While Grandma May and her granddaughters-in-law had settled down, Zachary and his two brothers were still waiting for their wives. As the sky was getting darker, Zachary could not help but give Serenity a call. “Why are you and Nana not back yet, Seren?”“We won’t be going back tonight, babe. Nana said we’ll return after breakfast tomorrow. We’re staying in your villa in the high-end neighborhood now.”Zachary replied, “I already had a bad feeling when Nana brought you guys out.”As expected, Nana had “kidnapped” their wives.Serenity laughed. “Go to bed early. We’re singing now. Hayden is a pretty good singer.”“You should rest earlier. Don’t stay up too late. You’re still pregnant.”Zachary reminded her.“Mm. I will. I’ll hang up now. Let’s talk again tomorrow.”“Okay. Sonny came over this evening and asked where you were. I said you went shopping, and he said why you didn’t wait till he came and if you didn’t miss him.”Serenity smiled. “He called me afterward and told
Since Serenity was also an owner of the villa, she assigned rooms to Hayden and Camryn before returning to the master bedroom. She kept feeling that something was missing as Zachary was not around.Carrying the baby bump around was tiring.Although Serenity was used to having Zachary by her side, she fell asleep quickly as she was exhausted. The night passed peacefully. New Year’s Eve had arrived. It was a busy day. After a family dinner in the evening, people who were close acquaintances of the Yorks went to Wildridge Manor to watch the fireworks. The atmosphere was lively. However, fun times would always go by quickly. Soon, it was the second day of the new year. It was the day when the York family’s daughters-in-law would visit their families. The fact that their families resided in Wiltspoon made the trip convenient. Zachary, Serenity, Liberty, and Duncan went to the Stones’ residence. Since Audrey was Serenity and Liberty’s aunt, they would visit the Stone
Wiltspoon’s hot weather in October was a killer. Still, the mornings and evenings were eased by the late autumn breeze. Serenity Hunt got up first thing in the morning to make breakfast for her sister’s family of three. She then grabbed her birth certificate and slipped away in the silence. “We’re going Dutch from now on, and I’m talking about everything—the living expenses, the mortgage, and auto loans! Your sister should be splitting the cost since she’s staying at our place. Sure, she pays two thousand bucks a month, but it doesn’t stretch very far. She’s basically mooching off us.” Serenity overheard her brother-in-law’s comment during the couple’s argument last night. She had to move out of her sister’s place. However, there was only one way to put her sister’s mind to rest, and that was to get married. Since Serenity wanted to tie the knot on short notice without ever having had a boyfriend, she decided to take up on Grandma May’s offer. Serenity had saved the old lad
“I won’t back out on a promise.” It took Serenity a few days to consider before reaching a decision. Now that she had made up her mind, she was not going to go back on her word. There was nothing more Zachary could say at that point. He took out his document and placed it in front of the officer. Serenity did the same. The pair swiftly went through the formalities in less than ten minutes. Once the officer issued the marriage license, Zachary fished out a bunch of keys from his pocket and gave them to Serenity. He said, “The house I bought is in Brynfield. Nana told me that you own a bookshop near Wiltspoon School. My place isn’t too far from your workplace. It’ll take around ten minutes by bus.“Do you have a driver’s license? If you do, you can get a car. I can help with the down payment while you will be responsible for the monthly payment. It’ll be easier for you to commute to work.“I can get very busy at work, so you won’t see me much. There will be business trips too
“I will, Nana,” Serenity casually responded. Although Grandma May was nice to her, Zachary was her blood relative while Serenity was only related to the family by marriage. Serenity found it hard to believe that the Yorks would stand by Serenity during a conflict between her and Zachary.Such was the case with her sister’s parents-in-law. Before marriage, the in-laws were nothing but good to Liberty to the point their birth daughter was jealous. It was a different story after the wedding. Every time Liberty got into a disagreement with her husband, Hank, her mother-in-law would get on Liberty’s case about being a bad wife. In short, the son was always family while the daughter-in-law remained as an outsider. “You must be heading to work, so I should get out of your hair. I’ll get Zack to get you home for dinner tonight.” “Nana, I’m closing the shop pretty late at night. I probably won’t be able to make it. Can we reschedule for the weekend?” The school was off on weekend
“You said it yourself, Liberty. It’s his prenuptial property. It doesn’t make sense to add my name to the title deed since I didn’t pay a penny for the house. I think we should forget about it.” Zachary did Serenity a huge favor by handing her the keys to the house the moment they got married. She could move in right away, solving her housing predicament. Serenity was not going to request that of Zachary. Of course, she would not refuse if Zachary added her name on his own accord. Now that they were husband and wife, Serenity made up her mind to spend the rest of her life with him. It was just a passing mention by Liberty, but knowing her sister who was self-reliant and not driven by greed, Liberty did not dwell on the matter. After a series of interrogations, Serenity successfully moved out of her sister’s place. Liberty wanted to drop her off at Brynfield, but Sonny happened to wake up. The little guy was crying for his mama the moment he opened his eyes. “You should atte
