Jessica was relieved she only contributed one–third of her past salary to her family. She spent another one–third and saved the remainder in the bank. At least, she had some savings of her own.
It was all about self–love. She had to love herself before she could love someone else.
Jessica hopped out of the car, shut the door, and locked the car.
She was driving Hank’s car.
Hank bought himself another vehicle. Of course, the car cost more than a hundred thousand dollars. Hank talked about becoming an uber driver if he was still jobless after the wedding. In short, he would still provide for his wife.
Jessica believed Hank’s feelings for her were genuine. At least, he treated her much better than he did Liberty.
Drawing a few deep breaths, Jessica unlocked the car and retrieved her Louis Vuitton bag. Hank gave her the bag when they were dating. Hank said he had never bought anything expensive for Liberty, but Jessica deserved only the best.
Jessica agreed to be his side chick because Hank was generous, young, and handsome.
Clinging to her Louis Vuitton bag, Jessica took strides to All You Can Eat with her chin held high like a victor.
Before she even came close to the diner, a car approached and pulled up in front of the diner. Jessica recognized the car.
It belonged to her ridiculous sister-in-law, Chelsea.
Stopping in her tracks, Jessica decided against going in there for now.
She wanted to see the reason Chelsea and her mother-in–law came to look for
Liberty.
Liberty and Grandma May were discussing having a party for the diner’s opening next week. Grandma May suggested having a party at the Wiltspoon Hotel since the Yorks owned the hotel. They could offer Liberty the best price, and better yet, for free.
“Grandma May, business is business. I want to have a party for the opening of my restaurant. You can’t let me have the party for free, but a discount is always welcome. Maybe I should just cook.”
She was operating a breakfast place, so she would be busy in the morning. She could close the restaurant by the time afternoon rolled around.
Liberty had time to get groceries and cook.
“You’ll overwork yourself. Why don’t you reserve two tables at the hotel? I’ll tell Kevin to give you the best price.”
“Thank you, Grandma May.”
This time, Liberty graciously took up on Grandma May’s offer.
It would be hard for two families to come together if one party was overly cordial.
“Grandma.”
Sonny was playing by himself in a corner when his grandmother and aunt entered the restaurant. He said hello to Mrs. Brown.
“Sonny.”
Mrs. Brown looked at Sonny as if he was a money tree.
She never really took the time to spend time with Sonny before. Now that they were apart, all Mrs. Brown thought about was her only grandson.
Mrs. Brown went to pick Sonny up and planted kisses on Sonny’s cheeks, only giving it a rest when Sonny frowned.
“Sonny, I couldn’t get you a toy since I came over in a rush. I’ll give you some money, so you can ask your mom to take you out shopping. You can get whatever you want.”
Mrs. Brown then pulled out a wad of cash and stuffed a few hundred–dollar bills in Sonny’s hand.
“Mrs. Brown.”
Liberty immediately stopped her and took her son from Mrs. Brown. Liberty uttered, ” Don’t give Sonny money, Mrs. Brown. He’s still young. He’ll get into the habit of asking for money to buy things if you keep giving him money.”
Mrs. Brown replied, “Then you take the money. It’s for Sonny to buy things.”
She then handed Liberty the cash.
Refusing it, Liberty answered, “Mrs. Brown, Sonny has everything he needs. It’s okay. You can keep the money for yourself.”
Since Mrs. Brown often dropped by for chatter, Liberty learned that Hank gave a lot less allowance to his parents. Mrs. Brown mentioned that Jessica was stingy, cutting down on her parents–in–law’s allowance now that she was holding the purse strings.
Jessica moaned to Hank that her parents–in–law had a state pension and were at the age of receiving the pension. While the money was not a lot, the husband and wife got around five thousand dollars from the government.
Her parents–in–law did not have to spend their money since they were living with Hank, so Jessica refused to give a lot for their allowance. Jessica was concerned that her parents–in–law would give the money to her sister–in–law instead.
“I have money. Besides, this is for my grandson. Take it.”
With Liberty rejecting the money from Mrs. Brown again, Grandma May jumped in. ” Liberty, this is a token gesture by Sonny’s grandmother. You should take it. Sonny’s grandmother never brought him any clothes before. You should take the money and buy some new clothes for Sonny.”
Mrs. Brown made a face.
Since Mrs. Brown knew what Grandma May was made of, she grimaced but said nothing and gave the money to Liberty.
Jealousy was eating Chelsea up inside. Liberty’s diner was looking great and neat after the renovation. The thought that Liberty was about to make money made Chelsea even more jealous.
Chelsea had dreams to be a boss of her own too.
Nevertheless, Jessica refused to lend her husband money to start a construction supply business.
Chelsea was reluctant to fork out a few hundred thousand dollars of her own money to set up a shop.
She could earn the interest by keeping the money in the bank. On the other hand, there was a chance her husband’s business might fail…
“When is the grand opening of your diner, Liberty?” Chelsea asked with a forced smile.
She now believed Liberty was a lot nicer than Jessica.
“Your health is more important than work, Liberty. Look at you. You lost a lot of weight. You had it easy with our family. You used to be skinny, but Hank provided for you well.”
Everybody glared at her.
Chelsea smiled embarrassedly. “I was just being honest.”
Liberty curtly uttered, “I’m on a diet.”
“Why go on a diet? You looked better and jolly before. Stop losing weight. You’re fine the way you are now.”
It was not just Chelsea, but every member of the Brown family did not want Liberty to shed the pounds too because they knew Liberty would become desirable once she regained her appearance from back then.
The Browns, except Hank himself, hoped Liberty would get back together with Hank.
Hank would hold a senior position in York Corporation if they could rekindle their love and marriage. It was said that the annual income of a senior executive at York Corporation was several million.
The money was secondary. Most importantly, the Browns would be living large due to their ties with the wealthiest family in Wiltspoon.
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.