I seriously thought that John was trying to sow discord between Anthony and Audrey. After all, John wanted nothing more than to reclaim his place as the most important man to his niece. It doesn’t matter if it’s men or women. Both will do everything in their power to gain the upper hand when jealous.
“How I deal with my children is none of your business. For someone who has no daughters, you sure like to tell people how to raise theirs,” retorted Anthony straightforwardly.
Banters like that had been happening in the house several times a week over the past few years. Sometimes, it made me wonder if it was even possible to have the two men get along with each other.
Seeing how John was boiling with rage after Anthony’s goading, I decided it was best that I kept quiet and let the two duke it out.
It was not until the birth of John’s daughter that the tension between them eased up a little.
More importantly, as parents of three, Anthony and I realized that there were far more things that we had to put into consideration.
After the Wenville project, Anthony had to fulfill his promise to support Summer’s project in opening a bar. Neither the Moores nor the Stanhopes dared to involve themselves in the industry, for they were afraid of the steep price they had to pay if they were to place their fingers in that pie.
After some thought, I suggested to Anthony, “Let’s have Joseph come over. I want to hear the information he’s gathered regarding the industry. After all, Summer is still underage, so I’d like to help her however I can.”
“Sure, tonight then. I’ve just ordered the man to work on controlling the public opinion. Summer should also be done with the cultural festival by then, so I’ll have her come over too,” informed Anthony.
“Okay, good.” If we could manage to be frank and always speak our minds like that, everything would become so much easier to deal with.
As soon as our conversation ended, a maid entered the house to inform, “Ms. Featherstone, there’s a woman here to see you.”
“A woman? Who?” The maids knew the name of most of our guests, so naturally, I was puzzled when one of them simply addressed the visitor as a woman.
“She said that she’s Marcus’ wife,” answered the maid.
Oh, it’s Camelia! We haven’t had the chance to meet up yet since she got back.
“Let her in.”
“Yes, Madam.”
As ordered, the maid immediately went back to the guest but returned to me after just a brief moment. “Madam, the woman refused to come in and insisted that you go meet her in person.”
I was puzzled yet again when I was told that Camelia refused to come in.
“Is she alone?” I inquired as I stood up and made my way to the door.
“Yes, she is.” The maid nodded before cautiously reminding, “She doesn’t look well, though. It looks like she’s sick or something, so you should be careful, Madam.”
“Got it. I’ll take it from here.”
I could not help but pity Camelia when even the maid seemed to despise her. The fact that she used to be a kind and gentle person only made me pity her even more.
Camelia was not a bad person, so I did not think that she would intentionally harm anyone or purposely infect others with her sickness.
Knowing that Marcus had to be why she visited me, I had no reason to avoid her.
After glancing at Anthony and realizing that he had no intention of stopping me, I decided with confidence to go meet Camelia. “I’ll go see what she needs. Be right back.”
Without a word, Anthony just nodded in response.
Before I reached the door, I could hear Holden’s voice. “Mr. Featherstone, we have been friends for a long time now, haven’t we? You should know better than anyone else how trustworthy I am in this sort of thing, right? Don’t worry. Your daughter is in good hands. If you want to open a bar, working with us is probably the best decision you can make.”
After walking out the gate, I finally saw Camelia standing by the roadside.
Decently dressed in clothes of some affordable domestic luxury brands, the woman did not look too bad, actually. She only looked sickly because of her pale face and sunken cheeks.
“Hey, Camelia,” I called out to the woman in a soft voice as if I could scare the soul out of her if I were too loud. “Why don’t you come inside?”
Even though romance made me very happy, I could not say the same for Camelia, for I had seen what a lively person she used to be before she had had her fair share of romance.
Facing Camelia, I dared not seem too happy since I was worried it would somehow make the woman uncomfortable. Maybe I was overthinking, but I would rather not let my happiness become a burden to someone less fortunate than I was.
Speaking softly and gently to Camelia like any normal person would was one of the ways I knew how to care for the woman. As a fellow woman, I truly hoped for her to have a better life.
“No, thank you. Marcus is sick, and he wants to see you,” informed Camelia with a blenched straight face.
Only the person we loved the most could hurt us the deepest. I could not imagine how badly Camelia was hurting inside when she decided to come to me and tell me something like that.
Frankly, I did not think it was necessary for Marcus and me to ever meet again, but still, I could not just pretend like I did not hear about the man’s predicament. “Is it bad? What is it?”
“You can ask him yourself.” Camelia’s tone remained strangely indifferent; it was as if the woman was only carrying out an order like a robot.
With that, Camelia took her car keys out and went to her car. She stopped just beside the vehicle when she noticed that I did not move a muscle.
“You don’t want to go?” questioned Camelia with a brow raised at me. When she was convinced that I had no intention of going with her, the woman finally showed some emotions. “Life is just a big fat joke, isn’t it? He doesn’t love me, and you don’t love him.”
“Camelia…” As much as I wanted to comfort Camelia, I was at a loss for words.
Camelia could tell that I felt sorry for her, so she walked back to me and gave me a cold hard gaze. “You don’t have to pity me, but maybe you can do that for Marcus, a man at the brink of death. No matter what happened between you two, don’t you think you should grant a man his last dying wish? So are you coming or not?”
“Wait. He’s dying?” I was utterly shocked by the revelation. The last time I saw Marcus, he was still alive and well. Is it because of the car accident?
“No thanks to you. If it weren’t for your grandiose wedding, he would probably have a few more days left,” stated Camelia as she continued to gaze at me sternly.
Even though I was meeting her gaze, I could not tell if the woman was hostile to me. However, her straightforwardness and sarcasm clearly showed that she was not trying to be friendly at all. From what Camelia told me, I could more or less piece together what happened to Marcus. The man was already severely ill when he saw the wedding between Anthony and me, and the event probably only served to worsen his condition. If that is the case, I can understand why Camelia sees me as her enemy.
In the end, I decided that Camelia was right and that no one should deny a dying man his last wish. “I’ll go.”
After getting the guards to inform Anthony that I was leaving with Camelia, I got into the woman’s car.
Before long, we arrived at one of the best cancer hospitals in the country.
Sitting outside of Marcus’ room were his son and the boy’s nanny. Although they looked much better than Camelia, they seemed tired nonetheless.
It was understandable since they had a critically ill member in the family.
“Mommy!” As soon as Tobias saw Camelia, he leaped to his feet and dashed over to her.
Camelia patted Tobias on the head before introducing me to him. “This is Mrs. Featherstone. Say hi, Toby.”
“We’ve met before, Toby. Do you still remember me?” I asked the boy with a friendly smile. No matter what happened between Marcus and me, I knew the child had nothing to do with it.
In response, Tobias only stared at me for a while before shaking his head without saying anything.
Though most people assumed that there were many things that children could not understand, they underestimated how good children could be at reading the room sometimes. In fact, some children could tell when someone’s presence created unwanted tension in their family.
Probably unbeknownst to even Tobias himself, the boy was actually making a case for Camelia in his own childish way.
Still, I remained smiling at Tobias and did not mind his behavior.
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.
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