How could I still feel downcast when the little angel is around? I sat her on my lap and gave her a hug. “Summer, shall we spend each new year with Grandpa Charlie and his family?”
“Yes! I’ll get lots and lots of presents!” Giggling, she clapped her hands happily. Her crescent-shaped eyes looked very adorable.
“Little miss greedy!” I pinched her nose gently and then joked with Ashton, “I wonder who she takes after.”
Macy was a strong iron lady who owned a bar and bought her own house. She was also very outstanding in managing her finance, but she wasn’t an avaricious woman. That woman knew how to control her income and expenditures in order to have a more comfortable life.
As for Jared, he’s highly unlikely to be a money-grubber. The Crest family once monopolized the entire daily essentials industry. It definitely wasn’t exaggerating to say that they regarded money as manure. Besides her facial features, there wasn’t an area that Summer takes after him.
Ashton chuckled while turning to look at us.
I observed how gentle and loving he was as he stroked Summer’s head. An image flashed up in my head while I visualized Ashton holding our baby affectionately. The more I thought about having a test-tube baby as Sally had mentioned, my desire for it grew even stronger.
When we arrived in K City that evening, we had dinner with Cameron and Zachary to make up for the New Year’s Eve celebration.
Summer had already fallen asleep on Ashton’s shoulders when we finally got home. After tucking her into bed, we went back to our room to wash up and retire for the night.
It had been quite an exhausting day. Yet, I still spent some time researching on my computer about in vitro fertilization when Ashton was taking a shower.
“What are you reading?”
I was so focused that I did not hear Ashton’s footsteps approaching. His voice startled me.
Immediately, I switched off the computer and pretended as if nothing happened. “Nothing, really. Are you done?”
I was not sure if he saw my screen. One of the research journals that I read says that the success rate for women in an ideal health condition to become pregnant via in vitro fertilization is up to sixty percent. That’s the average result achieved by a healthy adult woman. Unfortunately, I’m not able to contribute to that statistics.
“Hmm,” Ashton gave me a quick reply. Subsequently, he placed a glass of warm water on the table as well as some pills that he had put inside a bottle cap.
Sally was very concerned about us. On the second day of the new year, she took me to see a doctor, who concluded that I was weak. I was told that it would take a while for me to be in the pink of health, and the only shortcut was to consume some prescribed pills daily. With that, the chances of me getting pregnant again before reaching thirty years old would be higher. Since then, I had been taking the medication, and it was about a week now.
I swallowed the pills as usual and drank some water. Then, Ashton carried me to bed.
The week after the new year was a public holiday. Since we had a day off, we planned some visitations for Summer.
First, we went to the Stovall residence, where Summer received a big present from Louis. She was on cloud nine and brought so much joy to everyone at home.
Emma looked rather matured as she donned a new look and had her hair tied up. I caught a few sweet interactions between her and John when she was standing next to him. I doubt they got married just because they found each other compatible. John caught me observing him in secret like a paparazzi and rolled his eyes at me.
At the same time, Summer was spoiled rotten by the Stovalls in J City. After opening her present, she made Louis play snowball fights with her. The strong and tough man obliged as she already had him wrapped around her little finger.
