Brettley instinctively rubbed his brows in frustration when he heard this. “Well, the truth is, none of you needed to come.”
Since Jacqueline was dead, there was no longer any plaintiff in
Bethan’s hearing. Not only that, but all the surveillance tapes of that night were seized by the police as evidence, and the fact that everyone at the wedding that day could vouch that Jacqueline provoked Bethan to the extent that she lost control…
This meant that Bethan would not suffer too badly, even if she had to face judicial prosecution in the end.
After all, she did this for her best friend, whom she held dear to her heart.
“Needn’t come?”
Jim scoffed at this. “If we don’t come now, when are we supposed to see her? After she starts serving time in prison?
“This is absolutely outrageous, Brettley Morrison! Not only did you fail to protect Bethan, but now that she’s in jail, you even dare tell us not to come visit her!
“Did you intend to continue hiding this from us? We wouldn’t even have known about this if I hadn’t discovered it by accident!”
Brettley furrowed his brows when he heard the rage in Jim’s tone.
Then, he replied calmly, “Yes, that was what I intended to do.”
Bethan was only going to spend a few months in prison at most, and it would not be too difficult to hide this from the Landry family for the time being.
Jim was utterly infuriated to hear this. “Brettley Morrison!”
“When are you arriving?”
Brettley lowered his head to glance at the time, not in the mood to continue arguing with Jim. “Do you need me to pick you up at the airport?”
“What do you think?”
Jim scoffed. “Even though I’ve been to Banyan City plenty of times, this is still my parents’ first time ever stepping foot in this place. As the host, shouldn’t welcoming your guests be part of your manners? If you don’t agree with me, don’t come, then!”
With that, Jim hung up the phone.
Brettley curled his lips into a small smile when he heard the dial tone, then turned and got into his car. “To the airport.”
Three hours later, a private plane arriving from Merchant City landed at the airport.
Jim strode out of the airport arrival hall, one hand holding onto Bonnie and the other Harvey. Charles followed closely behind, wheeling Rosalyn along in her wheelchair.
Behind them was the Landry family’s new butler, a young woman wheeling Shelly’s stroller while clutching Nellie’s hand tightly.
Even as she pushed the stroller along, she kept turning her head back to glance at Nigel and Neil, who were dragging their own suitcases. “Please keep up, young masters!”
Brettley could not help chuckling when he caught sight of the impressive crowd that had flown in from Merchant City. He approached them and asked in a rather amused tone, “Did you have to bring everyone?”
Almost all of Bethan’s closest friends and family in Merchant City were here. Jim rolled his eyes. “Considering that you and Bethan decided to move back to Banyan City, and after what happened, I guessed you wouldn’t be able to leave this place as soon as you’d like. Did you really expect my parents, Bonnie, and I to keep on looking after your children for you? Did you honestly think we have no lives of our own? So what’s wrong with bringing all four of your children here?
“And besides, neither of my parents had ever been to Banyan City, yet both their son and daughter-in- law are from here. Is it wrong of me to bring them here, considering what happened to Bethan too? it
With that, he glanced at the little boy next to him and added, “And since everyone has come, I can’t possibly leave Harvey alone at home, can I?”
Brettley was amused by this. “I guess everyone has a reason to be Here.”
He glanced at Charles and Rosalyn and smiled at them. “Hello, Charles, Rosalyn.”
Charles scoffed and turned away, ignoring him entirely. Rosalyn, on the other hand, gave him a small smile back and pointed at the stroller behind her. “Go check on little Shelly. It’s bad enough that you missed out on Nigel, Neil, and Nellie’s childhood. You can’t continue missing out on hers.”
Brettley nodded, gave Rosalyn a courteous smile, then circled past them and headed straight toward the kids.
“Daddy!”
Nellie spread her little arms wide open when she saw him coming and lunged straight into his embrace. “I missed you so much!”
Brettley curled his lips into a smile as he knelt to pick her up. “
Daddy misses all of you too.”
Nellie could not help pouting when she heard this. “What do you mean, you miss all of us, and not just me?”
She reached out to point at Shelly’s stroller with her pudgy little finger. “Are you saying that you don’t love me anymore ever since Shelly came along?”
Brettley could not help bursting into a chuckle when he saw the jealousy on Nellie’s face. I meant all four of you, sweetheart.”
