Since an elevator was needed to move between floors, Liberty believed the security detail was not needed. Liberty pushed Duncan into the elevator to get upstairs. Duncan still could not walk on his own, and Liberty was only taking him out for a stroll. Otherwise, Duncan would be cranky to lie in bed all day. Despite another month-long stay in the hospital, Duncan still could not stand on his feet, and it fueled his bad temper. He got the feeling that he might never walk again. For this reason, Duncan wanted to drive Liberty away more than ever. He did not want Liberty to look after him. He even offered six hundred thousand dollars to Liberty every month so that she would not hang around him. Duncan felt bad to see the tired state Liberty was in. Liberty lost a lot of weight after taking care of him for a little over a month. There was no telling when he would ever get better. At this rate, Liberty would become skin and bones just caring for him. He simply could not bear to see
Mrs. Lewis was afraid that her husband and son would get into a fight, so she pushed her son to the right where there was a ramp for wheelchair users. Liberty and Mrs. Lewis wheeled Duncan to the lower floor. Once on the first floor, they saw medical personnel wheeling a patient into the elevator. Liberty caught sight of a familiar face. It was her ex-sister-in-law’s husband, George. George paused in motion when he saw Liberty too. “Liberty,” George greeted.Liberty was about to pretend not to know him and walk away, but George called her name. With Liberty stopping in her tracks, Mrs. Lewis looked at George and asked Liberty, “Who is he?” “He’s my ex-husband’s brother-in-law.” Mrs. Lewis went to push her son ahead and told Liberty, “Oh, we’ll be waiting for you outside.” Since George wanted to have a word with Liberty, Mrs. Lewis did not want to get into their business. Once Mrs. Lewis and Duncan were gone, Liberty asked, “What are you doing here, Mr. Repton? Is som
Liberty listened as George tore into Jessica while thinking to herself, ‘Surely, the Browns pushed Jessica too far until a weak girl like her went stabbing.’People tended to act recklessly when cornered and pressured. Murder often happened when people were pushed over the edge. Liberty was not surprised that Jessica would stab Chelsea since Chelsea loved to stir the pot. Chelsea often poked her nose in Hank’s business, so it was no wonder Hank’s wife resented her. Before Liberty and Hank got a divorce, Liberty hated Chelsea’s guts. It was a good thing that Chelsea did not always stick around the Browns’ family home back then. The breathing space kept Liberty from losing her mind and committing murder. Chelsea resented Jessica for aiding and abetting outsiders to kidnap Lucas, so she went after Jessica at every turn. Chelsea would create a rift between Hank and Jessica and pit her parents against Jessica every time she stayed at the Browns’ residence. The Browns’ household was
During the first time Liberty wheeled Duncan out for some fresh air downstairs, Duncan realized that the people, who went in and out of the hospital, paid no mind that Duncan could not walk. No one gave him looks of sympathy. Death was frequent in the hospital. Wheelchair-bound was nothing compared to death. “Over here, Liberty.” With Liberty approaching, Mrs. Lewis stopped and beckoned at her. Duncan tensed his facial muscles as if the world owed him. While Liberty was talking with George, Duncan overheard that George was Liberty’s ex-husband’s brother-in-law. He had a problem with it. The Browns were everywhere. Liberty either always ran into the Brown family, or the Browns would pester Liberty at All You Can Eat. The divorce was more than six months ago. What more did the Browns want? Did they think that Liberty would be unwanted after Hank? The Brown family sure thought Hank was all that. Liberty’s previous weight never bothered Duncan, but he did think that L
Liberty said, “I want to take a look, Mrs. Lewis. Sonny is his son. Sonny should see Hank one last time if he doesn’t make it. Mr. Lewis, your mom will stay with you for now.” “I’ll keep Duncan company. Go on. Let us know if you need anything.” Liberty nodded her head and quickly took off. Once she was gone, Mrs. Lewis wheeled her son ahead and uttered, “Look at what happened to Hank. This is the cost of his affair. Duncan, you must remain true in your marriage and your family if you ever get married and have kids. “I would rather you stay single if you can’t stick to your wife and kids. Don’t go hurting someone else’s daughter.“I don’t have a daughter, but I am a woman. No woman wants to see their man with another woman. A divorce is an option if there is no more love in the marriage. At least, people are free to love and court anyone after the divorce.” Duncan callously said, “I will remain single for the rest of my life, Mom. You don’t have to worry about your son becomi
Liberty could not find the words of comfort to offer. All she could do was help Mrs. Brown to sit on a chair. Liberty pulled out her pack of tissue and gave one to Mrs. Brown to wipe away her tears. Mr. Brown was teary-eyed too. He would turn away from time to time to dry his eyes. Hank was their only son. Mr. and Mrs. Brown did not know what to do if anything were to happen to him. It took a while before Mrs. Brown ceased the wailing. Nevertheless, she was too emotional to speak. Liberty turned to Mr. Brown and asked with concern, “How is Hank, Mr. Brown?” Mr. Brown choked with sobs. “He’s still in surgery. The doctors have not left the emergency room. I only saw other doctors going inside with bags and bags of blood. He lost a lot of blood…” The thought of his son’s dire condition brought tears to Mr. Brown’s eyes once more. Mr. Brown could not believe that Jessica would stab his son repeatedly. If they had not heard the commotion in Hank’s bedroom and entered the
