“Agreed?!”
Tilda’s eyes widened in surprise.
She thought Ulric wouldn’t agree so quickly.
Rosalind remained silent, seeing that her sister was about to start chattering. Malcolm timely interrupted, “I’ll take you back, Rosalind. You two have a good talk, but please don’t hurt yourself… or the baby.”
He was deliberately reminding her, watching Rosalind’s reaction.
If she had just said she wanted to keep the baby on a whim, she wouldn’t care about the baby’s safety and would be indifferent. But if she truly wanted to keep the baby, even if it was just a fleeting thought, she would subconsciously agree.
The air seemed to freeze; those few seconds felt like centuries.
Rosalind slowly lifted her head, her voice hoarse and almost unrecognizable, “Can I… keep him?”
Wouldn’t that mean she was really following in her mother’s footsteps?
She didn’t even know what to do next if she kept the baby. What then?
“Of course you can. This way, you’ll have a blood relative in this world!” Malcolm’s eyes were sincere, warm like an older brother from next door, constantly shining a warm heart on her, trying to brighten her world.
Tilda also nodded in agreement, excitedly grabbing Rosalind’s hand, “You give birth, and I’ll be the godmother! Your baby will definitely be beautiful. Oh, just thinking about it makes me wish you could give birth right now!”
Seeing their hopeful eyes, Rosalind felt a mix of emotions and her eyes started to sting.
Yes, even though she lost her mother, there were still people in this world who cared about her and would always be by her side no matter what.
“I’ll think about it carefully.”
…
By the time they returned to Easthaven Bay, it was already getting dark.
Rosalind got out of the car and instinctively looked up at Ulric’s place. The living room light was on; he was probably waiting for her.
Her steps paused for a moment, as if rooted to the spot, not wanting to move.
Tilda got out of the car with her and patted Rosalind’s shoulder, “Can you manage? Or should I go up with you?”
“No need. I have to face it.”
Eva was gone; she was no longer a child and couldn’t avoid reality anymore.
“Then my brother and I will wait here. Call me if you need anything.”
Rosalind forced a smile, “He won’t hurt me. Don’t worry. You guys are tired too; go home and rest.”
“But you…”
“This might be our last meeting, Tilda. I want to spend more time with him.”
Hearing this, even Tilda understood! She nodded, “Alright, we’ll leave then.”
Rosalind watched their car drive away before turning to go upstairs.
This time she didn’t directly enter the password to unlock the door but rang the doorbell instead. When she reached out to touch the door panel, she found it wasn’t locked at all! As the door slowly opened, Rosalind smelled a strong scent of alcohol.
Without thinking further, she quickly opened the door and walked in-
To see Ulric sitting on the carpet in front of the living room sofa, gulping down glass after glass of alcohol. The coffee table was filled with cigarette butts in an ashtray, with a few still smoldering.
In her memory, he never drank excessively and certainly wouldn’t drink himself into such a disgraceful state!
“Ulric, drinking like this will ruin your stomach!”