She looked at Vincent’s face, a face she had loved for so many years, once able to draw it with her eyes closed.
But now, looking at this man before her, she felt only strangeness.
"Why should I go explain to Grandmother?"
A homewrecker who steps into her home and steals her child, and she’s supposed to defend her?
She might be kind, but she doesn’t suffer from a martyr complex!
Vincent frowned, showing disappointment in his eyes: "Tanya, your hostility towards Secretary Lynn is too great. During the years you were absent, I couldn’t juggle work and family; she was the one helping me all along..."
Every word was an accusation against her.
She became a vegetable due to a difficult childbirth, but in Vincent’s mouth, it turned into absence, making her seem like an irresponsible mother... Yet during those five years, wasn’t she living in agony as if in hell?
Tanya watched the cigarette burning down between Vincent’s fingers, its ashes falling like tiny snowflakes in her eyes.
"You don’t need to say anymore." Tanya finally couldn’t bear it, interrupting coldly. "I won’t speak a word for Cindy Lynn in front of Grandmother. What you want to do is your business; I won’t interfere."
"Tanya, how did you become so harsh?" Vincent’s eyes grew cold.
Tanya was too tired to explain further. No matter how much she said, it meant nothing to Vincent, whose heart had long tilted towards Cindy Lynn.
Tanya turned around, barely taking a step before she saw Joy outside the pavilion, holding a doll in her arms, obviously having heard their entire conversation.
Tanya didn’t care about Vincent’s attitude, but Joy was different.
"Joy..." Tanya was a bit flustered, instinctively walking towards Joy.
But Joy forcefully threw the doll at her.
"Don’t come near, you’re a big meanie who bullies Mommy Cindy! I hate you!"
Even though Vincent was unhappy with Tanya’s attitude, that didn’t mean he could tolerate his daughter speaking rudely to her biological mother.
He gently reprimanded, "Joy, you can’t talk like that!"
Joy angrily turned and ran off.
Tanya looked at the doll at her feet, feeling heavy-hearted and deeply troubled.
She had worked so hard to get Joy to start accepting her, but because of Cindy Lynn, their mother-daughter relationship was back to square one...
Tanya sighed, bending down to pick up the doll from the ground, tears silently falling.
She didn’t let Vincent see, wiped away her tears, and stepped into the living room.
Before entering, Tanya took a moment to compose herself.
Putting on a smile, she walked inside.
With the matriarch present, the atmosphere in the living room was fairly harmonious.
Aunt Flora stood behind the matriarch, massaging her shoulders, while Caden lay beside her, reading a book to her in fluent British English.
The matriarch listened with her eyes closed, face filled with contentment.
Strictly speaking, the matriarch had a quarter British blood; her father was mixed-race and used English to converse with her. Unfortunately, her father passed away in a horseback hunting accident when she was ten.
And Caden, with his outstanding talent and calm demeanor, spoke English as fluently as the mother tongue, a reason why the matriarch was especially fond of him.
Tanya looked at Joy. This update is available on novelFɪre.net
She was nestled in Mother Hawthorne’s arms, whispering to her.
Upon seeing Tanya come in, she turned her face away.
"Oh, Joy." Caden remembered something, turned to Joy and said, "Ms. Underwood mentioned that today we need to take a family photo to send to her. It’s almost Parent-Child Activity Day, and she needs family photos of all the little ones, don’t forget."
Ms. Underwood was Joy’s homeroom teacher.
Though Caden and Joy attended the same international school, they were in different classes; Caden was in the Little Geniuses class, with a curriculum entirely different from the regular class.
However, everyone knew Caden and Joy were twins, and Caden took good care of his sister. At the beginning of the school year, he had already told Ms. Underwood that any family homework for Joy should also go through him, ensuring he monitored his sister’s studies.
Joy indeed had forgotten, but it was fine because her brother reminded her.
"Then the whole family needs to take a picture! Grandpa, Grandma, Great-Grandma all have to join, and Auntie, Daddy, and Brother—let’s take a big family photo!" Joy excitedly exclaimed.
The other adults naturally agreed right away.
But Caden keenly noticed that Joy mentioned everyone, deliberately omitting Tanya.