After giving Mr. Brown a piece of her mind, Mrs. Brown tearfully said to Liberty, “Liberty, bring Sonny here. Hank adores the child. That’s his only child. Hank might pull through with Sonny here, knowing that his son misses him.” Liberty offered Mrs. Brown some words of comfort. “Seren and Elisa went to the farmer’s market today. Sonny must have gone back with her to my hometown. I’ll call Seren and ask when they will be back.” Liberty did not say no to her ex-mother-in-law’s request. It did not matter whether Hank made it or not. Sonny was Hank’s son, so the boy should be here in the hospital for Hank. Despite the couple’s divorce, Liberty had never once spoken ill of Hank in the presence of her son or taught her son to hate Hank. No matter what, Hank did cover Sonny’s child support. Mrs. Brown nodded her head in tears. She had a bad feeling that her son might not pull through. Nevertheless, Mrs. Brown continued to pray for her son’s safety. Liberty went to a corner a
“Are you Hank Brown’s family?” “We are his parents, doctor. How is my son?” asked Mr. Brown anxiously as he propped his wife, who was weak in the knees, up toward the doctor. The doctor replied, “The patient has sustained severe injuries. The surgery is successful, but he’s not out of the woods yet. We need to transfer him to the ICU for a while. It’s in his hands whether he will regain consciousness now.” Mrs. Brown’s body went limp. Unable to hold Mrs. Brown up, Mr. Brown worked together with Liberty to stop Mrs. Brown from falling. “Save my son, doctor! Please save my son! He’s my only son. He’s young…” Mrs. Brown grabbed the doctor’s lab coat and pleaded in tears. “Mrs. Brown.” Liberty pulled Mrs. Brown’s hands back before apologizing and thanking the doctor. Showing an understanding of the family’s predicament, the doctor replied, “We have done all we can. We can’t be certain whether the patient will pull through, but please prepare yourselves for the worst.” I
“Remy, Remy!” a voice called from outside. It sounded like Audrey. Remy came out of the kitchen, wearing an apron.“You keep at it, I’ll go out. My mom must have seen the lights and knew you were back, so she’s calling you over for dinner at our house.”At this time, her family was probably halfway through their meal.Elisa put down the remote control and walked out of the house with a packet of snacks in hand, munching as she went.“Mom.” Elisa walked to the fence and responded to her mother.“Elisa? You’re back too? You came back and didn’t even come home for dinner? We’re eating right now. Hurry up and bring Remy over. Grandpa True was just saying that Remy hasn’t come over for dinner in a few days.”Remy had been busy entertaining clients lately, so he had not had time to join his in-laws for meals.Elisa replied, “Mom, I feel like eating Remy’s cooking tonight, so we won’t be coming over. You guys go ahead.”“Oh, you. It’s so late already, and you’re still making Remy c
Elisa said, “Although cousins can be as close as siblings, it’s still better to have another child. After all, we won’t be living at your family home permanently, and our children might not have much time to bond with their cousins in the future.“I have two older brothers, and the three of us have always been close. My brothers have always doted on me, and I can always talk about things with them. My sister-in-law has been very kind to me even after they got married too.“I’m used to having siblings around. It’s lively, and no matter what happens, we can always talk things through. It’s nice not having to face everything alone. I don’t want my children to feel lonely in the future.”Elisa continued, “Most importantly, I love children. If you could be the one to carry and give birth, sparing me the exhaustion of pregnancy, I’d even consider having three kids. But unfortunately, you can’t.“If I have to carry the baby myself, even though I love children, I’d only have two—preferably
Jasmine smiled. “I can’t tell. He’s so tiny. I’m scared when I have to carry him. I’m afraid of hurting him. What if he slips from my arms?”As a first-time mother, Jasmine was inexperienced. She was not like Serenity, who had raised a baby before. Josh and Zachary had secretly taken classes on how to look after a baby. The way Josh held the baby was more accurate than hers. “You’ll get better at it after learning slowly. I didn’t dare to carry my nephew either because I was scared of hurting him, but I’m an expert now.”Elisa could not resist touching the baby’s face again. She really liked babies.“Has the baby been fed?”Camila replied, “He was fed an hour ago.”The baby had been ravenous. Everyone was relieved when they saw the baby could feed normally. The doctor said the baby might experience jaundice a few days later and that premature babies should be monitored closely. Jaundice usually appeared when the baby was a few days old. It would reach its peak after
Remy gave it some thought. If he were to become a father, he would also be extremely happy, to the point that he would forget about posting on social media.They were usually busy people and did not have the habit of posting regularly anyway. Josh only started sharing a lot on Facebook after he got married. He simply wanted to show off his life after marriage and irritate his friends who were still single. Even Zachary would post about his love life on Facebook occasionally. Remy suddenly felt he had to keep up with the trend and post something on Facebook during his free time. Remy and Elisa went to buy some supplements before heading to the hospital. There were still many people in Jasmine’s ward. Most of the men were sitting in the small living area while the women were chatting with Jasmine or looking at the baby in the room. The baby boy was already fed and in fresh diapers. He was sleeping soundly. “Jasmine.”Elisa walked over with the supplements she had brought.