He pressed a kiss onto her cheek and added, “All four of you, and also your Mommy, are my babies. I love all of you equally, and that never changed even after Shelly came along. And this means that I won’t stop loving Mommy or your brothers because of you, do you understand?”
Nellie pursed her lips and cocked her head, trying to understand this, but before she could come up with a response, Neil trotted over with his little suitcase and patted her shoulder. “Stop messing with Daddy. He’ll really think you’re jealous of little Shelly.”
Nellie shot him a murderous glare then turned to grin at her father as she snuggled closer to him. “Daddy passed the test! I was wondering what I’d do if you told me you only loved me, instead of Shelly, Daddy, but you love all of us equally after all! I’m happy about that!”
Brettley rubbed his brows in exasperation at this. He should have known that his little princess would not be the jealous type, but because he had not seen them in so long, he was truly concerned that they would have changed.
“Come here, Daddy!”
Nellie grabbed hold of him and dragged him to Shelly’s stroller. “Look! Shelly looks like a younger version of me! Didn’t you used to say that you regret missing out on my childhood, Daddy? Well, you can always look at Shelly now! She really looks like me!”
Even before they found out about Shelly’s true identity, Nellie used to think that the baby bore a striking resemblance to herself, and when the truth surfaced, she could not help loving Shelly even more.
After all, who could resist an adorable baby who not only looked like a splitting image of themselves but would eventually grow up to be a playful little sister?
Brettley was dragged over to Shelly’s stroller.
The little infant, barely a year old, lay in her bed, blinking her twinkling eyes as she stared at Brettley intently, as though scrutinizing him.
Brettley reached out and was just about to stroke her little cheek when Shelly grabbed hold of his finger, curling her entire hand around it.
Her twinkling eyes were as clear as water, and staring at little Shelly, Brettley could not help recalling the first time he laid eyes on young Bethan.
At that time, Bethan was only 18 and gazed at him with the same clear, twinkling eyes.
Unbeknownst to Brettley at that time, this woman would eventually become the love of his life, and not only would they go through thick and thin, but they would also eventually have four beautiful children together.
“What happened to Mommy?”
Nigel furrowed his brows and asked, “Is she doing okay?”
Neil and Nellie rushed to Brettley when they heard this and lined up to stare at him expectantly, waiting to hear his answer.
Even Shelly seemed to understand her brothers and sister’s actions and fixated her unblinking eyes on Brettley.
Brettley sighed, gazing at the four children. “Your mother is fine, but…”
He reached out to gently clasp Nellie’s hand. “Unfortunately,
Mommy needs to stay apart from us for a while. Will you wait patiently for Mommy to return?”
Nellie bit her lip and lifted her head to stare at Brettley with tearful eyes. “I will! Not only that, but I’m sure Nigel, Neil, and Shelly will all wait for her to come back!”
As she said this, she trotted to the stroller and gently held her sister’s chubby hand. “Even though Mommy isn’t around, I’ll take good care of little Shelly! When she returns, she’ll see just how good of a sister I am!”
Brettley curled his lips into a smile as a surge of warmth spread into his heart. He was certain that Neil and Nellie had heard of what happened from Nigel, but none of them brought up Bethan’s wrongdoings and instead wanted to hear about her well-being.
He was thankful to have been blessed with such thoughtful, understanding children.
At the thought of this, Brettley hugged all of them before finally getting up and leading the crowd back to Moore Mansion.
After finishing lunch, Jim and Bonnie went to the police station.
Charles and Rosalyn wanted to come along, but both Brettley and Jim stopped them from doing so.
They had reunited with Bethan for less than a year, and considering it had been a long time since they last saw each other, they were worried that Charles and Rosalyn could not help crying if they saw Bethan, considering what happened.
To prevent Bethan from losing control of her emotions again, and in consideration of Charles and Rosalyn’s health, Jim decided it was better for them to stay home while he and Bonnie went instead.
“Why are you here?”
Bethan stared at them from across the glass and instinctively frowned. “Brettley told me that Nigel has blocked the news from all of you…”
“So it was Nigel after all!”
Jim snorted in indignation, then shot Bethan a helpless look. “I knew Brettley wouldn’t have the time to block off the news from Landry Mansion, considering how busy he must be. After all, it certainly isn’t an easy task to hack into the Landry family firewall, but it turns out…”
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.