Morley books the ticket for me and the plane will take off in a few days. All I have to do is to reassure James, making him feel I won’t be leaving again.
Ella seems very satisfied with James and plays with him every day. In fact, I don’t like to let Ella and James have too much contact, because one day they will be separated and Ella will miss James.
“Mom, is this handsome uncle really my real father? That’s what he says.” Ella snuggles in my arms and looks at James. “I like him, I really do.”
Not knowing what to say, I sigh and say, “You like him, don’t you?”
Ella nods happily and says, “Yes, it would be great if we could be together like this for the rest of our lives.”
James is watching us from a distance, his eyes deep and full of affection, but I don’t dare look him in the eyes for fear that he would find out how guilty I feel.
In the evening James shows me his paternity test with Ella.
“She is really my daughter!” James says happily.
I don’t look at it because I know what the answer is.
“Don’t you know it early?” I chuckle.
“But there is no more reason for you to leave with this. Ella is my daughter and she is the descendant of the Orlando family. I want her to have a loving family, you know?” James stares at me and makes me feel guilty.
James frowns and says, “Why don’t you say a word?”
I immediately strike a negotiating posture and say, “Ok, if you want me to stay, that’s fine, but there are a few things you must promise me.”
James nods and says, “Yes.”
“First, you can’t have any contact with your previous fiancée. Second, Ella has to be approved by the Orlando family. And third, Isabel and I are going to be against each other for the rest of our lives. You need to be prepared for the possibility that we might have a fight and either you or I might end up dead.” I say so firmly without flinching.
“I will deal with the matters with Salome. You can rest assured. As for Ella, she is my daughter. I will certainly protect her. But she is my mother, and I know what has happened between you. I will give you an account of it.” James promises me.
“But she’s your mother, and you can’t stop a lot of things.”
I sneer at him, “She wants to kill me, and me, too. This is the irreconcilable problem between us.”
James purses his lips and says no more.
See, there are a lot of things you can’t control.
“Rest assured. With me here, I won’t let you suffer grievance again.” James puts his arms around me and says firmly.
I close my eyes in his arms, feeling his temperature, his breath, and the last moments he is by my side.
Let me have a few peaceful days. A few days later we will part, never to see each other again.
“James, get out of here! Come out! You are so dutiful to your mother that you don’t care what happened to her. Come out!”
It is noisy downstairs. Isabel is bickering.
Frowning, I push James away.
“Wait a minute.” James walks out, and then he looks back at me and says, “Don’t come out, lest my mother will find fault with you.”
I do not answer. Could you control me? At this time, the winner should go out to see how embarrassed the loser is.
I stand on the upstairs and look over.
Isabel has been worn out for a few days, but she is still grim.
“Mom.” James greets her and sits down.
Isabel glares at him. “I’m your mother. Are you sure you don’t care about me at all? It’s unfilial of you not to help me win back your father’s love for me after what has happened to me!”
James glances at Isabel. “You know what you did.” he says, “Do you think I would help you out? Dad isn’t angry with me because he now has only one son. If he has one more, I would have been disgusted by him, so I couldn’t help you.”
“But I almost get whatever I want!” Isabel clenches her fist.
James doesn’t seem to care at all. He shakes his head and says, “You’ve cheated on daddy. You deserve it.”
“Are you still not my son? Whom do I work hard for? It’s you! Otherwise you and I are still abroad! Who will still remember you!”
“Don’t say that. I don’t care whether I can go home. You know what I care about, but you’re sabotaging it again and again. Mom, don’t you think you’re cruel? You deserve it.” James looks at Isabel with a note of reproach in his tone.
So, James knows what Isabel has done to me, but so what? He won’t break up with Isabel over me. They’re mother and son, and I’ll always be an outsider.
“James! Who are you talking to? I’m your mother!” Isabel gasps and jumps to her feet.
James smiles at her. “Look at you,” he says. “How angry you are when you’ve lost the one you loved best. But what about me? You know how I’ve been going through these past few years. Mom, can’t you just let me live happily?” His smile conceals his loss.
His words are shaking my resolution. I have to get out of here, but James, would you please stop doing this to me? I feel like I’m a bad guy who’s been using your feelings. I feel like I’ve wronged him and his feelings too.
But if you’re so nice to me, why would you help Isabel kill my father?
This is what I can never forgive.
“James! What did that woman do to you?” Isabel suddenly screams hysterically, “Who is she? She doesn’t deserve you! From the moment I saw her, I felt that this woman is really formidable. She can charm you like that! I’ll never accept her! And you can’t be with her!”
“Do you think you can control me now? I’m not the person I was before.” James gives Isabel a faint smile of confidence.
Isabel says, with a wry smile. “Do you think she’ll still be with you honestly after I’ve ruined her family? It won’t. There is only revenge in her heart, and you can only be used by her. I haven’t seen her for years. You’ve changed, she’s changed, too. But now she’s fiercer than before!”
They’re confronting each other, and neither of them is backing down. James’s face is getting really ugly because of Isabel’s words.
Isabel speaks out the truth. Maybe even James knows in his own heart that the relationship between him and me has long gone sour and is no longer as pure as before.
Pouring salt on a wound is the most exciting. It’s time for me to show up.
“It might not the case.” I say to Isabel as I walk slowly on the stairs.
James and Isabel are both stunned for a moment, and Isabel immediately becomes furious.
“Who sent you here? Get out!” She swears at me.
“I love James, I loved him in the past, I love him now, and I will love him in the future. Who else do you think you can control? You have nothing now, and I have plenty.” I look at her haughtily, scornful and very relieved.
James bows his head with a smile and doesn’t say anything.
“What did you say?” Isabel couldn’t believe it. “Have you heard what she said? She’s talking to me like that! I still have everything! Let’s wait and see! I will make you lose everything!” she is so angry that her neck is red and scolds regardless of her identity.
I smile gracefully. “Yes, but your dearest son can’t leave me for the rest of his life. I will always be a thorn in your heart, stinging you all the time and making you feel painful! No matter what time you will remember, I am the cause of your losing everything! But we’ll be a family, and I’m glad you won’t be able to get rid of me.”
Isabel grasps heavily, as if there is something stuck in her throat.
“Look at that bitch, son! This is the one you love, and there will never be any detente between her and me! You must part with him!”
“Do you hear me?!” She commands, her lips quivering.
I look at James, my eyes sharp, and James smiles placidly at me.
“Mom, you know I love her.” James holds out his hands. “I really can’t help it!”
I smirk.
Isabel gasps and points to James’s nose. “You! You! You are really my good son! Look what I’ve got!”
“And you! You impudent bitch. What are you doing with my son here? Get out of here! Get out!” Isabel is crazy. She’s not that sexy woman anymore.
I look at James, lift my neck and say, “James, this house is in my name, isn’t it?”
“Yes.” James smiles, sends a text message, and says, “It’s already been done.”
“See?” I say to Isabel, “This house is mine, and your son is mine, too.”
Isabel sinks down on the couch and looks at James resentfully, “James, I’m your mother, and you can’t do this to me!”
“What have you done to me in the past few years?” James’s eyes are cold. “I have always been a tool for you to fight for. You almost killed the one I loved most. Mother, do you know how much I hated you at that moment? But you’re my mother, and I can’t do that. But now that she’s come back, I won’t let her go.”
He says firmly, with smile in his eyes, “She is the one I can’t let go of in my life.”
I bow my head in haste, and my nose is sore.
Then the phone rings.
“The plane would take off at twelve o’clock tomorrow night. Get your things ready.”
Morley.