around her waist and buried my head in his arms. I said gently, “Dennis, sit with me for a while.”
His anger disappeared, and looked at me tenderly, “What’s the matter?”
I was having a bad headache. “It’s okay. Just sit with me for a while.”
From HL Area to City P, I had thought that everything would have developed in a good direction. But I had ignored Hank and Mario.
I had been taking care of Clarie for four years. In my heart, she was like my own child. Her existence made me almost forget my dead child. But after returning to City P, almost everyone was reminding me that my painful past with Dennis, which was unbearable to recall.
It seemed that Dennis understood my feelings. He held me in his arms and hugged me tightly, echoing my silence.