His taunting gaze was filled with naked contempt for her when he stared at her, and even though this was not the first time that she had been humiliated by the man in front of her, her heart would still ache whenever she was subjected to his demeaning treatment.
Catherine’s sanity finally came back to her the moment her white T-shirt was being lifted by him. Despite trembling all over due to extreme fear, she forced herself to regain her composure and stared at Anderson, “Didn’t you like Isabella the most? Won’t you be afraid that she will hate you in hell?”
Anderson’s hand halted abruptly in its track on her body.
She knew that mentioning Isabella would work on him, hence she hurriedly continued, “Isabella always hated the fact that you and I were together, and I still remembered clearly that she would fall sick whenever you had stayed the night.”
Anderson’s lechery had dissipated entirely when Isabella was suddenly mentioned, and it was at that moment that the driver had stopped the car, “We’re here, Mr. Clark.”
As soon as the car was parked, Catherine got down at once and made a run for it. He stared at her fleeing figure while adjusting his tie, and soon after he walked with long strides into the hospital.
When Catherine had finally reached the ward that Sophia was in, she could immediately pick up on a faint weeping sound at the door. Her heart was instantly broken into thousands of pieces, and she promptly pushed open the door and walked inside.
Lincoln and Sophia were sitting on the bed while snuggling up to each other, and Madison whom was at a loss could be seen seated on the sofa further away. Sophia’s hair was a mess, and it was a heart- rending sight to take in as her eyes and nose had been reddened from all the crying she had done.
When Madison had laid her eyes on Catherine, her eyes lighted up in an instant.
However, Catherine did not manage to catch the changes in Madison’s expression as she was contending with dismay, and she quickly called out to the kids on the bed in a soft tone, “Mommy’s here, Sophia.”
Saphia’s sobbing stopped abruptly when she heard Catherine’s voice, and when she had raised her head to look into her direction and confirmed that her mother had indeed come for her, she burst out crying again, this time in a more aggrieved manner as she rolled down the bed and threw herself at Catherine.
“Sophia misses you very much, Mommy.” Catherine hugged her tightly and muttered under her breath, “Mommy misses you too.” “You said that you were going to pick me up yesterday. Why did you lie to me?” Sophia lied in her arms and grumbled in
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇtgrievance.
“Sorry for not keeping to my promise, I know Mommy’s at fault.” Catherine suddenly thought of Anderson’s comment that Sophia had not been eating at all, so she patted her consolingly on the shoulder and said, “Since Mommy is here, can you eat something now?”
Sophia nodded obediently while curling her lips into a line and uttered in an upset manner, “I’m very hungry, Mommy.” Catherine was on the verge of tears upon hearing her daughter’s pitiful remark, but she forced herself to hold back her tears. Lincoln brought over a small bowl of porridge to her, “You can feed this to Sophia, Mommy.”
It was as if a wall of barrier had been set up between the three of them and the outside world, and not a single outsider could meddle in between them.
Anderson watched on with a gloomy look in his eyes as bitter sorrow gradually crept up onto him. They were his children too, so why did he feel so left out?
“Go get the kids and bring them to the table so that they can eat properly, Andy. There are too much stuffs on the floor.” Madison tried to steer him to make a move as she poked at Anderson whom was standing still and looking on from a near distance with her cane.
He frowned for a second after being told to bring Sophia over to the table, but in the end, he marched forward and stooped down to try to carry her in his arms.
Sophia was shocked by his sudden movement, and she instantly backed away from him.
Catherine glared at him after noticing his gesture, and the grim look on her face was as if she would fight him off if he ever dared to lay his hands on Sophia.
Anderson’s countenance blackened after seeing Sophia’s defensive action, and he called out to the frightened little girl whom was hiding in Catherine’s embrace in a frigid tone, “Daddy will bring you to the table so that you can eat properly.”
Sophia whimpered softly, “But I want Mommy.” Anderson nodded in reply, “Your Mommy will come along too.”
Sophia finally reached out her arms towards Anderson after he had made a promise to her as she stared at him with tears still in her eyes. Eagerness and fear could be seen manifested in her gaze while she uttered in a childish voice, “Hug me, Daddy.”
