“But you two have children!”
“Rosalind plans to leave once I recover from my injuries.”
Ulric admitted that he would rather be clueless about Rosalind’s intentions, at least during his recovery period, so he wouldn’t have to live in constant fear.
“Since you’re both in this situation, you should take the opportunity and get married, forcing her to stay with you! Who can stop you now from doing what you want? You’re just considering Rosalind’s feelings too much! You’ve always thought about her emotions!”
“Can you force Tilda to stay with you?”
Johnny tried to speak but his voice was hoarse.
“Well… it’s different. She doesn’t have any feelings for me! She even put on makeup and bought new clothes, preparing to go on a blind date!”
Just mentioning it made him angry!
Ulric sighed on the other end. “You should head to the office for your meeting now. If you need anything, just give me a call.”
“Alright.”
“By the way, Rosalind and I are going back home next week to pick up the children.”
Johnny was taken aback and immediately asked, “To Tilda’s place?”
“Yes.”
“Then I’ll go too!” he quickly said, then realized it didn’t sound right. He pursed his lips and then explained, “I miss Jake, not Tilda! She said she needs time to think it through, and until she’s made up her mind, I won’t bother her anymore.”
Ulric didn’t want to undermine Johnny’s last bit of self-respect, so he simply responded with a “hmm” before hanging up.
Johnny looked at his phone, specifically at the date.
It had been a week since then… She should have thought it through by now, right?
…
As the days went by, Rosalind knew she couldn’t keep avoiding things forever.
After much hesitation, she finally called Tilda.
“Ulric and I are going back home.”
“Huh? Weren’t you staying in Sweden?” Tilda was naturally overjoyed when she heard that her best friend was returning home. “When? Malcolm and I will come pick you up at the airport! Oh… wait, Malcolm can’t go… I’ll go alone!”
Rosalind hesitated for a moment before speaking softly, “Ulric plans to bring Floyd and Jake back to Sweden. Once he recovers, the children will stay with him.”
“What do you mean?” Tilda was stunned.
“So, Floyd and Jake won’t be living with us anymore…”
“Can Malcolm accept that?” Tilda blurted out without thinking.
This made it even harder for Rosalind to continue.
The two fell into an unspoken silence for a few seconds before Tilda tentatively broke it. “Are you planning to have me talk to him first? Instead of you telling him directly?”
“Yeah…”
“Rosalind, this decision is too cruel for Malcolm. He’ll break down!”
After all, her cousin had always been exceptionally good to her since childhood. How could she not feel sorry for him? “Malcolm may seem fine on the surface, but he keeps his sadness buried deep inside! And now you want to take away the children too…”
“B7 said the video will be repaired within a month. It’s been ten days already, so there’s at most twenty more days left until we settle things with the Walters family.”
Even Malcolm felt hurt when the children were taken away. As a mother, how could she not feel a pang of pain from watching her children be taken away from her?
“But during your fight with the Walters family, won’t they mistreat Floyd and Jake? That family is capable of anything!”
Tilda truly treated both children as her own and was willing to sacrifice her life to protect them. Therefore, she had many concerns.
“With Ulric there, I believe he will protect the children. He promised me.”