With his game face on, Zachary said, “Back to the meeting.” Sitting nearest to Zachary was his cousin, Callum. Among the cousins within the same age range as Zachary, Callum ranked second.Callum drew close and whispered, “Zack, I overheard your conversation with Nana. Did you really marry that Ser- girl?”Zachary shot him a glare. Scratching his nose, Callum straightened his back and ended the probing. Even so, Callum had nothing but sympathy for Zachary. There was no need for the York boys to secure social and financial standing through marriage, but Zack and his new bride were not a match in every single way. Poor Zack. He merely married the girl because Nana took a liking to her. Once again, Callum offered Zachary his deepest sympathy through his thoughts. Thank goodness Callum was not the oldest in the family. Otherwise, he would have to step up to the plate and marry Nana’s lifesaver. Unaware of all that, Serenity got the location details and was busy dragging her
Serenity said with a smile, “What do I need your cousin for? He has a girlfriend. It’s too late now because the papers are signed! Keep it between us and don’t let my sister know. I don’t want her to be sad.” Jasmine was speechless.Her best friend sure pulled one heck of a move. “There are all those Lifetime movies and romance novels about blindly marrying a multi-billionaire. Maybe that’s the case with you too, Seren.” Smacking her best friend in the head, Serenity remarked with a grin, “I bet you read all the chick lit in the shop. Dream on about marrying a billionaire at first sight. Do you think the place is crawling with billionaires?” Jasmine rubbed on the bump and sighed as Serenity had a point. Jasmine then asked, “Where’s your husband’s place?” “Brynfield.” “Not bad. It’s a good neighborhood and easily accessible. Plus, it’s not far from our shop. Where does your husband work? He must earn a lot of money since he bought a house in Wiltspoon and in an expensive ne
Since Serenity was also an owner of the villa, she assigned rooms to Hayden and Camryn before returning to the master bedroom. She kept feeling that something was missing as Zachary was not around.Carrying the baby bump around was tiring.Although Serenity was used to having Zachary by her side, she fell asleep quickly as she was exhausted. The night passed peacefully. New Year’s Eve had arrived. It was a busy day. After a family dinner in the evening, people who were close acquaintances of the Yorks went to Wildridge Manor to watch the fireworks. The atmosphere was lively. However, fun times would always go by quickly. Soon, it was the second day of the new year. It was the day when the York family’s daughters-in-law would visit their families. The fact that their families resided in Wiltspoon made the trip convenient. Zachary, Serenity, Liberty, and Duncan went to the Stones’ residence. Since Audrey was Serenity and Liberty’s aunt, they would visit the Stone
While Grandma May and her granddaughters-in-law had settled down, Zachary and his two brothers were still waiting for their wives. As the sky was getting darker, Zachary could not help but give Serenity a call. “Why are you and Nana not back yet, Seren?”“We won’t be going back tonight, babe. Nana said we’ll return after breakfast tomorrow. We’re staying in your villa in the high-end neighborhood now.”Zachary replied, “I already had a bad feeling when Nana brought you guys out.”As expected, Nana had “kidnapped” their wives.Serenity laughed. “Go to bed early. We’re singing now. Hayden is a pretty good singer.”“You should rest earlier. Don’t stay up too late. You’re still pregnant.”Zachary reminded her.“Mm. I will. I’ll hang up now. Let’s talk again tomorrow.”“Okay. Sonny came over this evening and asked where you were. I said you went shopping, and he said why you didn’t wait till he came and if you didn’t miss him.”Serenity smiled. “He called me afterward and told
Grandma May brought her daughters-in-law to Zachary's villa. The butler did not go home to celebrate the new year. Instead, he had brought his family over upon obtaining Zachary’s permission. Sam was a disciplined person. Although he had brought his family over, he would still watch over the house properly and not let his family enter the main house.He was Zachary’s butler and had his own quarters. He did not live in the main house. Sam was surprised to see Grandma May and her granddaughters-in-law coming over late at night.“Have you all come by yourself, missus?”Sam opened the gates for them and asked Serenity, who had lowered her window. He was worried that Mr. York might have made Mrs. York angry and that she had come over to escape him. It would be New Year’s Eve tomorrow. Logically speaking, Serenity should have been at Wildridge Manor. However, upon seeing Grandma May, Camryn, and the rest, Sam finally figured it out. Grandma May must have been feeling mischievo