Catherine instinctively wanted to stop them, but it was only a fleeting thought that had lasted in her mind for a second as she witnessed Sophia being taken away from her in the end. Sophia was different than Lincoln in this sense that she had always wanted a father, but Lincoln had always disliked Anderson
from the start.
Catherine had decided that she would not prevent her children to call Anderson their father as long as he would not take them away from her.
“Come here, Mommy. There’re lots of yummy foods here.” Sophia sat in front of the table and shouted happily for Catherine to come over.
Catherine finally walked over to them with Lincoln in her hand, and when she had seated at the table, Sophia obviously was ina good humour from her previous gloomy state as she grabbed Anderson by the hand and ordered around, “Daddy will sit at my right while Mommy shall sit at my left, and Lincoln can sit opposite of me.”
Anderson wanted to turn down her request outright, but when he was met with Sophia’s expectant gaze, his refusal just stuck at his throat.
After arranging everyone’s seating on the table, Sophia excitedly announced, “Our family has finally reunited, and I have a Daddy now, Mommy.”
“Other kids will not be mean to me and laugh at me for not having a dad anymore, Mommy.” Sophia clapped her hand enthusiastically while staring at Catherine with her twinkling eyes.
Catherine shot Anderson a glance and gave out a little laugh, “Stop talking and start eating up, if not your tummy will be mad at you.”
Sophia nodded obediently again.
Catherine let out a huge sigh and continued to hand a spoonful of porridge to Sophia’s mouth right after. However, Sophia turned her head to Anderson instead and uttered, “I want Daddy to feed me. All the other kids have daddies whom can feed them, but I don’t.”
Catherine hesitated for a moment, but after catching the intense eagerness in her eyes, she handed the spoon over to Anderson at last.
Anderson knitted his brows while holding the spoon in his hand as he had never taken care of anybody else. He had always been the one whom was being cared for his whole life, so his brows were deeply
furrowed on his forehead at this moment. “lm hungry, Daddy.”
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏmAnderson had bitten the bullet in the end, bracing himself to scoop a spoonful of porridge and served it to her.
“Hot, Daddy. You have to blow on it…”
Anderson had no choice but to cool the porridge down with his breath before handing it over to her again.
“I want to eat fish, Daddy.”
‘I don’t want vegetables, Daddy. I’m not a sheep.”
After feeding Sophia for the whole duration of the meal, Anderson was worn out by the immense effort to care for a child as he lied back against the chair to take a rest.
He had not been at the hospital for long, but urgent matters at his company had required him to take his leave.
Sophia had drifted off to sleep after she had finished her meal and watched some cartoons with Lincoln, and the living area was left with only Catherine, Madison and Bentley.
“We’re old now, so we don’t want to stick our nose into you youngsters’ affairs as well, Catherine.”
Catherine remained silent after hearing Madison’s words as she knew clearly that the Clark family’s intention to approach her was nothing more than to talk about her children.
Madison let out an awkward cough after not getting any response from Catherine and continued, “All we’ve ever wanted is for Andy to get married and have children.”
“I trust that you know what has happened to Isabella. Ever since she was dead, Andy had never looked at another woman, so it’s best for everyone if the children were to come back to the Clark family. Everything that is owned by the Clark family will be theirs sooner or later in the future…”
Catherine only wanted to put on a sardonic smile after hearing her absurd statement, “Isabella’s death has nothing to do with me, and the Johnson family has been ruined by the Clark family because of that. You expect me to hand over my children to the Clarks now that Anderson has no interest in other woman due to Isabella? Do you really think that is possible?”
“You shouldn’t flatly reject our proposal, Catherine. Judging from the aspects of financial condition and family background, Lincoln and Sophia are more suited to live under the Clark’s name, and we will raise them with the best possible resources that we can afford. Try to think the other way around, what would the children get if they were to live with you?” Madison looked her up and down as she let out a deep sigh.
“You’re only a single mother whom has been put behind bars and have a working-class occupation. You have fallen from grace, so I believe you are aware of how hard it is to overcome and bridge the great abyss of social class. Life’s already tough as itis, so aren’t you afraid that the children will hate on you in the future if you have outright denied their claim to a better quality of life and education?”
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