“I was up late today.” Duncan lied. He did not tell Liberty that he had breakfast at his buddy’s place and it was just not quite enough. The loving couple had him lose his appetite, but now that they were out of sight, the hunger caught up to him, so Duncan had to drop by Liberty’s diner to fill his belly. Seeing that Duncan was showing her son the ropes in the middle of breakfast, Liberty drew close, sat next to her son, and said, “I’ll help you, Sonny.” She picked up the assembly instruction for a look and stared at the pile of bricks, feeling a headache coming. Oops. It seemed Lego bricks were not quite her thing. Serenity was good at it though. She was nifty with her hands at crafting, so Lego bricks were not a problem for her. With a customer entering the diner, Liberty put down the assembly instruction and told her son, “Take your time, Sonny. I’ll be right with you.” “Mom, you don’t know how to do it, but Dunc does.” Sonny was attached to Duncan when they assem
Duncan’s mother had mentioned Liberty to Lily before. Lily was most focused on Serenity though, as she wanted to get into Mrs. York’s good graces. Nevertheless, Duncan was certain that Lily kept an eye on Liberty since Liberty was Mrs. York’s sister. “I own the space and rent it out,” Duncan added in case Lily thought he was standing up for the restaurant owner. Lily smiled. “No wonder you have breakfast there. You own the place.” “I’m full. I can’t eat anymore. Ms. Harmon, thank you for the breakfast, but I don’t need it.” The last thing Duncan wanted was to take Lily to the office. Lily uttered with a smile, “I’ll bring it back later. I want to get a tour of your office, Duncan. I didn’t just come to Wiltspoon for this. I’m here to talk business with a few major corporations too.” The Harmons operated their business on a large scale. Mrs. Lewis was hoping to have a union with the Harmons while Lily wanted to penetrate Wiltspoon’s market by having business ties with
“Mom, Sonny has a toy, and he’s not letting me play with it. I want a toy, Mom! I want Sonny’s toy!” Lucas took quick paces to his mother and tugged on Chelsea’s clothes, demanding Sonny’s toy. Chelsea always thought the world of her children while other people’s children could suck it. Putting her hand out at Sonny, she said, “Sonny, hand over your toy.” “This is mine!” Sonny latched onto the Lego box like glue. Chelsea went ahead to pull the toy off of Sonny when Liberty grabbed a kitchen utensil and slapped it on Chelsea’s wrist. The pain caused Chelsea to recoil her arm. “What are you doing, Liberty?” Liberty put on a sour face. “I should be asking you that. That is Sonny’s toy. He can decide whether he wants to share it with Lucas. Why are you taking the toy from a child?” Chelsea was lost for words. With a scowl, Mr. Brown gave his daughter a dressing down. Once Chelsea pulled her son to a corner, Mr. Brown apologetically said, “Liberty, it’s fine if Sonny doesn
Serenity took a ride in her man’s Roll Royce to the shop. She had just collected the craft goods from the crafters she hired. After examining the quality, Serenity complimented her employees on a good job and paid them based on the agreed rate. “Serenity, it’s good money since we’re only working on crafts when we take a break from caring for the kids. Our families are pretty supportive. You know what? My mother-in-law stopped giving me an attitude.” “Me too. My mother-in-law is now looking after my child for me. I was shocked that she was happy to do it for me. Serenity, you can accept more orders. We are more than able to finish the task.” They ventured into the world of crafting together. Although there had not been a lot of contact among the ladies, they had always kept in touch. The ladies were well aware of Serenity’s position in society now too. Of course, they were envious. However, Serenity gave them a job and paid every time they handed in the crafts. It was a lucr
Sure, Jessica’s mother only lost a chunk of hair, but it was enough to scare the hell out of Jessica. It would not take much for these people to come after her family’s lives. Although Jessica was not on good terms with her family due to the bridal gift, this was her family. She could not allow anything to happen to her family just to save an outsider like Sonny. Today looked most promising to carry out the plan. Serenity asked, “Is your mom going?” “Yeah. Mom’s going. Are you going, Aunt Ser?” After much thought, Serenity replied, “What time are you leaving? I’ll see if I can make the time.” “Mom said we can leave in about half an hour. Aunt Ser, please go with us. I want to see the tigers in the zoo.” Sonny had been wanting to go to the zoo since the last time. However, it did not happen because the boy later chose to go out with his aunt. The zoo was still a magical place for the boy. Now that he had the chance today, he really, really wanted to go. “Alright then
Elisa looked at Liberty. Once she was sure that the Browns were here to go on a family trip with Liberty and Sonny, Elisa’s straight face softened into a smile. The smile was for Sonny, not for the Brown family. The sight of the Browns made Elisa sick to her stomach. “Since you want to go to the zoo, I’ll go with you, Sonny.” Elisa readily said yes to her nephew’s invitation. It had not registered in Sonny’s head that his parents were divorced. Liberty had a heart of gold. She never spoke ill about Hank in Sonny’s presence despite her grievance with her in-laws. No matter what, Sonny and Hank were father and son. It would not do Sonny any good to hate his father. On the contrary, it would impede Sonny’s mental growth. Half an hour later, Serenity, Liberty, and Sonny took a ride in Elisa’s car as they set out for the zoo. Serenity’s two bodyguards took another car and tagged behind. The Browns were split into two cars, and they drove behind the bodyguards. Jessica na
Serenity had to chase after the little guy. It was crowded in the zoo, and children like Sonny were everywhere. Not in the mood to appreciate the scenery, Serenity was exhausted just running after Sonny. Sonny had been watching the shop with his mother day in and day out, and his mother would take him home for a rest after work. Liberty did not have time to take him out to play. Now that he was at the zoo, Sonny unleashed the unruly nature of children. It was a good thing Serenity had the habit of working out. At least, she could keep up with the child’s activeness. Since Liberty had been jogging to lose weight, her stamina was at an optimum level. Only, Ms. Stone rarely engaged in such an activity. The long walk hurt her feet. As for the Browns, God knew where they were. Sonny had a great time at the playground, going several rounds at the age-appropriate facilities until he was sweating all over. His aunt then picked him up to see the animals. The zoo was a huge place
