Probably due to the treatment, the little boy soon got sleepy and tired. He lay in Stella’s arms and fell
asleep in no time.
She gently hugged him and asked Clarence, “It took you so long to answer the call. Is there something
wrong?”
He casually rested his hands on the bench behind her and said lightly, “Nathan called and said
something about Daniel.”
“Well, what is it?” she asked.
“It’s a bit complicated. If you are interested, wait for him to tell you about the details,” he replied.
She pouted and thought about it before saying, “So is he in City N or has he left?”
“He is in City N, but it will still take some time to find out clues about him,” he said.
She simply replied, “Oh, okay.”
Since she had been holding the baby, she felt a bit numb on her right shoulder. Moving a bit, she
wanted to change her posture.
Seeing this, he directly took the child over. “I will hold him.”
She looked at the little one lying in his arms with a chubby face and found the scene extraordinarily
harmonious at this moment.
She curled up her lips without withdrawing her eyes. “He has grown up a lot in these few months.”
He replied, “Is that so? I think he has not grown that much.”
She did not bother to pay attention to him. Getting the boy back again, she got up and walked to the
house. “I will put him in bed so that he can sleep more comfortably.”
He flicked the folds on his clothes and followed behind her.
After entering the house, a maid took them to a room on the second floor.
This must be Dolores’ room. There was a crib next to the bed and a crawling mat on the ground as well
as something to assist walking.
She put the child in the crib and covered his belly with a blanket. Then she sat next to him and just
stayed with him, unable to move her gaze from him.
Clarence watched them from the doorway for a while before turning around and going downstairs to the
kitchen.
Dolores was chopping vegetables, and when she saw him coming down, she asked, “Is the child
asleep?”
He sat across from her and replied, “Yes. Stella is staying with him.”
She said, “Stella and the child have been separated for too long. No mother can accept this kind of
thing. Although she did not say it out, she must feel great sadness in her heart.”
"I know," he replied.
"What's your next plan?" she asked.
He was silent for a few seconds. “Riverside City is no longer safe.”
She understood his meaning, “City N is no better than Riverside City.”
He remained silent with his thin lips pursed slightly.
“I originally thought that after Joanna’s death, these things would be over. But now it seems that this is
just the beginning,” she said.
After a long while, he said, “It will end.”
She sighed, “The child suffered the most.”
After a while, she added, “Has the date of doyen’s funeral been chosen?”
He replied, “The day after tomorrow.”
She said, “After all, I am no longer a member of the James family, so I won’t go to the funeral; I should
avoid causing unnecessary disputes.”
He said, “Darnell said that as long as you are willing to return to the James family, you can do so at any
time.”
She shook her head and smiled. “No need. I made the choice myself in the first place. Besides this, it
has been so many years and your grandpa has already passed away. So it does not matter whether I
go back or not.”
He asked, “Do you regret it?”
“I have nothing to regret. The only thing I feel guilty about is…” she said.
He said with a light voice, “It’s all in the past.”
She looked at him. “It’s best if you can let go. And please understand that this was not your
grandfather’s fault, so don’t blame him.”
…
The little child loved to move and run at his age. After dinner, he pulled Stella and went towards the
garden. Although he kept toddling and fell down several times, he still loved to try walking on his own
with passion.
When he was tired of playing, it was already 9:30 pm.
She then carried him into the bathroom to take a bath.
He sat in the bath tub naked, picked up the duck floating in the water and said to her, “Duck, duck.”
She nudged his nose, smiled and picked up another small toy in the tub. “What about this one?”
“Piggy,” he said.
She asked, “Do you like duck or piggy?”
He held the pig in his left hand and the duck in his right hand. Finally, he raised his right hand and
narrowed his eyes. “Duck, duck!”
After she finished bathing him, she realized that the bath towel was left outside, so she turned her head
and shouted, “Clarence, give me the bath towel.”
Soon Clarence came in with the bath towel and covered the child with it.
She could not help but frown. “Be gentle.”
She pulled the bath towel off the boy who giggled as if he had discovered a new exciting thing.
She covered him again with the towel and then pulled it off.
He laughed out loud every time she did this. It seemed he enjoyed playing like this.
But he was still naked. For fear he would catch a cold, she did not play with him for too long. Instead,
she hurriedly dried the water on him, helped him put on clothes and carried him back to the bedroom.
After he got to the bed, he seemed to become more spirited, crawling all over the bed. Finally, he
pulled up his own clothes and barely covered half of his face. But soon he pulled the clothes off and
smiled at her.
She understood what he meant. But she had just given him a bath and had sweat all over her body.
So she turned her head to look at Clarence. “Come and play with him. I will go and take a bath.”
He replied, “Since he is going to sleep soon. What’s the point of playing now?”
Though he said so, he still walked over with his long legs.
She made one last request to him, “Don’t make him cry.”
He raised his eyebrows slightly and said in an ambiguous way, “I only make you cry sometimes.”
She got speechless.
What was wrong with him?!
He smiled wickedly and sat next to the child.
As soon as the little boy saw him, he turned around, facing him with his butt and quickly crawled away.
She took her pajamas out from the suitcase and prepared to take a quick shower.
During her shower, she was worried that Clarence might make the child cry, so she finished her shower
in two or three minutes.
However, what she feared did not happen.
Clarence was sitting on the floor, playing the boring game repeatedly with the child using one corner of
the quilt.
It was a funny scene.
She walked over and picked up the child, holding back her laughter. “Okay, you go take a bath. I will
put him to bed.”
He got up and asked, “Is he sleeping here?”
She replied, “I don’t know if he will be obedient tonight. I will try first. Ms. Anderson said if he cries in
the middle of the night, she will carry him over.”
He paused and suddenly whispered to her ears, “If he cries in the middle of the night, it should have
nothing to do with me.”
She was rendered speechless again.
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