Mr. Brown had a hunch. It must be related to the divorce with Liberty.Olivia brought the cutlery and served her son food. “You didn’t tell me in advance, so I didn’t cook for you. This was supposed to be for the dog, but you can have it instead. I’ll cook some pasta for you later if you’re still hungry.”“I’ll be full after eating this, Mom.”From the moment he walked in, Hank let his mother serve him food and even set the table for him with cutlery ready. He was used to his mother doing this.After the family of three finished their meal, Hank handed the manila folder to his father.“What is this?”Mr. Brown was suspicious, but he reached out and took the envelope. He opened it and took out a stack of papers and photos from inside.Olivia took a peek too.The husband and wife frowned as they looked at it.“Hank, you kept so much money?” Olivia was shocked that her son had so much money.Mr. Brown frowned and asked his son, “Did Liberty give you this?”Hank nodded.“What d
“The fight was just kids being kids. Plus, it was an accident. We will take good care of Sonny and keep him from harm’s way when we get custody.” Mrs. Brown heartachingly said, “Hank, don’t go with the divorce. I can’t take it.”It never crossed her mind that fights between children could influence decisions on a child’s custody. Despite Mrs. Brown’s old age, she had never seen anyone take their divorce to court. In the separations that she came across, the women would pack their things and walk out, leaving the house, car, and children to the men. “Sure, it was just a fight between children, but people would see Sonny living with us as whether it’s conducive to his growth and well-being.” Hank patiently persuaded his parents. “Mom, I don’t love Liberty anymore. It’s not like Liberty would take me back either. You can’t make things work just by force. It would be hard for her and me at this rate. Besides, Liberty’s willing to settle. The divorce is going to happen.“I’ve mad
Mrs. Brown grabbed the divorce paperwork for another look, feeling the pain every time she read the line on the payout to Liberty. “I thought the estate was split evenly. The amount doesn’t seem right.” “Liberty’s relinquishing her rights to the house and car, so I need to make it up to her monetarily. Altogether, that’s the total payout.” Mrs. Brown replied after a pause, “What about the renovation cost for the house?” Hank answered, “It’s not included. I’ve said it before. I won’t compensate her for that.” Although feeling a little better, Mrs. Brown said, “The renovation was tens of thousands of dollars. I guess we benefited a little since she didn’t ask you for the renovation cost.” It did not hurt as bad anymore for the money they were losing. “Hank, how did Liberty collect these photos?” Mr. Brown believed his daughter-in-law did not have such means. “Did someone help her?” “I asked her, but she wouldn’t say, nor did she know who helped her. The person’s pretty good
“Chelsea said she’s having problems at work. I wonder what happened. I thought she was doing well. What changed?” Mrs. Brown mumbled as she swiftly tapped the call button to connect to her daughter. During the call, Chelsea restlessly uttered, “I don’t know what’s going on, Mom. I have a feeling the people at work are out to get me. They have a bone to pick in everything I do. Not one good thing happened the whole day. Just let the divorce go through if Hank wants it, Mom. Your son is a great man. He’ll have no problems finding another wife.” “God knows where Liberty found dirt on your brother, and she got enough to threaten your brother to meet all her demands. Liberty gets over a million bucks in alimony, full custody of Sonny, and three thousand dollars a month for child support.” “Does Hank have that much money to give her?” Chelsea was shocked. “Hank had transferred his assets out, but Liberty somehow got proof of the transfer. Never mind. Since trouble at the workplac
Serenity’s phone fell on the bed. Sure, Serenity had waited for Zachary, but sleepiness got the best of her. It was a blow to Zachary’s exhilaration. He brought along two Eternal diamond rings that he bought from Nana with the intention to put one on Serenity’s finger. Yet, she was far off in dreamland. Sitting on the edge of the bed, Zachary reached out to pinch Serenity in the face. “You could sleep through an earthquake, little piggy.” After pinching her cheeks, he leaned down to kiss her face and hovered against her lips for a prod. He then grabbed her phone and put it on the bedside table. Although his wife fell asleep waiting for him, at least she was in his bedroom. That was what a certain Mr. York comforted himself with. The next day, Serenity woke up only to be blown away by a huge bouquet of flowers. Behind the flowers was Zachary’s handsome face. She blinked. Serenity sat up the moment she was certain she was awake, and it was Zachary before her eyes.
