The promise from the nurse gave an assurance to Stefan that they would be well taken off. He smiled and said,”
Thank you.”
After that, he stood up and headed to where Andy was. Meanwhile, Andy was looking at his phone. Stefan came over and took a peek, “What are you looking at?”
Andy grinned and showed Stefan the phone he had taken with the phone while Stefan was squatting down to talk to Sammie. “Look at how gentle you are. I don’t see that very often so I thought I should take a photo to note it down.”
Then it was followed by a sigh. “If Gwen had continued on with her pregnancy… the child should be almost the same age as this little girl. I bet she or he would be as cute as this little girl too.”
Suddenly, Stefan’s mood went downcast and sorrowful thinking of the child Gwen used to bear…
“During that time, the doctor said Gwen would have a harder time conceiving after the abortion but it was not impossible. Gwen was the one who consoled me when she found out about it. She said she would take care of her body and try a way to give birth so I can have a grandchild… All these years that you and she are together, I have been expecting that you two would… Too bad…”
Andy lamented over Gwen’s issue of conceiving.
After hearing that, Stefan felt a sudden pain in his heart. Several seconds later, he sighed, “Please don’t say anymore. This photo…”
He looked down at the photo in Andy’s phone, “Don’t let Gwen see it. I don’t want to see her sad.”
After a moment of silence, Andy finally nodded and locked his phone. Then he looked up, “When do you plan on marrying Gwen? I don’t expect you two would give me a grandchild anytime soon and I also don’t want to force either of you into anything you feel reluctant because of me. But I’m getting old and I don’t know when my time is up… I just wish that I could be there to witness you and Gwen becoming a real family. At least, I won’t have any regrets when my time is up.”
Stefan returned with a silent moment. After a heavy sigh, he said, “Andy. You know what my condition is. I’m sharing a body with my brother and I don’t know when my brother will decide to show up.”
He looked at Andy with a pair of sincere eyes, “It’s not fair to Gwen if she marries me in this condition…”
When the nurse pushed Anne to John’s ward, she overheard John and Robyn fighting from the door. The fight was about how John was anxious to return home because he was worried about Anne and Sammie.
However, as someone who used to work as a nurse, Robyn knew John should not leave the hospital after being shot by a gun. At least, he needed to stay in the hospital and be observed for 24 hours to make sure that he was fine before leaving the hospital. If an infection happened, John’s body would crash easily and he would become weak just like Anne.
In the ward, John frowned and talked with a serious tone,”
I’m really fine. Get me my clothes so I can go upstairs to thank Miss Andie and go back home immediately. If Anne knows that I’m hurt, she is going to worry. She will easily be suspicious since you haven’t gone back home for a long time. What if she worries about me and brings Sammie to the hospital to look for me? Can you bear yourself even just thinking about it? She’s weak and Sammie is still a child. Can you imagine how dangerous it is?”
As he talked, he kept on pushing Robyn, “Go!”
Robyn was not happy after hearing what John said. “John! I know you’re worried about Anne and Sammie. But you need to take care of yourself too. If you have thought about them, you shouldn’t have let yourself get hurt! Your situation is only going to get worse if an affection happens when you get home and you do not get treated immediately. I’ll be the only one making money in the family but do you think I can earn enough for all of us? Can you just listen to me and stay here? After observing for twenty-four hours, I will proceed with the discharge.”
Obviously, John did not think the chances of an infection happening were going to be high. He frowned and continued to argue, “If I’m not going to be in a dangerous situation after twenty-four hours, nothing is going to happen to me now! I’m not that weak. Why would I have an infection so easily? If you’re not going to help me, I’ll do it myself!”
Immediately, he tried to get down from the bed. Perhaps his movement was so big that he accidentally triggered the wound. His face turned pale and he had to stop moving instantly.
Robyn quickly approached, grabbed John’s arm, looked into his face, and asked worriedly, “Is it very painful?”
The pain was intolerable and he had to rest his head on Robyn’s shoulder for quite a while to wait for the pain to go away.
That was what Anne saw when the nurse pushed her into John’s ward. Robyn was standing beside the bed, wrapping her arms around John’s arm, and John’s head was resting on Robyn’s shoulder.
John’s back was facing the door and Robyn had her full attention on John so neither of them discovered Anne and Sammie were at the door.
