“You are their father. How could you be jealous of your own sons?” “So what if they’re my sons?” Nicholas cared a great deal and still insisted that Tessa had neglected her husband.
Tessa had no choice but to say nice things to coax him into feeling better and give him a flying kiss. Just as they were being sweet, Gregory’s excited voice came through the door. “Daddy! Gordon knows how to talk now. He called me brother!”
Then, he shot in like a cannonball. When he entered and saw Nicholas was on the phone with Tessa, he pouted his lips immediately, “Bad Daddy. You called Mommy without Gordon and me.” However, before Nicholas could answer, Tessa rushed to ask, “Sweetheart, did you say Gordon can speak?”
She looked at Gregory eagerly. Gregory stopped his one-sided war against Nicholas and nodded happily. “Today, Grandma came to see Gordon and said Gordon can learn to speak. So, I tried to teach him, and he called me!”
Tessa and Nicholas exchanged glances when they heard that. The next second, Nicholas stood up and headed to the baby’s room with Gregory tailing behind him. When he entered, he carried Gordon from the crib.
“I heard you know how to say brother now? He looked at Gordon lovingly. Of course, Gordon wouldn’t understand him. But he saw Nicholas carrying him and thought he was playing with him and started wriggling about. At that moment, Gregory walked over and tried to guide him, “Gregory, say brother. Bro-ther.”
“Bababa…” Gordon also thought that Gregory was playing with him and laughed out loud. Frankly, it did sound like he was pronouncing. the first syllable of ‘brother..
Hence, Gregory clapped his hands excitedly and exclaimed, “Mommy, see. Gordon called me!” Tessa broke out in laughter. Gregory wasn’t really saying the word brother. It was that his babble sounded like it.
Just as she was conflicted about whether she should tell the truth, Nicholas beat her to the chase, “Gordon isn’t calling you. He’s just babbling.”
“Babbling? Gregory was stunned and retorted while wrinkling his nose, ‘No! Gordon is calling me. Right, Gordon? You were saying ‘brother’.”
He directed his question toward Gordon. Even though Gordon didn’t understand, he still continued babbling and laughing. Once Gregory heard that, he looked at Nicholas confidently as if it was proof that Gordon liked him the most.
Nevertheless, Nicholas couldn’t be bothered to argue with him about this further and continued to speak to Tessa on the phone. The following day, Tessa went to the orchestra after video-calling Nicholas.
As noon time came around, Alice walked over and informed her, ‘Tessa, Miss Mona is here.” “Okay. Let her know I’ll be there in a few minutes, Tessa replied and asked the members of Group Two to complete the last practice.
After a few minutes, she arrived at her office and looked at her good friend apologetically. “Sorry for making you wait.” However, Mona merely smiled and waved her apology away. “It’s nothing. I came unannounced.” Then, she paused for a moment before asking. “Do you have time later? Let’s go grab a bite.”
“Sure, Tessa agreed readily. So, they headed to a restaurant near the orchestra. After they were seated and ordered their food, Tessa asked about the situation with Hathaway Philharmonic. “How’s the orchestra doing now?”
“It’s okay. We’ve stopped our activities for the moment.” Mona didn’t hide anything and answered truthfully. Then, Tessa continued with another question, “What about Miss Hathaway? How is she doing?”
“Miss Hathaway…” Mona sighed before saying grimly, “The day after Kathleen’s execution, she took Kathleen’s ashes and left. Mr. Brooks and I don’t know what’s happened to her now.”
Tessa was a little worried when she heard Mona’s words. Regardless, she didn’t say anything as she knew Hathaway didn’t want anyone to disturb her since she made it a point to leave so quietly.