“Seren.”Serenity was putting the ring on Zachary’s finger when the latter tenderly uttered, “No matter what happens, we won’t talk about splitting up or a divorce, alright?” Thinking the wedding bands were perfect for them, Serenity was in awe of Zachary’s good taste. Zachary was able to pick out a suitable ring for her in her absence. Serenity heard what he had to say and picked her head up to look at him. “I can’t promise you this. What if you turn out to be like Hank? Am I not supposed to bring up divorce? Cheating men should be dumped as soon as possible. Why should women keep these disgusting men around?” Zachary wanted to bait a promise out of her in hopes she would not leave him when he came clean about his identity. To his surprise, she did not fall for it. Despite being caught in a tender moment, her head remained clear. She was deservingly the woman he fell in love with. “Um… In the context that I don’t have an affair, you can’t ask me for a divorce no matter
“That’s hard to say. I’ll be back once my work there is done.” “Let me know when’s your trip. I’ll help you pack and drive you to the airport.” Since Serenity did not have a change of clothes in his bedroom, she intended to return to her room to get dressed and wash up. With Serenity about to leave, Zachary reached out to pull her back. His dark eyes were fixed on her beautiful face. “That’s it?” Serenity was without a word.She blinked, unable to get the message he was trying to convey. What else if not that? Was he expecting her to see him off at the city he was conducting business in? “Can family tag along too?” Zachary was twitching by the corners of his mouth. “Since I can’t go with you, is it not enough that I’ll drive you to the airport?” Zachary’s hand over hers loosened. Serenity stared at his hand and uttered with a frown, “I thought you had been slick with your words lately, but you lost it now. You just keep me guessing by leaving things hanging. I’m
“I said nothing of that sort. You said it yourself.” Old Mr. Hunt replied, “Where are you? Look at the time, and your shop isn’t open yet. Other businesses would have made a lot of money by now.” “Zachary, my granddad’s so concerned as to what time I’m setting up my shop. Are pigs flying? Can you grab your phone and check from the balcony? You need to take a picture of this phenomenon.” With a scowl, Old Mr. Hunt lashed out, “Don’t change the subject, Serenity. I’m talking to you. Your uncles, aunts, and I are waiting for you at the shop. Hurry up and get over here to unlock the door! We haven’t even had breakfast. Get us takeouts on your way here.” “There are plenty of breakfast places around. You can go hungry if you don’t want to eat there.” Why should Serenity be so kind to get them takeaway? They would only tear into her after getting fed. Offended by Serenity’s attitude, Old Mr. Hunt wanted to let Serenity have it when John snatched the phone over. John sounded rather
“Caroline wants to leave Jensburg, so she wants to finish the handover as soon as possible. She’ll leave once my sister is more familiar with everything. Since Fisher Enterprise resumes operations earlier than most, Liberty had to go to Jensburg earlier.“She’s about to be the Fisher’s matriarch, so she has to communicate with the family’s elders and show concern for them. There are just too many things to handle.”Serenity caressed her bump. “I could’ve helped Liberty if I wasn’t pregnant. She’s on her own now.”Audrey was getting older. While she would go over to Jensburg to see how things were going from time to time, she thought it was best for Liberty, the incoming matriarch, to handle everything herself. It was a test and a chance to establish her influence.Since Duncan was still in recovery, he could not go over with Liberty. It was to prevent her from being distracted. Liberty was truly single-handedly doing everything.Lilian said, “Even if you aren’t pregnant, you can
Serenity walked over and sat down. “I asked Duncan about it. He said Sonny’s grandparents brought him to eat fried chicken, fries, and chips when he was with them last Saturday. Eating too much of those makes the throat inflamed easily.”Before getting married, Serenity would eat some fried chicken occasionally. Her favorite was chicken wings. However, she would always drink lots of hot tea with honey and lemon afterward. Otherwise, she would get a sore throat within two days. That was why most people in Wiltspoon maintained a light diet; it could not be helped.“Is Camryn’s condition improving?”Serenity was concerned about Camryn. Camryn was nursing her body back to health. She had to do it so she could conceive and be a mother.Lilian lifted the cup of hot tea before her and took a few sips. She said, “It’s getting better. She can stop her medications at the end of this year and start trying for a baby six months after that.”By the time Camryn could get pregnant, she wou
After a moment of silence, Serenity said, “I’ll inform Mr. Brown and the rest not to let Sonny eat too much fried food the next time they pick Sonny up. Sonny can’t take it because he is susceptible to sore throats.”It would be better if she did it because she was Sonny’s aunt. She was also familiar with the Browns. Luke and Olivia would not feel offended because they would know she was simply concerned about Sonny. If it were to come from Duncan, the Browns would think he was trying to sour Sonny’s relationship with the Browns. Sonny joining the Lewis family, following Liberty’s marriage, had already become a thorn in the Browns’ hearts. However, they could not say anything for the sake of Sonny’s future. Olivia had talked to Hank about getting Sonny’s custody back.Hank rejected the idea. The Brown couple did not insist after Hank explained the pros and cons of Sonny living with either him or Serenity. Based on living conditions, Serenity was definitely the better choice