Looking at the posture of the brother and sister who did not share the same gene, Anne pursed her lip silently and did not make a noise.
Sammie saw it and quickly let go of the nurse’s hand. She stumbled her way toward John and Robyn while calling out,”
Daddy… Aunt Robyn…”
Her voice broke the silence.
John and Robyn looked up with an alert together toward the door.
When John saw Anne’s pale face, his face looked terrible too.
“Anne… Why are you here?”
Anne stared at John for a long time before forcibly smiling and told him in sign language, “Robyn didn’t return after so long, so I got worried and came by to check on her.”
“Daddy, Aunt Robyn, are you two hugging?”
Sammie asked, blinking innocently as she raised her head in curiosity.
John and Robyn turned pale at this.
It was understandable for such a young child like Sammie to misinterpret them as hugging, but what would Anne think of this?
John leaped off the bed and staggered toward Anne. “Anne, it’s just a misunderstanding…”
However, he was still so weak that his legs could not hold up the full weight of his body at all, and he almost crumpled to the ground.
Quick-witted Robyn managed to catch him before he could fall, but this gesture appeared once again rather intimate to both Anne and Sammie. Sammie furrowed her brow and asked rather indignantly, “Are you hugging again? Daddy, how can you hug Aunt Robyn like this when you’ve never even hugged Mommy and me like this before?”
John turned to glance rather frantically at Anne.
Anne had a small smile as she stared at them, her expression calm as though this was just an ordinary occurrence. It did not seem as though she minded seeing John being so intimate with Robyn, but he could not help but wonder if that were true.
“Hey, this is getting out of hand!” snapped the nurse who wheeled Anne in, frowning at John and Robyn in disapproval. “You’re siblings, aren’t you? How can you behave like this? You can’t go around touching your own sister like this just because your wife is sick!”
She stormed forward and pulled John and Robyn apart. “Are you really siblings, or are you just bluffing? How can you leave your wife and daughter behind while sneaking around with another woman? The audacity!”
The color drained from everyone’s faces. Robyn instinctively took a step back and stammered, “I… This is a misunderstanding… This is not what you think at all…”
She bit her lip and turned to stare at Anne, tears brimming in her eyes. “Anne, you have to believe me. I’d never do such a thing with John. Please don’t doubt us just because of her baseless accusations. We…”
Before she could even finish, John shoved her aside and staggered toward Anne. He managed to make it all the way to her side before finally crumpling onto the ground in a heap. He lifted his head to meet her gaze worriedly. “How did you and Sammie get here?”
He held Anne’s hand and said in a trembling voice, “You’ve never left the house ever since we moved here from Banyan City. You were always reluctant to even be admitted to the hospital, but now you’re here… Did you do this for me?”
Anne reached out to gently stroke the wound on John’s shoulder and nodded.
“This is amazing, Anne.”
John was so touched by Anne’s gesture that he could not hold back the tears. “This is amazing!”
It was almost a miracle for Anne to willingly leave the house just to visit him!
Robyn, meanwhile, sobbed at the sight.
The nurse who accompanied Anne to the ward was puzzled. What was going on with these people?
She snuck her phone out of her pocket and took a photo of this surreptitiously. Then, she sent it into the nurse’s group chat with the caption, [What a strange family I met today.]
The nurses in the group chat began gossiping about this. One of them tagged a fellow nurse named Daisy and said, [ Hey, isn’t this the guy who saved the old man you’re looking after? What a hero!]
Daisy was, at this moment, walking into Andy’s room to help him change his wound dressing. She saw the message but was not able to type on her keyboard to respond, so she recorded a voice message instead. “Yes, that’s the man. What’s wrong with his family? What are you guys talking about?”
As soon as she finished her sentence, she lifted her head and finally realized that Andy was not there.
Instead, three beautiful women were sitting in his room, staring at her.
The one who she deemed the most gorgeous out of all of them stood up. “Nurse, what were you saying just now about the man who saved Mr. Landry? What about his family?”
Daisy hesitated a moment, then finally showed her the photo on her phone. “To be honest, I have no idea either…”
The fact that all three of them were chatting in Andy’s room meant that they were probably Andy’s loved ones, so it probably would not do any harm to show them what the nurses were talking about… right?
Bethan took the phone from Daisy, frowning. When she finally saw the photo, her entire body froze as though she had been struck by lightning.
The woman sitting in the wheelchair…was Anne!
