Chapter 7

Mabel immediately chimed in with Lily and said, "Exactly! Veronica, shouldn't you be resting in the room upstairs? You did collapse into Henry's arms earlier, after all. Why aren't you pretending to be weak anymore?

"Mom! Dad! It had to be her! She was the one who did this to Grandma! And to think that Grandma had been treating her so well in the past, too! How dare she do such a terrible thing to her!

"Dad, don't you think that it was time you beat her up and showed her who the head of the family really was?"

Albert went silent for a while, his expression darkening. He remembered that Veronica was still pregnant. So, he said, "What do you have to say for yourself, Veronica?"

When Grace saw what was happening, she immediately defended Veronica. "Mr. and Mrs. Goodwin! You've completely misunderstood! Mrs. Goodwin Senior's fainting episode had absolutely nothing to do with Ms. Sherman at all!"

Lily chided her. "Grace! How dare you still defend this bitch! There had only been the three of you in the backyard just now! Who else could it be if it wasn't her? Why don't you just tell us all what happened just now?"

Veronica exclaimed, "Who said that we were the only ones in the backyard just now?"

Suddenly, there was a loud bang, and Henry finally showed up after such a long time.

"Veronica! Veronica, are you okay?" he exclaimed. "Why weren't you resting in your room? Did Grandma give you a huge shock?"

Henry rushed up to Veronica and pulled her into a big hug.

However, Veronica felt nothing but disgust and nausea at the lingering smell of another woman on him. She suddenly retched loudly and threw up all over him.

Henry's expensive, tailored suit was immediately covered in Veronica's vomit. The smell was incredibly pungent as well.

The other members of the Goodwin family couldn't help but hold their noses. Mabel immediately erupted into a screaming fit. "You're so damn disgusting, Veronica! Ew ew ew! You stink so bad! And that's so dirty! Ew!"

Henry glared at Veronica in his arms. "You—"

"Sorry. Morning sickness," Veronica said, calmly wiping at the corner of her mouth.

Meanwhile, the others were pretty sure that Veronica had purposely thrown up on Henry. After all, she could have turned the other way.

Henry wasn't as angry as he thought. On the contrary, he stared at Veronica for a while and realized that she had been acting quite differently with him that day. He felt a cold shiver down his back as he wondered if Veronica had noticed anything.

He could tell that she had been feeling insecure the last time she called him. She was also acting a lot more meek and docile with him that day.

Was she doing this on purpose to catch his attention? Did she really care about him that much?

At that thought, Henry suddenly felt a little sorry for her.

He kept reminding himself that Veronica was ultimately still carrying his child. So, he suppressed his disgust and comforted her gently, saying, "It's okay. You've been through a lot. It's just two extra pieces of laundry for me anyway."

Then, Henry looked at Albert and Lily and said, "Mom, Dad, I was also in the backyard just now, and I didn't hear any raised voices or quarreling. I believe that this was just an accident."

Grace kept nodding, agreeing with everything Henry said. In a way, his words were like a witness statement.

Veronica kept quiet and didn't say another word.

Even if she were to kick up a huge fuss and expose Henry's affair to the others, she would still be at a disadvantage because she didn't catch them in the act and had no solid proof anymore.

Albert decided to drop the incident and told everyone off, telling them not to disturb Esther anymore, before chasing everyone out.

The event was quickly brought to a halt, and everyone in the Goodwin family was exhausted by then.

Just before Veronica left, Grace tugged on her hand and spoke to her in a low voice. "Mrs. Goodwin, Mrs. Goodwin Senior wasn't trying to cover up for Mr. Goodwin when she stopped you just now.

"She had also only just found out about it. She was going to fly into a temper when you suddenly appeared. She was just feeling very sorry for you. You know that you're the only granddaughter-in-law that she approves of!"

Veronica nodded expressionlessly. "I understand. We'll just wait for her to wake up before we talk about anything else, then."

Because Esther never woke up, she ended up staying the night at the Goodwin residence.

Veronica returned to her room and washed up quickly before going to bed.

When Henry entered the room, Veronica was already lying on her side, unmoving.

"Veronica? Veronica?"

He called out to her twice, but she never responded. Ultimately, Henry went into the room next door and slept there instead.

They would only sleep in the same room if they ever stayed the night at the Goodwin residence. But this time, Veronica figured that he was probably too anxious to try to calm the very spooked and frightened Daphne, and he didn't even bother maintaining pretenses anymore.

Veronica felt a dull pain gnawing at her heart. Still, she sighed in relief at that.

She thought that it was good that he'd left that night. She simply couldn't stand the idea of spending the rest of the night in the same room as him anymore, let alone sleeping on the same bed.

As soon as Henry was out the door, Veronica instantly opened her eyes.

She sent a text message to Anna. "Did you manage to find what you were looking for in here?"

Anna replied, "I found some information, but it's not everything. Also, Mrs. Goodwin, I managed to record something I find quite valuable. I think you might be interested in the video."

Then she immediately sent a video recording to Veronica.

Veronica immediately sat up straight after tapping on the video to play. It was a video recording of Henry and Daphne's little rendezvous behind the rose garden wall!

To think that Anna had actually noticed them too!

Veronica pulled herself together. "Let's meet up tomorrow."

