"Alright..."
Dylan rolled over, turning his back to Julian Donovan as he lay in bed. He sighed silently to himself. ’When I’m sick and weak like this, I really wish Mom could be here with . Just like when my stomach used to hurt, she would gently rub it for . Before I found her, I didn’t have any hope, but now that I have, I just want to see her every day.’
’I really want to move in with Mom, eat the food she cooks, see her smile, and have her lull to sleep at night. But... would that be too cruel to Dad? He’s poured all his love into these past three years.’
’Thinking this, he quickly tried to talk himself out of it. No! I can’t be like this. After all, Mom has a new life now. I don’t even know if that man knows she has a child. I shouldn’t be so selfish and ruin her life.’
Julian Donovan glanced at Dylan’s small, lonely back as he lay on the bed, then turned and walked out.
anwhile, Willow Sumrs, who hadn’t been up yet, felt too guilty to go back to sleep after hanging up with Julian Donovan. She decided to get up and get ready for work. Her man, the forr major Walter Jennings, was in the kitchen making breakfast. Seeing her walk out listlessly, he handed her a glass of honey water and asked,
"Why the long face?"
"I tried to help, but I just made things worse. Ugh!"
Willow Sumrs took the honey water, sat down at the dining table, and let out a troubled sigh. ’I ant well, but I ended up getting Dylan sick,’ she thought. ’Speaking of which, should I tell Anna?’
Just as she was about to vent to Walter Jennings, her phone rang again. It was Julian Donovan. ’Emma,’ she thought, ’he’s not going to grill again about where I took Dylan to eat, is he? Should I just confess?’
Steeling herself, she answered the call, trying her best to sound not-so-guilty.
"Hello...?"
Julian Donovan didn’t press her about what she was expecting.
"Soti this morning, find a mont to co over and look after Dylan. The diarrhea’s gotten so bad he’s about to collapse. I have a ton of things to do at the hospital this morning, and there’s no one here he’s familiar with to take care of him!"
Her guilt deepened. "It’s that serious?"
"Dylan’s always had a weak stomach. The slightest irregularity in his diet sets him off like this!"
Julian Donovan hung up as soon as he finished speaking.
Willow Sumrs resignedly ruffled her hair. She called Sue North to ask for ti off, planning to go take care of Dylan. In the end, though, she couldn’t stop herself from calling Anna Quinn.
"Um, Anna, are you free this morning?"
’She’s Dylan’s mother, after all. When he’s sick, she’s probably the person he wants to see most, right? Besides, Julian Donovan isn’t ho.’
"I have work. What’s up?"
Willow Sumrs hemd and hawed. "Um, it’s about Dylan... he..."
On the other end, Anna Quinn’s voice imdiately grew tense. "What happened to Dylan?"
"Julian Donovan said he had a stomachache and diarrhea from what he ate last night. Do you want to go see him?"
Willow Sumrs tentatively invited her to go see Dylan together. The other end fell silent instantly. Willow knew what she was hesitant about and quickly added, "Julian Donovan isn’t ho! He just said he has a lot to deal with and asked to help look after Dylan!"
"Really?"
Anna Quinn’s voice started to waver. Willow laughed. "Why would I lie to you? I’ll co pick you up from your place in a bit!"
The woman on the other end, Naomi Shaw, hung up, her heart clenching. She knew Dylan had always had a weak stomach. She had even tried to stop him from eating so much last night, but since she hadn’t seen him in three years, she had no idea what his appetite was. He just said he wasn’t full, and she didn’t want him to go hungry. Now it seed he had definitely overeaten and made himself sick.
’Sigh, that child. If he likes my cooking, I can make it for him often in the future, can’t I? Did he really have to stuff himself all at once?’
She hurriedly got ready, called in to take ti off from work, and after dropping Joy off at kindergarten, she waited anxiously for Willow Sumrs at the entrance of her residential complex.
When Sean Donovan heard she had taken ti off, he called her to ask with concern,
"Anna, I heard you took the morning off today? Are you not feeling well, or is sothing wrong?"
"No, I just have sothing I need to take care of."
She said this while craning her neck to look toward the intersection. Sean Donovan’s voice sounded a little apologetic.
"I’ve been a bit busy these past few days, so I haven’t had a chance to co see you and Joy—"
She smiled.