The man murmured a quick apology before slipping a note into Jessica’s hand.Jessica clutched onto the note, not having the nerve to open it in public. She looked around and saw the sign for the nearest toilet. Following the signpost, she went into the ladies’ room and opened the note for a look. The note wrote, “We will cause a distraction during an aquarium show and take the child amid the chaos. Your task is to lure them to the aquarium.” Jessica shredded the note and flushed the pieces down the toilet. She thought those people would not carry on with the mission since a large group of the family came along. Plus, Serenity brought two bodyguards to the trip. It never occurred to Jessica that they had no intentions of giving up. They planned to strike during a show at the aquarium. Would they succeed? Jessica was not with the Brown family now, much less Serenity and her sister. Coming out of the ladies’ room, Jessica gave Hank a call. She told Hank to send his loca
Although Corey’s daughters-in-law were not her biological children, she would love them as if they were. After all, they had married into the family and gave birth to the family’s future generation. The jewelry she gave them would be passed down to her grandchildren anyway. Her daughters-in-law came from wealthy families themselves and had many assets to their names. They had more than enough jewelry. Nevertheless, they still happily accepted their mother-in-law’s gift and promised to pass it down to their future daughters-in-law.Of course, they would also gather sufficient wealth and jewelry to be given to their daughters. Anyway, the Lewises treated boys and girls equally in the family. There was no gender discrimination. However, Corey preferred having granddaughters. She had only given birth to four sons and no daughters. After her sons got married, their first children were all sons. She had been afraid that men would outnumber the women in the Lewis family, just like how it
After Corey scolded Ezra, she looked toward Duncan and Liberty. She said gently, “When are you two planning to get your marriage license? Tomorrow?“The City Hall will be closed at the end of the year. It’s best to get the procedure done within these few days.”Getting their marriage license soon would also reassure Duncan. The wedding could be held later. Once they got their marriage license and became legitimate husband and wife, Duncan would no longer have to be alone. He and Liberty could love each other as a married couple. There was also a chance that Liberty might already be pregnant with Corey’s grandchild by the time the wedding was held. Corey wished Liberty could give birth to a child for Duncan. The gender did not matter so long as the baby was Duncan’s biological child. If Liberty truly did not want to get pregnant again, Sonny would probably take care of Duncan in his old age. Duncan had always treated Sonny well, and Sonny was a reasonable child. Sonny would no
Liberty looked at him again. To be honest, she had not known that Duncan had already arranged for a tailor to custom-make a wedding dress for her. As for her size, well, Duncan probably knew.He had sharp eyes and could probably estimate her measurements just by looking at her, not to mention how many times he had hugged her. He could also have asked her sister for her clothing size and preference.As for her preference, he probably had not needed to ask. They had known each other for two years, and Duncan knew very well what she liked and did not like. Serenity had not mentioned anything about the dress to her, so it seemed like they were keeping it from her as a surprise.Duncan met her gaze and softly explained, “After you agreed to register our marriage before Christmas, I immediately contacted the fashion designer Zachary and Josh recommended me. I asked Serenity about your clothing size, and I also secretly took your measurements myself to make sure there wouldn’t be mistakes
Liberty had looked over the dates Corey had chosen. The closest was in less than half a month. The timing for that one was a bit tight, while the farthest was in the early fall of the next year. Liberty actually wanted to choose this one because by then, her sister would have already given birth and could attend her wedding. Things in Jensburg would also be settled, and she would be able to take the time to handle her own wedding, but she decided to let Duncan take a look first and see how he would choose.After looking at the dates, Duncan turned to his parents and said, “Dad, Mom, I think the early fall date is better. Let’s go with that one.”Liberty gave him a slightly surprised look. She thought he would be eager to have the wedding right away. However, she soon realized why. Duncan had mentioned before that he wanted to fully recover before the wedding, not wanting to be in a wheelchair. By early fall, he believed he would be able to walk normally.He was already recovering
For a four-year-old child to write like this was quite impressive.Liberty also noticed her son’s handwriting and said, “Sonny mentioned that at FC Manor, he copied books and practiced writing with Laurence every day, so his handwriting has become neater and prettier.”She did not expect her son to be able to write a lot at his age. He was still young, and she was worried that excessive writing might deform his fingers. However, since Sonny liked writing and drawing, she did not stop him. Plus, at the age of four, he could not sit still for long. After writing for a while, he would go off to play. The time he spent writing was not long enough to worry about his fingers becoming misshapen.They had stayed at FC Manor for about half a month. In that time, he had not spent very long actually writing with Laurence, but perhaps just with Laurence accompanying him, Sonny had improved. After copying medicinal books for a few days, his handwriting had become much neater compared to before.