“He will get better soon now that he’s taken the medicine. Don’t worry too much. When you're taking care of him, make sure you wear a mask so you don’t catch it from him. You’re pregnant, and if you catch a cold, it’ll be more troublesome.” Liberty was relieved, but she then reminded Serenity to take extra care of herself, worried that her son’s cold might spread to her.Pregnant women had limited options for medication, and many pregnant women endured mild colds without taking medicine out of caution.“I'm fine, really,” Serenity reassured her.“When Sonny is sick, he's especially vulnerable and relies on me. If I don't take care of him, I won’t feel at ease, and neither will he.”Zachary was busier than she was, so Serenity did not want to trouble him with such minor matters.“Don’t you worry, Liberty. Once Sonny is better, I'll send you a message. Even if Sonny begs me, I won’t let him eat anything too greasy from now on, to avoid aggravating his condition.”“Children are bo
Sonny weakly protested, “The medicine will be really bitter.”“Yes, but good medicine tastes bitter because it helps cure the illness,” Serenity comforted him.Under her coaxing, Sonny took the medicine, drank a glass of water, and went to the bathroom. He came back and fell into a deep sleep in his aunt's arms.Serenity wanted to carry him upstairs.“Let me carry him—you’re pregnant,” Lilian said considerately.Sam immediately interjected, “Dr. Carden, Missus, allow me to carry Mr. Sonny upstairs.”Dr. Carden was a distinguished guest of the family. How could he allow her to carry Sonny upstairs? Sam stepped forward and carefully took Sonny from Serenity's arms before carrying him back to his room.Serenity followed them upstairs.Lilian did not follow.To her, Sonny's common cold was not serious. She only personally took care of him because she quite liked Sonny.Serenity sat down on the edge of the bed and told Sam, “I can’t do it myself right now, so please make sure to t
After New Year’s celebration, Liberty left for Jensburg and told the teachers that if anything happened to Sonny, they should contact Serenity, which explained the teacher's call coming through to Serenity.“I’ll go pick him up right away. Thank you, Ms. Penny.”Sonny’s teacher Ms. Penny replied, "Alright, please come and take him to see a doctor. Recently, a lot of kids have been catching colds."After hanging up, Serenity said, “Jas, I can't stay here and chat with you. I need to go fetch Sonny from preschool. He's got a fever. Lately, he keeps kicking his blanket off at night.” Though she and Zachary often helped cover Sonny back up, they could not always catch it every time he kicked off the blanket, so he had probably caught a cold.“The temperature has been rising these days, so it's a bit hot sometimes. Look, I don’t even need to wear a coat now.” The temperature was around 68°F during the day. When the sun was out, it was really warm, and there was no need for a coat.
Serenity agreed empathetically, “You can offend anyone, but don't ever offend Nana. Luckily, she's my nana.”Out of all her in-laws, Grandma May was Serenity’s favorite because the old lady treated her the best. Whenever she had conflicts with Zachary, Grandma May would always stand by her side first. Only when she was ready to listen would Grandma May try to reason with her and speak up for Zachary. Even though Grandma May was Zachary’s grandmother, she treated Serenity like her own granddaughter; more so than Serenity's biological grandmother.“Are you going to help Dylan?” Jasmine asked.“How? He’s wooing his future wife. No one can help with that,” Serenity replied. “Zachary never meddles in his brothers' private matters. As long as they don’t ask him for help, he doesn’t care about anything.”In Zachary's words, he only wanted to take care of her. In his world, she was his priority.“True. Let’s just watch for now, unless Dylan comes to you asking you to speak well of him
“Now he's suddenly trying to pursue Imogen again? Did something happen to him? Or was it that his beloved turned him down, and then when he saw everyone else all coupled up, plus Grandma May’s pressuring him to get married, he decided to try to win Imogen back?“Who does he think Imogen is? Does he think he can just have her when he wants to, and throw her aside when he doesn't?”Even though Dylan was Serenity's cousin-in-law, Jasmine could not bring herself to take his side. Back then, when Imogen followed him from Huntington to Wiltspoon and even asked Serenity for help, all she ended up getting was an apology from Dylan that he could never love her. He even mentioned that he was in love with someone else, a woman he called Fox. How could a vixen be any good? Was she better than Imogen?Jasmine thought Dylan was out of his mind, but that was someone else's business. She was just a bystander. Even Serenity did not interfere much since she was only a cousin-in-law. After all,
Without a second thought, Leticia replied to her daughter.[Of course you should. As long as you can win that boy over, you'll be happy in the future. I’ve met so many young men, but I still think he’s the most suitable for you.]Despite her earlier anger, Leticia still hoped her daughter could win Dylan’s heart. She had always regarded him as a potential son-in-law, after all.Imogen smiled and left it at that. She had already made up her mind.In truth, when Dylan rejected her, she was not all that upset because the person he loved was still her. It was just that she had kept Dylan in the dark. One could say that he had been made to dance in her palm.However, when he realized that he could not love Imogen, he was honest with her and decisively left without bothering her further, not wanting her to fall even deeper when the situation was hopeless. In this aspect, she appreciated him.Now that she knew she was the one Dylan’s grandmother had chosen for him, Imogen was curious ab