I watched Rebecca prance off happily before fixing a blank look on Molly. “She’s pregnant?”
Molly nodded. “Two weeks! It would seem like Ms. Moore has finally found someone to live out the rest of her life with.”
I nodded distractedly. Rebecca’s earlier words echoed in my mind: Our children might end up having to call each other siblings.
We climbed into the car and I gazed out the window moodily. After a long moment, I turned to Molly. “Molly, have you known Ms. Larson a very long time?”
Molly paused before replying, “Do you mean Ms. Moore? Well, not really. I used to look after the elderly Mr. Moore. After he passed away, I remained with the Moore family. However, they already have a lot of housekeepers. So when word got out that Mr. Fuller was hiring a housekeeper here in K City, Ms. Moore recommended me to him.”
“Rebecca recommended you?”
The older woman nodded and grinned, saying, “I thought only Mr. Fuller and Ms. Moore knew each other. I had not expected you to know her as well!”
After a few seconds of silence, she continued, “By the way, it’s going to be Ms. Moore’s birthday soon. This will be her first birthday party after being accepted by the Moore family. I heard that Mr. Moore is going to have an official ceremony for her acceptance. It’s definitely going to be a huge event! Mrs. Fuller, you and Mr. Fuller will be going, right?”
I shook my head and answered, “Most likely not. I shouldn’t be running around when I’m so heavily pregnant.”
She nodded. “That’s true. Did you know that you and Ms. Moore have the same birthday though? I think it might be likely that Mr. Fuller won’t go either.”
To be honest, I had completely forgotten about the fact that I had the same birthday as Rebecca.
Laughing, I replied, “We’ll see. It’s still too early to say.”
I hesitated briefly before probing, “You said Rebecca was engaged. Do you know to whom?”
“No. Us employees don’t really involve ourselves in the private matters of these big families. We just hear rumors every now and then, not all the details.”
I nodded and stopped asking.
When we arrived at the villa, Ashton was not home yet. I scrolled through my phone only to see that I had several missed calls, the majority of which were from Nick.
It was then I remembered Nick saying he would be coming to K City. It had been a while since I was here and I had not contacted him during that time.
I dialed his number, the call going through in just a few rings.
“Scarlett, if I hadn’t called you, would you have treated us like we were dead?” a male voice complained.
I blinked at his choice of words. “We?”
There was a brief pause before he clarified, “Macy and Jackson!”
I giggled and continued, “Wow, Nick, your sweet words truly left me speechless! I don’t know how to reply to that!”
“Bull***t! Send me your address later. I’m in K City too, so I’ll come and visit you!”
We continued to chat for a bit before I sent him the villa’s address.
Next, I checked through the rest of the missed calls. A few of them were from John but I did not bother calling him back. Turning off my screen, I sat in the living room and stared off into space.
By the time Ashton came back, it was already afternoon. Seeing how I was daydreaming in the living room, his brows furrowed.
He placed a blanket over my knees before pulling me into his embrace. Pressing a kiss to my forehead, he questioned, “Why didn’t you stay in the hospital for a few more days?”
I lifted my head to take in his face. The stubble on his chin was getting out of hand while the terrible eyebags made him look exhausted.
“I didn’t want to stay there one moment longer. Have you been very busy recently?” It’s only been a few days since we last met. What happened to him that made him look so sallow and haggard?
He shut his eyes and rested his chin on my shoulder. Letting out a hum of agreement, he fell silent, presumably falling asleep.
The words that had been building in me lodged in my throat at the sight.
In the end, I continued to stare at the coffee table blankly.
Suddenly, a melodious tune cut through the peaceful silence. It was coming from Ashton’s phone. I jerked my shoulder to try and wake Ashton. When he did not even twitch, I called out, “Ashton, your phone is ringing!”
He moaned before saying tiredly, “Answer it for me.”
With that said, he shifted into another position and resumed sleeping. It was obvious he was absolutely drained.
I fished out his phone from his pocket and checked the caller ID. Upon seeing it was Rebecca, I tensed in surprise. I did not answer the call as I told him, “It’s Rebecca.”
His eyes snapped open and he took the chiming phone from my hand. He shot me a glance before stating, “I’m going out to take this call.”
He did not wait for me to reply before he left.
Strangely enough, I was not angry as I watched his retreating back. All I did was stare dumbly until he was out of sight.
Molly was busy making some soup in the kitchen. After a while, she came out and reminded, “Mrs. Fuller, you’ll be giving birth very soon. You shouldn’t be sitting so much. You need to exercise a bit more; it’ll be good for when you go into labor. Wouldn’t want you to be too weak to push the baby out, eh?”
I nodded and got up, intending on taking a walk in the yard. But then, memories of what happened a few days ago flashed through my mind. I shuddered as the hairs all over my body stood on end.
Giving up on that idea, I headed upstairs to the bedroom.
I stood by the windows, noting how the skies were gradually darkening as evening approached. Realizing that Ashton had probably left the villa, I remained in the room, pacing restlessly.
