Macy would never want Summer to spend her time by Jared’s side. I happened to share a similar vision and would never allow that to happen.
Summer nodded; the little girl had no idea the emotions an adult had toward the deceased ones. After she placed the bouquet in front of the tombstone, she gazed at the photo.
She was about the height of the tombstone. When she caught a glimpse of her biological mother, torrents of grief streamed down her face.
“Mommy said you’re an important figure in her life. If that’s the case, I’ll always keep you in mind.”
Although the little girl’s words seemed to make little to no sense, others would feel wistful when they heard her mellifluous voice.
Jared wasn’t a fool. He was aware of my miscarriage back then. Therefore, he could easily rule out the possibility that Summer was my daughter.
Judging by his look and response, I knew he had figured out Summer’s identity.
I had never once told him that Macy had passed on. Since he was here now, I reckoned it must be others who shared the news with him.
He asked, “What’s her name?”
It was evident he was talking about the little girl. “Summer Stanhope.” I looked at the photo on the tombstone while replying.
As I watched Summer’s attempt to wipe the photo clean, I could feel my heart breaking into a million pieces.
Jared nodded and replied with a quivering voice, “That’s a great name.”
I pursed my lips and felt a prickling sensation behind my eyes.
Occasionally, she would show up in my dream with a little boy waving at me. She would say, “Sienna, I’ll take good care of him on your behalf.”
I started weeping because I wasn’t given the chance to spend time with the little boy. Sometimes, I would imagine how our son would turn out since Anthony was such an exceptional man.
On several occasions, I would get overwhelmed by a plethora of emotions. Fortunately, Summer was by my side to keep me company. I was able to move on from the mortifying past because of her.
As we were no longer in the same realm, the only thing we could do was to take care of each other’s loved ones on the other party’s behalf.
Once the fog subsided, a woman’s voice could be heard from behind. “Jared, shall we go home?”
I found the woman’s voice familiar. When I turned around, I was stupefied for a few seconds because the woman turned out to be Kristina.
After four years, she had turned into a gorgeous and mature woman as compared to the childish young woman a few years ago.
She was equally surprised when she saw me. When she caught a glimpse of Summer, her eyes flickered in confusion.
A few seconds later, she approached and greeted me, “Hello, Ms. Stanhope.”
“Hello,” I replied flatly. To be honest, I hadn’t moved on from the past, but I was no longer haunted by the things that had occurred ages ago.
It only took me a few seconds to figure out she had conceived Jared’s child when I saw her baby bump.
As a surge of anger welled up within me, I scoffed and glared at him. “Jared, you shouldn’t have brought her here…”
What the heck is this? Is she trying to assert dominance over Macy?
Kristina rebutted, “Ms. Stanhope, please don’t blame Jared for this. I was the one who insisted on tagging along.”
I found the duo hilarious and fell silent. Staring at her baby bump, I asked rhetorically in a sarcastic manner, “How dare you show up in front of her? Aren’t you afraid of her paying you a visit in the middle of the night to get her revenge?”
Kristina was one of the main reasons Macy had passed on back then. Since she had the audacity to show up in front of Macy’s grave, she must be having a great time over the years.
With a frightened look, she cast her gaze on Jared. She seemed to be afraid of Jared instead of Macy.
What a joke! It seems that Jared was never made aware of the truth behind Macy’s death.
“Ms. Stanhope, I know you’re a close friend of Macy’s, but we can’t possibly bring the dead back to life. Do you really want us to spend the rest of our life in sorrow?”
I couldn’t believe she had the guts to pick on me in such a righteous manner.
If I wasn’t conscious of her past doings, I would definitely think of her as a noblewoman with a positive mindset.
“We can’t bring the dead back, but we can always ensure justice is served!” I looked at Jared with a scowl and asked, “Have you never wondered the reason behind Macy’s death?”
“Ms. Stanhope!” She yelled to stop me in the nick of time because she didn’t expect me to be so frank about it. “Macy died because she couldn’t handle the news of your incident! Why are you bringing this up again?”
Why?
As I looked at her baby bump, I changed my mind about saying the truth. After all, the child had nothing to do with the feud.
Seeing that I fell silent, Jared probed further, “What are you talking about?”
“It’s nothing. Why don’t you send someone to get to the bottom of this if you’re curious? You need to stop behaving like a fool. Otherwise, others won’t stop taking advantage of you.”
At the end of the day, there were a lot of parties involved in Macy’s death. Although Kristina was one of them, if I brought the truth up when she was the most vulnerable, it would simply make me another vicious woman like her.
“Summer, it’s time to go home.” As we departed early in the morning to reach the cemetery on the outskirts, the little girl started spacing out as she stood in front of the grave.
Summer nodded and paused. Looking at Jared, she bade him goodbye. “Goodbye, Uncle!”
Her words took me by surprise. Similarly, Jared’s body stiffened because he too was taken aback by her response. He replied with his voice quivering, “G-Goodbye!”
I carried Summer on my back and made our way down the stairs because it would take me a lot of time to walk her down.
Halfway through the seemingly endless stairs, I asked, “Summer, do you like that uncle?”
I knew Summer better than others—she wouldn’t greet a stranger unless instructed to do so. To my surprise, she took the initiative and greeted Jared who was a complete stranger.
“Not really. It just feels like he’s different from the other uncles.”
I chuckled lightly as I wondered if it had something to do with the fact they were biologically related.
“Mommy, do you hate him?” Seemingly exhausted, the little girl placed her head on my shoulder.
After some consideration, I shook my head and shared my feelings. “I don’t really hate him, but I don’t like him either. He’s heavily indebted to an important person in my life.”
She yawned, “O-Oh…”
By the time we walked out of the cemetery, Summer had fallen asleep on my back.
I ended up standing by the road for some time because it wasn’t easy to hail a cab.
Just then, a black Jaguar pulled up in front of me. As soon as the window was wound down, Jared’s gorgeous face could be seen.
“I’ll give you a ride home.”
New Book: Back Home to Marry Off Myself
Loredana’s father left the family for his mistress, leaving them to fend for themselves abroad. When life was at its toughest, her father showed up with “good news” after 8 years of absence: To marry off Loredana to a paralyzed son of the wealthy Mendelsohn family.
Leave a Reply