Why was Cole calling Avery?Avery lay back down on the bed and answered the phone."My mother's dead, Avery," Cole sobbed on the other end of the line.Avery froze for a moment. This was very sudden."Your mother's dead? How did she die?""Elliot Foster shot her," Cole choked. "He wanted to shoot me, but my mother took the bullet for me. I'm in so much pain right now, Avery. I don't know who else to talk to…"Avery sat up.Why did Elliot do that?Shea got in trouble because of Robert. It had nothing to do with Cole!Elliot would not kill someone for no reason. He was not that kind of person!"Did your uncle do that because you did something horrible, Cole?" Avery pestered. "What did you do?!"Cole had simply wanted to complain to Avery, but he did not expect her to be more emotional than he was."It's true that I did something awful. I shouldn't blame my uncle for wanting to kill me, but my mother was innocent!" Cole drew a sharp breath, then wiped the tears from his face.
Mrs. Cooper shook her head and said, "He looked really upset when he left this morning, so I was too afraid to ask. How about you give him a call?"Avery pulled her phone out of her bag and dialed Elliot's number. The call went through, but there was no answer."Come inside, Avery! It's too cold out here." Mrs. Cooper led her inside. "How's your recovery going?""I'm doing well," Avery responded casually.The wound on her abdomen was still aching, but the series of events that were happening constantly made her forget about the pain."I'm also a woman and I've also had children. It hasn't even been a month since you gave birth, but you've been running back and forth between the house and the hospital. That must affect your recovery." Mrs. Cooper sighed, then continued, "Once Robert's condition is stable, you can rest at home in peace. Master Elliot will get through this by himself.""I know. I just came to check on him." Avery would not be able to rest easy if she did not at leas
However, there were individual photos of Shea.At the time, Elliot was also just a four-year-old child. Even if he was smarter than others his age, he still would not be able to do anything about wanting his sister to be a part of the family portrait.Avery guessed that Elliot's father was the main reason behind the fact that Shea was left out of the family register. He could not accept having a mentally disabled child.Otherwise, he would not leave his own daughter out of their family portraits.Avery continued to look through the photos. When she turned a new page, she saw a photo of Elliot at five years old.Looking at a five-year-old Elliot felt like she was looking at him now, but something did not feel right.Her heart tightened in her chest as her hands began to tremble.Elliot did not look like this when she was looking at the earlier photos, but the five-year-old Elliot was obviously him!Avery turned back to the earlier pages and tried to find photos of Elliot at four
The hallways in the hospital were secluded and quiet.Avery made her way to the intensive care unit in the neonatal unit.One of the nurses recognized her, then quickly approached her and said, "Robert's doing very well today, Miss Tate! If everything goes well, then you can just rest at home and wait until he can be discharged."Avery nodded her head.Since Robert was fine, there was no use for her to stick around.As she left the hospital, her head began to spin.She knew exactly why she was upset.She could try to convince herself over and over again to not care about Elliot's behavior. She could pretend to be cool and raise the children herself with no hiccups. However, why did her heart ache this much?She knew very well that Hayden and Layla might have always said that they did not want a father, but they wanted one in their hearts.Avery knew that she needed him, too.However, there seemed to always be an invisible pair of claws between them.Every time they wanted to
Avery wanted to return to work, too, but her body still had not recovered.Even if she wanted to go back to the office, Mike would not allow it.There was another thunderstorm today.This winter was much colder than the years before. Mike reminded her not to leave the house before he went to the office earlier."You can invite your friends over to the house if you're bored, Avery," he said.Avery simply grunted in response.Once Mike left, she suddenly thought about how she did not really have many friends. Tammy's abduction left a permanent scar on her, and Wesley was nowhere to be found. She had no friends to invite over at all.Mike returned an hour later with a bag of yarn."Knit a sweater if you're bored, Avery! You could make sweaters for the kids, or even for me." Mike figured that knitting was not a tiring activity, and it took more time. "You could even knit one for Chad's dog."Avery put down the book she was reading, then looked at him and asked, "Do I look that bor
This was Avery's first official meeting with Robert.When he was in the incubator, he was practically in a coma the entire time. After he regained his health, she had not visited him yet.At this time, when she saw his glistening eyes, she could not help but smile."Robert! Sweet baby!" Mike stood next to Avery and gently poked Robert's cheek with his finger. "Let Uncle Mike carry you!"Mike carefully took the baby from Avery's arms.At that moment, Chad walked over with a baby carrier basket and asked Mike to put Robert in it."Don't mess around if you don't know how to carry a baby," Chad warned. "You have to support this part of his neck back here.""You talk like you're experienced. You didn't see how professional I was when handling Hayden and Layla as babies!" Mike bragged, then placed Robert in the carrier basket.They arrived back at the Starry River Villa half an hour later.The baby carrier basket which Robert was lying in was placed on the couch.Layla and Hayden g
Elliot's secondary reason for being in Hartsburg was work. His main reason was to escape.Every time he thought about how Shea had sacrificed herself for Robert, he felt his heart being ripped into pieces and dripping with blood!When his phone screen lit up, he opened up the message he received.A photo suddenly appeared on the screen. Robert was staring blankly at the camera with his obsidian eyes. It was as if he was looking right at Elliot. His breath instantly turned heavy when he saw the photo.He took a deep breath, then placed the phone down.Reason told him that Shea's death had nothing to do with Robert, but he could not get over the obstacle in his heart.The mere thought of how Shea would not appear in front of him and sweetly call him Big Brother again made him crippled with agony, and destroyed all of his reason.That night at the Starry River Villa, Mike had invited Jun and Ben to come celebrate Robert's discharge from the hospital together.A baby Robert's age
However, by the time the clock struck eleven at night, Elliot still did not show up.If he really wanted to see Robert, then he definitely would have come by tonight."Go get some rest, Avery!" Mrs. Cooper checked the time, then said, "Robert is such a good baby. If he cries tonight, I'll get him some milk.""Okay, thank you. I'll take over in the morning."Avery walked out of the room and made it toward the master bedroom.She was much calmer than before.Nobody could have everything. Now that she had her three children by her side, nothing was more important than their health.She felt relieved after she thought it through.When she returned to her room, she did not feel like sleeping at all.With Mrs. Cooper helping out with Robert, she did not have to worry about anything.She suddenly remembered the jobs she picked up while she was pregnant.Since the patient was not in a hurry, she put the job on hold when she entered her third trimester.She pulled the patient's medi