By the time Dorothy had reached Belle’s ward, it was already very late at night. It was an hour before midnight.
She was exhausted. The moment she walked into the outer room of the ward, her legs were so weak she almost fell down. Fortunately, Germaine reached out to catch her in time before she fell to the ground.
Germaine quickly pulled a chair over for Dorothy to sit down. “Sh*t, Dory, you almost scared me to death. I called just to tell you that Belle is awake, there’s no need for you to rush over in the middle of the night. What are you worried about? If I hadn’t caught you just now, I’m afraid we might not be able to save the baby in your womb…”
She suddenly realized that she had said something she shouldn’t have. She quickly said, “Oh, oh, Dory, about what I just said, just forget about it. Just pretend that I didn’t say anything.”
Dorothy ignored her. She looked up at the half-closed door in the room and asked, “Germaine, once Belle woke up, she didn’t go back to sleep, did she? She’s waiting for me to see her, right?”
“Yes, she’s expecting you, but I think you’re exhausted taking care of Credence for eight whole hours today. It’s so late too, I’ll tell Belle that you’ll come to see her tomorrow morning and that you’ll bring some delicious food for her, but…” Germaine raised her eyebrows helplessly and smiled, “Belle is such a stubborn girl! She didn’t say anything. She only stared at me with her big beautiful eyes. No matter where I went, her eyes never left, I couldn’t shake it off at all! Sh*t, after being stared at like that, I’d pluck the stars in the sky for her if she wanted.”
Although Germaine exaggerated a little, Dorothy was familiar with her daughter’s character and that this was something that Belle would have done. She couldn’t help but smile. “Germaine, Belle might be a little stubborn. You’ve worked so hard this whole time.”
“No, taking care of my niece isn’t difficult at all. I’m not tired at all.” Germaine smiled at Dorothy. She slowly reached out a slender finger and shook it in front of her. She licked her enchantingly big red lips and said joyfully, “Dory, I’m going to tell you a really big secret. Do you know how much Credence has agreed to pay me to free up your time so that you’d go out with him? Twenty million dollars, haha! I simply agreed to that request, and he immediately transferred the money to my account. It’s such a large amount of money. I hope that straightforward super tycoon would give me another beating.”
“Jeremy is the second richest man in Talco City. You can have him instead, don’t you think?”
“Don’t talk about him. He’s just a hungry wolf that can never be satisfied. I wouldn’t be with him even if he gave me a billion dollars.”
Thinking of what happened a few days ago, Germaine’s face darkened, but she soon composed herself. She pulled out her phone and clicked on a calculator app.
“Okay, take your time with your little treasure.”
Seeing how deeply in love she was with money, Dorothy’s lips twitched silently. When she had recovered from her exhaustion, she stood up from the chair and walked towards the inner room.
As soon as she pushed the door open, Dorothy noticed the lights were dimmer than the one outside. Her eyes felt a little tired. She squinted to adjust her eyes to the dim lights. After that, she slowly walked towards the bed.
She saw that Belle was still wearing her pink pajamas that she bought for her a month before. There was a picture of a bunny on it and she had a small blue cherry bun hat on her head. The hat was a little too big, it almost covered her eyes.
She hadn’t seen her for nearly three whole days. Belle seemed to have lost a lot of weight. She could see her bones under her skin.
Dorothy endured the pain in her chest. Before she moved to the bedside, she noticed that Belle had closed her eyes and was silent. But then she suddenly opened her big, beautiful blue eyes and stared at her mother. Belle pouted and almost cried, “Mommy… ugh, why did you come so late? I miss you and Daddy!”
Her voice was like a warm ocean breeze, it swept across Dorothy’s heart.
At that moment, her heart felt like it was about to melt.
Dorothy lowered her head and placed her hands on Belle’s cheeks. Her eyes watered, “Baby, I’m so sorry. Have you been waiting for a long time?”
“I didn’t wait for too long. When I opened my eyes, I spoke to aunty Germaine for a while. After that, I felt sleepy and went to sleep. When I opened my eyes again, I saw you coming into my room.”
Belle blinked her big eyes several times. She asked Dorothy, “Mommy, didn’t daddy say that I would fall asleep for a very long time? And that when I wake up, he’d take me to the aquarium to see the sharks, the sea lions, and the penguins? I have slept for a very long time now, what about daddy? Where is he? Why didn’t he come to see me? Is he going to keep his promise?”
“Belle, sweetheart, your daddy’s a little busy. He doesn’t have time to take you to the aquarium just yet. It’s getting late. Listen to your mommy. When your daddy finishes his business, he will definitely take you there.”
“That doesn’t sound right. I remember when aunty Germaine made a phone call, she said that daddy is in the hospital too. She said something about rescuing.” Belle cleverly saw through her mommy’s lie. A glint of a tear could be seen in her eyes. “Mommy, did daddy fall sick? Is it as serious as mine? If he can’t be saved, will he die like me?”
“No, absolutely not! Belle, there are plenty of skilled doctors in the hospital. You won’t die. Your father won’t die either.”
Belle said, “Really? That’s great.”
Belle chuckled. She couldn’t hide her joy. She patted her yellow pillow with her tiny hand and looked up eagerly. “Mommy, will you sleep with me tonight? I haven’t slept with you for eleven nights now. When I wake up tomorrow, Daddy will definitely come to see me.”
Dorothy bit her lips, her eyes were filled with soft light. She bent over and spread her arms and held her excited daughter. Without harming her belly, she carefully held the Belle in her arms. She kissed her tender face and said with a smile, “Okay, I’ll stay with you!”
Dorothy must have been extremely tired that night, or perhaps it was because she had finally let go of her worries, that was the best sleep she had in what felt like forever.
She slept until 9:30 a. m. the next day. Belle was already wide awake up.
She snuggled into Dorothy’s embrace. Then she reached out her little hand to her belly and carefully touched it. At the same time, she rubbed her sleepy eyes and asked, “Mommy, is daddy coming to see me today?”
Dorothy’s heart skipped a beat. Just as she was about to find the words, a burst of rapid noises came from afar.
She was startled. Then the door to their room opened. Someone came in… No, something was rolling in!