Isaac addressed Liberty as “aunt” and at first, she felt a little embarrassed, but she quickly regained her composure and responded. Then, she said to the two children, “Sonny, you need to listen to Isaac. Isaac, keep an eye on Sonny.”“Don’t worry, Aunt Liberty. I’ll take good care of Sonny,” Isaac reassured her. Duncan also gave a few instructions before letting them go.“Liberty.”“Duncan’s back.”Everyone wore smiles when they saw the two of them walk inside. Looking at how close and affectionate the two were now, the Lewises could not help but feel a wave of emotions. They had once thought that Duncan would never marry and would stay a bachelor for life, but unexpectedly, he fell in love with his good friend's sister-in-law, Liberty, who was a divorcee.At first, the elders in the family strongly opposed the relationship, but he did not give up, determined to be with Liberty. With his persistence and after going through hardships, the two of them finally made it to this point
Liberty would be the head of the Fisher family in the future. Since he was technically marrying into the Fisher family, it was reasonable to say she would support him.She smiled as well, “Let’s support each other, trust each other, and walk hand in hand.”“Okay.”After Corey carried Sonny in, everyone started playing with him. Isaac squeezed his way to his grandmother’s side and reached out to pinch Sonny’s face, praising, “Sonny’s face is so soft, it feels really good to pinch.”Sonny was speechless. Isaac was the youngest grandson of the Lewises, the seventh of his generation. He pinched Isaac’s face back and said, “Isaac, your face is also fun to pinch.”“I feel like my skin’s a bit rough now and not as smooth as yours. Kids’ skin really is nice,” Isaac said, trying to pinch Sonny’s face again. However, Corey swatted his hand away and scolded him lightly, “If you keep pinching, Sonny will feel pain.”“When I was Sonny’s age, the others used to pinch my face all the time
“Even if she sees him every day, my mom will still dote on Sonny. We don’t have such young children in our family right now, and Sonny is so cute, sweet-talking, and likable,” Duncan said as he instructed someone to help bring the things Liberty had brought into the house.He did not need a wheelchair, but he got a bodyguard to help him up the steps. Then, Liberty took over supporting him, and together they walked slowly toward the house.“I liked Sonny the first time I met him, although I didn’t really like kids before because they were so noisy. I remember when my nieces and nephews were younger, I would get really annoyed seeing them cry and throw tantrums. But after meeting Sonny, I started liking kids. When I heard Sonny call me 'Dunc' with his soft, sweet voice, my heart just melted.” That child’s mouth was indeed sweet and Duncan was speaking from the heart. He really liked Sonny a lot.Liberty said, “When I divorced Hank, Sonny still wasn’t very good with his words. I didn
Corey was smiling from ear to ear.“Hi, Corey.” Liberty greeted her.Corey smiled and said, "Liberty, you're back."She reached out with both hands to hug Sonny and helped him out of the car. Then, holding Sonny, she turned around to head indoors, asking along the way, “Did you have fun on your trip with your Aunt Serenity, Sonny?”“I had fun. Did you miss me, Grandma Corey?”Corey smiled and said, “Of course I missed you! So very much. As soon as you got back, I called Dunc and asked him to bring you to visit. I’ve prepared so much food, drinks, and toys for you—all the things you like.“I also called the other kids and told them that if they’re free, they should come back. There’ll be lots of people to play with you later. It’ll be lively, and you won’t feel lonely. Isaac knows you’re coming and he’s so happy.”Isaac was Corey’s youngest grandson, the youngest child of Duncan’s third brother Ezra. Isaac was turning eleven and especially liked Sonny. He was so excited when he f