…

The next morning, Veronica woke to find Esther already awake. So, she took her time washing up before going over to visit her.

"Come, my child. Come sit down next to me." Esther patted on the spot next to her on the mattress. Mabel pouted and moved aside to make space for her.

"Grandma," Veronica said, her nose tingling.

She had had no idea all this time that Esther had a terminal illness. She had only thought Esther spent her days in the nursing home because of old age or some less serious condition.

She'd only found out about the truth last night, and Veronica couldn't help feeling guilty about it.

After all, Esther had helped her many times before, and she had also defended her multiple times. Meanwhile, she knew she had also played a role in Esther's passing out last night.

If only she hadn't been so stubborn about it…

"Silly girl," Esther said. "I was thrilled when I heard that you were here last night, and so I sent Jasmine to fetch you to bring me on a stroll in the gardens. It was my good-for-nothing son and grandson who drove me into a fit last night. What does any of that have to do with you?

"You've been very badly wronged and misunderstood by them. I already know all about it. And I've also scolded each and every one of them for you, too! I didn't let any of them get off easily!"

Lily's face darkened, while Mabel pouted like a pufferfish.

Albert's face turned a bright red. "Mom, we only asked Veronica about you last night because we were so anxious about you! We never did anything to her."

Esther's voice turned shrill. "You never did anything to her? What more did you want to do to her? Would you only be happy after you've finished triggering me left and right so that I die faster and get out of your hair?"

The machine, hooked to Esther's hand, immediately began displaying a rapidly fluctuating chart on its screen, as if it were performing a frenzied dance. Everyone immediately panicked.

Meanwhile, Esther was still not done shouting at Albert. "Veronica is pregnant with our bloodline! How could you even bear to frame her and back her into a corner like that? How could you!"

Veronica hurriedly began patting Esther on the chest to try to calm her down. "Grandma, please calm down."

Albert was almost on his knees. "Mom, please! I was wrong, okay? I will treat Veronica better, and none of this will ever happen again! Mom, just, please…"

The rapidly beeping machine finally began to slow, and Esther was completely calm again with Albert's pleas. Then, she chased everyone out of the room, asking only Veronica to stay behind.

"Veronica, I know that Henry, that bastard, has done you very wrong. Tell me. What do you think about it?"

Veronica said, "Grandma, let's not talk about this anymore."

Esther retorted, "Not talk about it? Then what, should we wait until the family is torn apart before bringing it up again? You are my favorite granddaughter-in-law. I will not allow anyone to chase you out of the Goodwin family!"

Veronica sighed. She knew that her following words would be a massive blow to Esther. Still, she said, "I'm planning to divorce Henry, Grandma."

Fortunately, Esther had taken her pills earlier, so she didn't slump into another dead faint again.

Nonetheless, her chest kept heaving, and her hand that was holding Veronica's was shaking fervently.

"Is there really no way to salvage things? Maybe it was just a mistake last night…"

Veronica didn't want to drag Anna into this, so she just played the recording for Esther instead.

After listening to Henry's duplicitous lies in the recording, Esther was forced to believe everything. She asked, "Was that Daphne? That woman who got him all hung up on her and made him refuse to eat or drink and nearly gave up his life for her? Her?

"I've seen her before. She's just a pretty face and has absolutely nothing on you! She can't even compare to the pinky on your hand. Has Henry lost his mind? Is he blind? How could he not be able to distinguish between good and bad?

"And he's already a married man! How dare he still have an affair with that woman behind your back! That brat! He wronged you… He did you dirty so much…"

Esther's eyes were bloodshot. She couldn't bear to part with Veronica at all. She was the only one in the entire Goodwin family who truly knew how good and brilliant Veronica was!

It was just that Veronica had no choice but to hide her brilliance and lie low due to particular circumstances.

"Henry will definitely regret it someday. He will regret losing such a wonderful person like you as his wife. Veronica, can't you just give him another chance?"

Veronica shook her head. "I'm sorry, Grandma. It's impossible for us to go back to how we used to be."

Esther held a hand against her heart, feeling incredibly constricted. "In that case, can you at least promise me that you'll only wait until after I'm dead before you bring up divorce with him?"

Veronica looked at Esther with a pained expression and said, "Grandma! You will live a long life!"

Esther just smiled bitterly and said, "I know my own body better than you do. At most, I have six months. At least, I have three.

"Veronica, just consider this as my dying wish, alright? Promise me this. I'll leave you a third of all my assets, too. Take it as a form of protection for your baby later on. What do you say?"

Veronica's tears began to fall. "I don't want anything, Grandma. I just want you to be healthy and alive."

Esther was moved when she saw that Veronica was indeed feeling very upset about her health. "Silly girl. I'll take that as your agreement, alright? Grace! Hurry, bring the contract here for her to sign. Quickly now!"

Veronica was dumbfounded. Suddenly, she realized that she had cried for nothing.

Since Esther was on the verge of getting down on her knees to beg her, Veronica had no choice but to agree to her wishes first. Otherwise, she worried that Esther might not even make it to three months.

Veronica signed the contract to cheer Esther up. Just as she was done signing and had just lifted the pen off the paper, Henry knocked on the door and entered the room.

A wide grin spread across his face.

"Did I hear something about someone signing a contract?"