Anne was alive!
“Bethan?”
Gwen approached her when she noticed that Bethan was not moving. Her face lit up the moment she caught sight of the photo.
She quickly grabbed Daisy’s hand and exclaimed, “Where are these people now? Where are they?!”
Daisy was so stunned that she did not know how to respond. After a moment of silence, she finally replied, “Um… I think they’re downstairs, in that man’s room.”
Tara glanced at the photo, then took Bethan’s hand in hers, fearing that Bethan would lose her balance from shock. “The photo was taken just minutes ago. They must still be in John’s room.”
She glanced at Bethan, then at Gwen. “Should we go there?”
Bethan nodded dazedly. Images of all the memories she shared with Anne flashed through her mind.
Anne was alive!
Tara and Gwen led a staggering Bethan to John’s room downstairs. The moment the elevator doors opened, however, she flung their hands away and scampered toward the room herself.
“Anne!” she shouted as she threw the door wide open. Tears spilled down her cheeks when she saw the familiar person sitting in the wheelchair. “Anne!”
She immediately lunged forward and threw herself at Anne’s lap. “Anne, I can’t believe it! You’re alive! I can’t believe it! Why are you in a wheelchair? You look so frail, Anne. What happened to you? Oh dear, you lost so much weight… Anne… “
Bethan muttered as she sobbed, her arms wrapped around Anne’s knees. The truth was, it felt more like a series of questions directed to herself rather than Anne.
Anne was also sobbing at this point. She reached out her bone hand to stroke Bethan’s hair and forced out two syllables, “Lu…Bethan.”
“Anne, you finally spoke!”
Robyn’s eyes were as wide as saucers. She grabbed John’s arm excitedly and exclaimed,”
John, did you hear that? Anne finally spoke!”
John closed his eyes and let out a sigh. “Yes, I heard that.”
He had done everything to get Anne as far away from Bethan and Brettley as possible, but not only had he failed to give
Anne the peaceful life he promised her, but he even caused her to delay her treatment due to financial constraints. It was until a point where she began deteriorating and eventually lost her ability to speak.
The irony was, she finally spoke again after seeing Bethan.
John let out a bitter chuckle. “Perhaps…”
Perhaps he had made the wrong choice in the first place.
The next day, Rachel flew from Merchant City to Sharnwick City to diagnose Anne’s condition. Theo tagged along as well because he had another identity, Rachel’s boyfriend.
“According to the report, Anne’s condition is slowly recuperating.”
Rachel was relieved after assessing the report. “Although she is very weak, she is going to get better with lots of rest.
“There is nothing wrong with her vocal cords too. It could be a psychological thing that makes her lose her voice. A knot in her heart that causes it.”
She looked at Bethan, then at John. “Considering all factors, I think that knot is Bethan.”
Rachel continued, “John, I know Bethan is the root cause of all these bad things. Being away from Bethan, Brettley, and other people is going to guarantee a safer life for you and your family. But have you thought about it from Anne’s point of view? Other than you and Sammie, she has her own life and her circle of friends. Never has she blamed Bethan for what happened, yet you forced her to leave Bethan and choose you.
“Both of you are important people to her. She doesn’t want to leave or desert you but she is also reluctant to cut off ties with her friends. That’s the thing that has been bothering her that she is unwilling to talk about.”
After hearing that, John sighed and looked at the floor. Then he turned around and hugged Anne. “Anne, I… I shouldn’t have forced you to choose between me or Bethan.”
“It’s fine.”
Anne smiled and hugged him. “Bethan did nothing wrong either.”
John silently nodded, solemn as ever.
Bethan sighed. Brettley came over and hugged her.
Gwen smiled happily while observing the situation from far away.
Although the process was tormenting, it was worth it because everyone finally had the closure they needed. It was difficult to believe that all of this happened because she came back to rescue her father.
No one knew John was here, yet one thing led to another, and they found Anne. Because of that, Bethan was able to forgive herself.
Suddenly, she received a text message from Stefan.
[Steven’s here. I’ll be waiting for you at the cafe opposite the hospital.]
Steven’s name caught her attention, and her eyes widened in surprise.
‘Steven! Steven’s finally out!’ she thought.
Ever since Rachel was here, she had been accompanying Bethan and Anne. Inevitably, she forgot about Stefan. What a surprising moment to know that Steven decided to show up. She rushed all the way down to the cafe without spending a second to inform the others.
