NovelEnglish"Leopold, I'm offering you a piece of genuine advice here." Leopold's handsface crinkled into a frown, "If you've got nothing to say, then don't." Aurelia was like a pea shooter, always ready to fire off a round.
Aurelia made a zipping motion across her lips. Message received: silence was golden.
Upstairs, the baby had woken up from his brief nap. The nanny took him down to the sparse shade in the backyard to get ssun.
Aurelia sauntered over and picked up a rattle to entertain him. She had a soft spot for kids, even if this one was the son of her rival. After all, it wasn't the child's fault.
But the baby seemed not to hear the rattle at all. No reaction, just a blank, indifferent stare.
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇtAs a mother of two, Aurelia sensed something off. She dangled the rattle in front of the baby, gently touching his chubby hand. No response, and he didn't even try to grasp it.
Turning to the nanny, Aurelia asked, "Is he easy to look after?" The nanny nodded, "He hardly ever cries, only when he's hungry. But he doesn't sleep much. Wakes up every fifteen minutes or so.
And..." She trailed off, hesitant.
"And what?" Aurelia pressed.
"It's like he doesn't react to us at all, no matter how much we try to engage him," the nanny explained.
That was exactly what Aurelia had noticed.
Back in Goldstone, there had been a child with similar symptoms. It turned out to be a serious condition.
She asked the nanny to keep an eye on the baby and pulled Leopold aside, whispering, "I suspect the child might be on the autism spectrum. You should have a specialist check him out. Early intervention can make a huge difference.” Leopold, visibly shaken, went back to look at the child. He reached out a finger to touch the baby's hand. No reaction. Any other baby would have instinctively wrapped their tiny fingers around his.
"I'll have a doctor ctomorrow to assess him," he said.
Aurelia thought about the poison she had slipped to Megan. Could it have affected the baby? But she had confirmed with Skyler that the fungal toxin was only skin-deep, incapable of reaching the unborn child.
Otherwise, she never would have used it on Megan. No matter how much she detested Megan, she wouldn't harm an innocent child.
"Have you named him yet?" she asked Leopold.
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏm"Not yet. Why don't you pick one?" Leopold responded.
Aurelia pondered for a moment. "Let's call him Alvis - all wise, in hopes that he grows up to be clever and wise." Leopold nodded slightly. "Alright, Alvis it is." Later, realizing the time, Aurelia removed her disguise and went to pick up her kids and Skyler from school. They were all going to have dinner at the Stirling Mansion.
Alvis' situation weighed on her mind. She took Skyler aside in the yard and asked in a low voice, "The toxin we used on Megan, it couldn't have affected her child, right?" "Yeah," Skyler nodded, confident, "The fungus lives on the skin. It can't breach the placenta." Relieved, Aurelia felt certain Alvis' condition had nothing to do with her actions, or else she would've been guilt-ridden for life.
Skyler blinked, "Angel, why bring that up all of a sudden? Is something wrong with Megan's baby?" Aurelia waved it off, "No, | was just thinking about it." Skyler didn't push for more details and went upstairs to play with Kane and William.
They had just finished dinner when Tanya showed up.
She had thought Skyler wouldn't last long at school, either getting bored or embarrassed into leaving. Turns out, he was doing just fine.
Kids don't have generation gaps after all.
"So, Skyler, how's teaching going?" she asked, a bit provocatively.
Skyler raised an eyebrow proudly, "I'm doing great. Everyone loves my classes."
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