"It’s okay, you focus on your work. Oh, right, Sean, co over for dinner tonight. There’s sothing I need to talk to you about!"
After Dylan ca to find her yesterday, she had planned to find ti to tell Sean Donovan about it. Back when Sean first started pursuing her, she had told him that she’d been married before and had a son. She just never expected Dylan to find her before she could contact him, nor did she expect to run into Julian Donovan again.
What she expected even less was that in their few encounters, Julian Donovan’s words and actions would hint that he wanted to win her back.
"Okay. I’ll wait for you after work tonight, and we can go back together!"
Sean Donovan said. Seeing Willow Sumrs’s car approaching, she gave a sound of assent and hung up.
She got in the car, and Willow Sumrs asked her as she drove,
"Anna, you and Sean Donovan... you’re not married yet?"
Willow Sumrs rembered that whenever she had invited her to dinner or other things before, she always said she had to go ho to take care of her husband and daughter. But last night, she’d clearly noticed that Sean Donovan didn’t seem to live with her. If they were really married, that would be impossible.
Anna Quinn was stunned for a mont, then smiled.
"I’ve only just accepted his marriage proposal!"
For the three years she had been in Wincastle, she had told everyone she was married to avoid unnecessary trouble.
"I never would have guessed! You had a child with Sean Donovan out of wedlock!"
Willow Sumrs said with a dry laugh, but inwardly she was muttering, ’No matter how I look at it, Anna Quinn doesn’t seem like the type to have a child out of wedlock. Emma, could Joy Donovan actually be Julian Donovan’s child? But when I think about Joy’s age, it doesn’t add up. Could Anna Quinn have deliberately lied about Joy’s age?’
The more she thought about it, the more ridiculous it seed. She quickly shook her head. ’I must be thinking this way because I write too many novels. Such a cliché plot twist would only happen in the stories I write. How could it play out in real life?’
Hearing Willow Sumrs say this, Anna Quinn just turned her head to look out the window and said quietly,
"Anyone can be reckless for love, can’t they?"
’This Willow Sumrs is too sharp a girl; I can only cover for myself like this. Because I absolutely do not want Julian Donovan to know that Joy is his daughter. Dylan is already enough to keep tangled up with him. With Joy in the picture, I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to escape.’
Willow Sumrs just glanced at her and said no more.
The car stopped in front of Julian Donovan’s villa. After Willow Sumrs parked, she asked her again, still uneasy,
"Are you sure Julian Donovan isn’t ho?"
’I really don’t want to see him. Every ti I do, it feels like I’m fighting a difficult war.’
"I’m sure. His car isn’t even here!"
Willow Sumrs gestured with her chin toward the empty garage. Only then did she get out of the car, relieved, and follow Willow Sumrs toward the house.
For all her cleverness, Willow Sumrs would never have guessed that at the very intersection they had just passed, a car had turned around and was now slowly following them.
As soon as Anna Quinn and Willow Sumrs entered the house, the housekeeper ca to greet them.
"Ms. Sumrs, you’re here!"
Then he looked at Anna Quinn, who was standing to the side.
"And this is...?"
"My friend!"
Willow Sumrs gave a perfunctory reply and then dashed upstairs with Anna Quinn, shouting as she went,
"Dylan Donovan, Big Sis is here to see you!"
Willow Sumrs was used to being zany and liked to call herself "Big Sis" in front of everyone. Oh, right, sotis she even called herself "Your Mom."
Anna Quinn gave the housekeeper a polite smile and hurried upstairs after Willow Sumrs. The housekeeper frowned. ’Why do the young master’s eyes look so much like that young woman’s?’
Inside the room, Dylan cried out in alarm the mont he heard Willow Sumrs’s voice. He looked up and, sure enough, saw his anxious-looking mother standing behind Willow. Anna Quinn practically rushed in, gathering the weak Dylan into her arms and asking worriedly,
"Dylan, how are you feeling? It’s all Mommy’s fault. I shouldn’t have let you eat so much last night!"
"Mom, I’m okay now! It’s better now that I’ve emptied everything out!"
While Dylan was overjoyed to be held in his mother’s arms, he cursed Willow Sumrs under his breath,
"Stupid woman, my dad played you!"
"What do you an?"
Willow Sumrs was annoyed. An engine noise sounded from outside. Dylan sat up from Anna Quinn’s embrace, spread his hands toward Willow, and shrugged.
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