Ashton nodded and went into the kitchen, leaving me alone with Zachary.
Despite us being father and daughter, we didn’t really have much to talk about.
“This bracelet looks great on you,” he said after a brief pause when he noticed the bracelet on my hand.
“Thanks. Ashton’s assistant bought it during his business trip in Venria,” I replied.
He simply nodded and kept quiet after that.
Summer looked up at us and asked, “What day is today?”
“It’s New Year’s Eve, the last day of the year,” Zachary replied with a gentle look in his eyes.
“Does that mean we have to celebrate it with the whole family?”
Zachary nodded.
Turning toward me, Summer asked, “Why aren’t Grandpa and Uncle John here, Mommy?”
“They’re a little busy. Aunt Hannah just had a baby recently and has to stay home for quite a while, so they’ll celebrate it at home instead,” I said with a faint smile after a short pause.
“When will we be able to go see the baby?”
Summer was a curious child and asked a lot of questions, but Zachary answered them all patiently anyway. I decided to go help out with the tacos and joined the others in the kitchen.
“Do you know how to make tacos?” Ashton asked when he saw me come in.
I nodded at him and washed my hands before helping him out. “My grandma taught me how to do it when I was little.”
“Didn’t you grow up in the South? Not many people from the South know how to make tacos, even in the older generations. My mom didn’t know how to make them either,” Sally said when she heard that.
“Maybe it’s because my grandma has been to a lot of places. She’d make tons of them every year because she prefers Northern cuisine.”
Sally chuckled. “Haha, I get this feeling that she’s a Northerner born in the body of a Southerner!”
“I don’t think she’s ever told me about her past, though. So all my memories of her are from our life in R Province.”
Cameron walked up to me and asked, “Have you ever wondered how your grandma got to know Old Mr. Fuller and why she trusted him enough to entrust him with you? Has he ever told you how they got to know each other?”
I shook my head. “No.”
I had never really thought about that before. Grandma didn’t have any friends or family in R Province, and she rarely even talked to our neighbors there. Macy’s mom once mentioned that Grandma was in her fifties when she moved to R Province.
Then she bought herself a little house there and found me some time after that. Thereafter, she raised me all by herself, and no one really bothered to ask her where she came from as time went by.
“Do you know your grandma’s name?” Sally asked curiously.
“Winona Stovall. I took on her last name.”
This reminds me… Why did John’s father entrust Grandma with him? There are plenty of other families in R Province that are much wealthier, so why choose Grandma?
“Your grandma left you a topaz gemstone in the sandalwood box she gave you. Have you ever taken a look inside?” Cameron asked.
I shook my head in disbelief. “No, I couldn’t get it to open.”
“We’ll open it tonight!” Ashton said.
I nodded in response, feeling a little curious myself.
After lunch, Cameron and Sally suggested that we have a barbecue in the yard as we had lots of ingredients lying around from our grocery shopping yesterday.
I was helping with assembling the grill when Sally pulled me aside and said, “We’ve got two men here to do that, so just leave it and join me for a walk instead! We’ve got some catching up to do!”
After snapping out of my daze, I did as told and followed her to the rear house.
Flora had recently loosened up the soil and planted some seeds there, so there wasn’t much to see at the moment.
“Are you and Ashton planning on having another wedding?” Sally asked as she sat down on the swing in the yard.
I shook my head. “Nope!”
She pursed her lips and paused for a moment before continuing, “Then… Have you two been practicing proper birth control lately?”
I felt my face burning up a little. “No!”
“That’s good. Summer is turning five soon, so it’s about time you two have a second child. I can help look after your kids. That would help improve your relationship with the Moore family too,” she said with a nod.
I kept quiet upon hearing that.
Sally continued, “By the way, you should advise Ashton to go easy on Marcus. I was married to Benjamin for ten years, so you could say I’m quite close to the White family. Ashton’s actions are a little overboard, so I need you to try to talk some sense into him.”
