Dorothy lay on the bed, and she was facing Belle with a soft smile on her face. She was reading comic books with her. She was enjoying herself. However, after being blamed by Leilani for no reason, she was not furious, but she was still somewhat unhappy.
More importantly, that odd terror rose in her heart once more.
She did not know what Credence gave her newly reconciled mother, however, it should be enough for her to put in so much effort to put in a good word for Credence.
Dorothy put down the comic book in her hands and gestured for Belle to read it on her own for a while. After that, she turned to stare at the righteous Leilani, smiling faintly as she said, “Mom, you don’t know anything about Credence and I. The pain and suffering he’s given me can’t be forgiven with just a simple coaxing. I can’t just pretend it never happened. I can forgive some mistakes, however, some mistakes are just unforgivable, and I can’t bring myself to do it.”
Leilani snorted. She was upset that Dorothy wasn’t willing to listen to her, but her motherly smile remained in place. “Dory, it’s not that I want to blame you, but Credence is such a good man. What kind of mistakes could he have made?”
“On the way here, I heard from Mr. Lanes that a former girlfriend of his came to visit him a few times. It’s no big deal.”
“The more outstanding a man is, the more beautiful women will want to pounce at him. Today, you can still drive her away with your status as Mrs. Scott and have quarrels with Credence. But when you get older, what will you have left to stop those women from pursuing your man?”
“Listen to me, if Credence wants to find women outside, then let him. When he is old and sick of those women, he will naturally come back to you.”
“Dory, your duty is to give birth to your child first. After that, you should raise Belle and your baby well. A child is your greatest bargaining chip.”
“A woman’s job after marriage is to have and raise children. We can only turn a blind eye to a lot of things. As long as Credence still takes you as his wife and gives you a hefty amount of money to use, then you shouldn’t be so petty and annoy him! Oh, your petty personality is not like me at all!”
Dorothy did not know how gentle other people’s mothers were, but Leilani’s wrong perception of the world made her so angry that she gritted her teeth, and her entire body was trembling.
“Mom, what did you just say? Don’t you know what happened? It was obviously Credence’s fault, but you are blaming everything on me, and you made it my fault.”
“Am I petty and annoying for not forgiving Credence? Are you still my mother?”
After saying that, Dorothy lowered her voice. She averted her eyes from Leilani, her pale face calm. “Mom, did you know that not only did Credence have an affair, he even wants to send me and Belle away for that woman, and I almost lost my child because of that… So many things have happened, don’t I have the right to be angry?”
Leilani hadn’t expected Dorothy to still be unconvinced after she’d wasted so much time and effort to persuade her. In her anger, she blurted out, “You didn’t miscarry, did you? The baby’s fine, and nothing happened in the end.”
“What did you say?”
As she laid on the bed, Dorothy felt like she’d been struck by lightning. She abruptly glared at Leilani and said coldly, “Mom, you sound like you’re hoping for something to happen to my baby?”
“Where did you get that from? That’s not what I meant. Dory, don’t think too much.”
After being stared at by Dorothy, Leilani’s heart skipped a beat. She could not help but clench the strap of her bag tightly. She used a loving yet urgent expression to cover her anxiousness. “Dory, I am just saying this for your own good! Besides, which mother would be willing to hurt their own daughter?”
However, Dorothy’s face had already darkened in anger. She spat out, “Mom, are you here to visit me, or coax me on Credence’s behalf?”
“Dory, I… ah!”
Leilani frowned. Before she could finish her words, Belle suddenly pushed her. She lost her balance and almost fell back.
“Stop yelling. Your voice is really unpleasant to hear!”
Belle glared at her and said angrily, “You bad woman, you made my Mommy angry! Go away!”
Belle was an innocent little girl. If she disliked someone, she would take action immediately, regardless of who Leilani was to her.
Leilani could not argue with a six-year-old in front of everyone, thus she could only suppress the anger in her heart. When she steadied herself, she looked down at Belle, whose face was similar to a woman that she hated the most. She forced out a smile and said, “Belle, I’m not going anywhere. I’m your grandmother! Good girl, call me grandma, and I’ll bring you something nice to eat.”
“I don’t want to eat food from bad people. Go away! Hurry up and leave!”
Belle looked up at her with an angry glare. This woman had made her Mommy angry, and she didn’t want to call her her grandma at all. She pursed her lips and didn’t say a word.
Leilani was exasperated by both Dory and Belle’s rudeness towards her. She couldn’t help reprimanding Dorothy, saying, “Dory, look at how rude Belle is towards her elders. Did you teach Belle to be so rude to me?”
“Mom, Belle is still a little girl. You shouldn’t fuss with a little girl.”
Dorothy felt a splitting headache coming on when faced with such a pestering woman. She sighed helplessly and said, “You’ve seen all there is to see here, and I don’t need your help with anything right now. I think it’s better for you to leave.”
“I am not leaving, why should I?”
Leilani wanted to say something else to provoke Dorothy, but Juelz, who’d been listening from the sofa, grabbed her and dragged her out of the ward. “Auntie, Dory’s exhausted now, and she needs to get her rest. I’ll get someone to send you home, and I’ll bring you here again when she’s feeling better.”
His words were euphemistic, but he had long regretted asking Leilani to come.
He thought that he was doing Dory a favor by sending her mother over, as he thought that would make her happier.
However, look at what had happened!
She acted more like Credence’s real mother, didn’t she?
She kept saying that she was doing this for Dory’s sake, that it was for Dory’s well-being. However, there wasn’t a single sentence from her that actually showed that she cared about Dory at all.
With Juelz’s bad temper, he would have kicked her out a long time ago. However, Leilani was Dorothy’s mother, thus he could only endure it, until he couldn’t.
“Why are you pulling me away? Let go, let go of me!”
Leilani didn’t expect Juelz to treat her so bluntly. She was so enraged that her face twisted. “Dory, what’s the use of having a man who has absolutely no respect for his elders?”
“It’s not that I want to nag you, but a man like him is completely inferior to Credence in every single way. What you are doing is equivalent to eating watermelon seeds instead of the juicy fruit!”
After that, Leilani turned her attention towards Juelz and shrieked, “Young man, just so you know, my daughter is Credence’s legally wedded wife, so don’t think of trying anything funny! I’ll be the first one to object against you being my son-in-law. Credence is the only one that I’ll recognise as my son-in-law!”
Her voice was shrill and ear-piercing, and he frowned in annoyance.
Juelz allowed her to mock him since she was Dorothy’s mother, but he continued to drag her out of the ward and slammed the door in her face.
After she left, the whole ward returned to silence!
Juelz patted away the nonexistent dust on his clothes and turned back to Dorothy. He said something that made Dorothy’s goosebumps rise. “Dory, your mother didn’t mention even a word of care for you, and she didn’t say anything about taking care of you. It looks like she doesn’t care about you at all, but she definitely cares about reaping more benefits from Credence. She’s probably not even your real mother.”