“‘Theo and I have nothing to do with each other anymore. My fiance is Caleb Crawford, the heir of the
wealthiest family in Lincoln City.” Luke smiled when he heard this. “Since when did Caleb become
straight?” The color drained from Rachel‘s face. She pursed her lips slightly and stood up with a flourish.
“I intended to talk to you about Ms. Larson‘s condition, Mr. Jones, but if you insist on chatting about
unrelated topics like this… I shall leave now.”
With that, she turned and strode away.
Luke let out a snort and left the hospital too.
Gwen had been doing fine up until this moment, but according to Rachel, she had vomited blood once
more… This meant that she probably did not have even a week left. He needed to bring the surgery
forward.
That evening, a van pulled up in front of the gates to Swan Lake Chalet.
The grocer got out of the van and ordered the driver to help him unload his groceries, all the while
muttering about how annoying the three children were under his breath. “Get all the vegetables out of the
car and bring them into the kitchen. Don‘t linger around the house for too long; the three children will get
mad if they catch you!”
The driver, who was dressed in black and wearing a cap and face mask, nodded obediently, limped
toward the back of the van, and started unloading it.
He dragged the sack of groceries into the kitchen and let out a sigh of relief after he put everything down.
As soon as he turned around, however, he caught sight of a familiar pink silhouette.
Nellie, who was wearing a pink dress, blinked innocently as she stared at the man. “Is that you, Uncle
Malcolm?”
Malcolm was so shocked that his entire body froze up. A split second later, he took off his mask,
frowning, and asked in a low voice, “How did you know it was me?”
Nellie grinned at him. “I guessed so! You promised us that you‘d find a way to come see us at Swan Lake
Chalet today and that van was the only car that had
arrived the whole day, so I figured it was you!” Then, she hAb7.}]C}ed him a glass of lemonade, smiling.
“You‘re probably tired from doing all that work, aren‘t you, Uncle Malcolm? Here, have a drink!”
Malcolm glanced at the lemonade rather dubiously, and after a moment‘s hesitation, he finally took the
glass from her.
Truth be told, he was worried that this sly little girl would have spiked his drink, but…
He remembered the call he had received from Neil that afternoon.
The three children had sobbed to him on the phone, wailing about how Joshua and Luna had neglected
them.
According to the children, Joshua and Luna had been so obsessed with Riley and their lost daughter that
they no longer cared about the triplets, so they wanted to run away from home to stay with Malcolm.
Since they had spent six years by Malcolm‘s side, they were more willing to trust him than their father,
Joshua, who had abandoned them and only reappeared in their lives a year ago.
Despite initially having a sliver of doubt…Malcolm still chose to believe them.
He had watched the three children grow up before his eyes, and he had never once mistreated them, so
it made perfect sense that they would rather live with him than with Joshua.
Not only that, but at this moment, Nellie was staring at him with her big, pleading eyes... Malcolm let out
an exhale and drank the lemonade.
Frankly, he was thirsty from unloading the van.
“How does it taste, Uncle Malcolm?” a glimmer of mischief flashed through Nellie‘s eyes when she asked
this.
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