As she reached the cafe, Steven greeted her with a friendly wave, “Hi, sister-in-law!”
Her feelings were mixed and complicated seeing this man in Luke’s body calling her that. She smiled awkwardly and sat across from him. “Hi, Steven. It has been quite a while.”
“Yes, it’s quite a while since the last time we met.”
Steven smiled and pushed a cup of coffee to her. “You’re not going to see me anymore after this.”
Gwen was stunned after hearing that. She frowned. “You-“
“Let me explain. It’s just going to take a while, and I’ll be gone.”
Steven smiled brightly, “I should have been dead a long time ago. It was my parents’ obsessiveness that kept my body alive, which was a good thing. After all, I was able to give you my heart.
“My brother’s promise gave me a chance to live in this body. I’m really happy that I could live in his body for a couple of months, even though I have never met him,” he continued while looking at Gwen’s face closely. “I’m the one who decided to disappear forever. I know you and Luke are having doubts because of me. I don’t want to be the burden and wall that kept you two apart. I also don’t want to be the reason you two did not dare to make out.
“Thus, I’ve decided to disappear. I wish there was an afterlife where I could have the chance to talk to Lucas face- to-face.”
After that, he finished his coffee.
Gwen was so startled that she did not know how to respond.
“Steven, you… You don’t have to do this,” she muttered.
“I have made up my mind.”
Steven put down the mug, and his eyes were filled with tears. “Congratulations. I wish you all the love and happiness. I’m sorry I can’t attend the wedding.”
At that, he looked at Gwen. “Actually…”
Steven found himself unable to finish his sentence. After a long while, he shook his head and smiled. “Forget about it.”
“Steven…”
Gwen looked at him, and her tears fell.
Her heart was not made of stone. How could she not know Steven’s feelings toward her?
She was silent for a long while. In the end, she stood up and slowly walked over to Steven with arms opened wide. “Give me a hug.”
Steven hesitated for a while, but he still stood up.
They hugged.
“Gwen.”
Steven hugged her thin figure. “I have to meet you earlier in the next life so I can compete fairly with my brother.”
Gwen nodded with tears streaming down her face. “Okay.”
They thus hugged once more. Minutes later…
“He’s gone,” said Stefan.
Tears kept falling.
They hugged for a while longer before pulling apart. Gwen looked at Stefan with her tear-stricken face. He had tears on his face as well.
She bit her lips and reached out to wipe his tears. “A-Are these tears…yours or his?”
Stefan shut his eyes in pain. “Both.”
Three months later, a grand multiple-couple wedding was held in Banyan City.
The newlyweds were Jim and Bonnie, Stefan and Gwen, Theo and Rachel, and Christian and Tara.
The four newlyweds walked in front with five flower girls and page boys trotting behind them.
Nellie, dressed in a princess gown, held Sammie’s hand walking in front. Nigel, Neil, and Harvey were right behind them, looking suave and handsome.
“If I knew better, I wouldn’t have gotten married so early. I could’ve had my wedding right now together with them.
How fun it would be,”
Anne, who was almost recovered in her wheelchair, said with a smile to Bethan.
Bethan smiled helplessly. “Didn’t I ask you if you wanted to join when they were ordering their wedding gowns? You said that your child is already so big and that you wouldn’t join them. What? Are you regretting it now?”
Anne pursed her lips. “Yes, a little.”
Then, she realized something was wrong. She turned to Robyn behind her and said, “Where’s your brother?”
Robyn could not help but smile. “He went to do something with Mr. Morrison.”
Then, she pointed nearby. “Over there.”
Bethan and Anne looked over together at the same time.
Two men, donned in black, were walking over to them with a bouquet in their hands.
Anne’s tears fell immediately. Bethan was also trying to hold back her tears.
Brettley, with a huge bouquet of roses, walked over to her.”
Honey.”
Bethan bit her lip and flung herself into his arms. “Hubby.”
“We had such a tough life in the past. The future might be challenging, too.”
Brettley looked at Bethan and said solemnly, “But no matter what you become, no matter whether you love me or not, I will always love you.”
Bethan sobbed. She nodded fervently. “Me, too.”
Their children, friends, and family around them cheered.
Brettley smiled. He lifted Bethan’s chin and kissed her on the lips deeply.
——The End
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.