“Dylan didn’t really disobey you, Nana. It’s simply because his partner is Imogen.“If it weren’t for Zachary telling me, I wouldn’t have thought Imogen would have that many identities. She hid all of them well. Dylan couldn’t find a thing even after investigating it for a long time.”Serenity smiled and added, “As expected of Silver’s best student. She’s definitely different.”Grandma May was being extremely nice to Dylan.She had chosen Silver’s student for him. The legendary masters and their students were the true big bosses. Any one of them could rival Julian. “Dylan was trapped by his dream. He couldn’t escape it.”Grandma May sighed. “I don’t know what happened. He never met Sugar before. I can’t believe he dreamt of her before I gave him a picture of her. He even had the same dream several times.“Maybe they were just fated to be together.”Camryn smiled. “It must be fate. Maybe they were husband and wife in their past lives.”“You’re amazing, Nana. How did you know
Once Dylan arrived home, he went looking for his nana first. Grandma May was not in the manor. She was in one of the houses at the foot of the hill. Dylan did not search the houses one by one. He simply gave her a call. Grandma May picked up the call after some time. “You’re back, Dylan? I thought you weren’t planning to come back.”She chuckled. “How are things going? Have you found your little fox? Your elder brothers have already succeeded in getting their women. The three of you are the only ones left.“Peter is quicker than you. He said he could bring his fiancée back in a few months. Austin is probably doing better than you too. They aren’t you.”“When are you coming back, Nana? I have something to tell you.”Dylan requested Grandma May politely as he did not want other people to be present.Grandma May could roughly guess what Dylan wanted to do. She said, “I’m not in the manor. I’m out shopping with Serenity and won’t be back so soon. If you have something to say,
“The wind is strong, Mr. and Mrs. Brown. Please return home. We’ll be heading back as well.”After Liberty took everything her ex-in-laws had prepared for Sonny, she said goodbye to them, and under their gazes, she walked toward Duncan and Sonny, who were waiting for her.Sonny had already gotten off Duncan’s shoulders.Duncan had also returned to his wheelchair and held Sonny in his arms. They waited for Liberty to return. When Duncan saw the bags in Liberty’s hand, he told Sonny, “Help Mom hold some of the stuff, Sonny.”“Okay.”Sonny slid down and went to grab his luggage. He could pull the luggage along since it had wheels.Liberty let him.On the other hand, Duncan took some bags from Liberty’s hands and placed them on his thighs. He said, “Why are there so many things? I remember there wasn’t this much when we sent Sonny over.”“Dad bought me new clothes and toys. I really can’t take all the toys, so some of them were left in Dad’s house. I can play with them the next t
Hank pulled Sonny’s luggage over. Luke and Olivia had many bags in their hands too. They were presents they had prepared for Sonny and Liberty. Although the stuff they prepared was not as expensive as the supplements Sonny had brought back, it still contained their sincerity. “Liberty,” Hank called and handed the luggage over. “Sonny’s belongings are all inside. He can’t take that many toys, so there’s some left at my place. He said he can play them the next time he comes.“We bought him a few sets of clothes. They can’t fit into the luggage, so we put them in bags.”After speaking, Hank took the bags from his parents’ hands.Aside from the clothes and toys they had bought for Sonny, the rest were presents for Liberty. “My parents prepared some snacks for you. You can have them while celebrating the new year. It’s nothing expensive, just a token of our sincerity.“Although we aren’t husband and wife anymore, we’re still Sonny’s parents. We can still be friends or relative
Liberty and Duncan had only gotten their marriage license for a few days. They were newlyweds. Even with Liberty by his side, Duncan still wanted to have video calls with Sonny several times a day. He missed Sonny more than she did. He would worry about whether Sonny was eating and sleeping well at the Browns’ place.He also worried whether Chelsea’s son would bully Sonny.While Sonny had learned martial arts, he was not exactly skilled yet. Besides, he was taught well and would not fight under normal circumstances. Therefore, Duncan was worried that Sonny would be at a disadvantage. Liberty thought Duncan was acting more like Sonny’s biological father than Hank. “Sonny’s here,” said Duncan. He got up and walked toward Sonny, leaving his wheelchair behind. He could walk short distances. Liberty was anxious that he might fall. She quickly left her neighbors behind and followed him. She reminded him, “Walk slowly. Be careful.”They did not have their bodyguards with them
“Dunc is nice, Dad. He treats me well. He’s not a bad guy.”Sonny tried his best to clear Hank’s misunderstanding toward Dunc.Hank felt bitter, but he kept a smile on his face. He replied, “Mm. Duncan isn’t a bad person. He treats you and your mom well. I feel at ease knowing you and your mom are living with him.”No matter how jealous he was, he had to admit that Duncan had dedicated his heart and energy to Liberty and Sonny. Duncan was better than him, Sonny’s biological dad. Liberty had made a great choice marrying Duncan.Although Duncan was still in a wheelchair, he would eventually recover. Once he recovered, he could take on any challenge and be the pillar Liberty and Sonny needed. “Sonny, Sonny,” Olivia called out from the living area. Hank told Sonny, “Your grandmom is calling you. Go out and have a look.”Sonny hummed in agreement and left the room. “Grandmom.”Hank smiled when he heard Sonny saying that. He liked being with his son and parents. He truly