The secretary wished she could skip work and visit Jasmine at the hospital with Elisa. However, that could never happen. She was simply an employee, while Elisa was her boss. The only alternative was if Elisa invited her along. Nevertheless, the employees could meet Jasmine during their break or visit her at her house. Elisa left excitedly. A Maybach was parked at the entrance of the company. When Remy spotted Elisa exiting, he stuck his head out and waved at her. Upon seeing him, she was no longer in a hurry to get to her car. She quickly walked over. “Why are you here? Why didn’t you go inside?”Elisa was beaming. As she had received good news, she had a smiling face regardless of who she met.“I just arrived. I didn’t drive inside when I saw you coming out. Where are you going?”Remy got out of the car.“Jasmine gave birth. I want to go to the hospital to visit her and her baby. You came at the right time. We can head over together, but let’s get some supplemen
“Yes. Health is the most important thing. Everything else is secondary. With the York family’s wealth and numbers, they won’t have to worry about not having a successor even if your child is slightly more ordinary.”Of course, Elisa personally hoped the next successor of the York family would be her nephew.The Stones and the Yorks could be considered relatives because Elisa and Serenity were cousins.The successor of the Stone family was most likely Clive’s son. If the York family’s heir was not Serenity’s child, would the two families’ relationship that was finally mended become strained again?After all, the head of the York family would no longer be a relative of the Stones if that were the case. However, Elisa did not voice her thoughts. She did not want Serenity to feel pressured. As an aunt, she also thought her nephew’s health was more important than anything else.“You must be busy, Elisa. You should go on with your work. I shall not disturb you. I appreciate your
“A baby’s face changes almost every day. We’ll only know who he takes after when he’s a little older.”Serenity agreed. “I should call Elisa and share this news with her.”Jasmine probably did not have time to tell her friends about her newborn. Serenity also forgot to inform Elisa because she was too worried about Jasmine. Zachary told her to call Elisa only after they were inside the car. There were too many people in the hospital. Serenity held back her excitement and immediately called Elisa when she got in the car. Elisa was extremely busy at the company. She was the only one who could manage their joint company at that moment because Serenity and Jasmine were pregnant. Even if they wanted to return to the company to work, Elisa would not allow them. Rest was of utmost importance for pregnant women. Elisa was unmarried and not pregnant. She did not mind being busier. She only picked up Serenity’s call after some time.“Seren.”Elisa held the phone in her left h
“All that matters is that you’re okay, honey. Let’s not have more children. We’ll just have this one son.”Josh spoke while holding Jasmine’s hand.Women had to experience immense pain when giving birth. It came with many risks as well. Josh had heard other people saying that a woman usually had one foot in the grave during childbirth.He was genuinely shocked after accompanying Jasmine through her labor. He had been terrified and worried that something would happen to Jasmine.Luckily, everything ended well. Jasmine and their son were safe. However, Josh did not want to experience something like that again. Having one child was enough. There was no need for a second or third child. The Buchams were a big family anyway. He did not have to bear the responsibility of expanding the family alone.“Okay. We shall not have another baby.”Although Jasmine was brimming with motherly love and recovery from a vaginal delivery was quicker, she still thought childbirth was too
It was not just Camila. The rest of the people there also had the same thought. Josh and Jasmine had a great relationship. If something happened to Jasmine, Josh would be devastated and lose all hope of living.“Congratulations. The mother has given birth to a boy safely. The baby boy is six pounds and three ounces.”The people who brought Josh out were the anesthetist and nurse.The nurse instinctively reported the good news when she saw the crowd.Then, she explained, “The father probably fainted from shock after the baby was born. Come over and help bring him to the side to rest. The mother won’t be out that quickly.”Upon hearing her words, everyone’s mood brightened up.Camila, whose legs felt weak just now, was immediately filled with strength and stood up. Without Drake's help, she went to the nurse and asked, “Does the baby need to be in the incubator since he was born prematurely?”The nurse replied, “We’ll put the baby in the incubator and observe him for a while. If