My Child and I Married a Billionaire

Chapter 105: Chapter 105: My Favorite Person is Uncle

Suddenly, his thoughts uncontrollably turned to Shane Grant again.

He remembered the image of Shane lifting Cecelia onto a horse, the two of them looking so affectionate as she sat in his arms while they rode.

He remembered the hospital room, how Cecelia had blushed and tacitly agreed when Shane stood up for her.

A knot of frustration tightened in his chest. Damien took two quick steps to catch up and demanded sharply of Cecelia.

"Why do you think I’m joking? If it were Shane Grant saying something like this, would you agree without a second thought?"

Cecelia hadn’t expected him to chase after her to ask this, and she certainly hadn’t expected him to bring up Shane Grant.

’Shane Grant... She hadn’t been in touch with him for days. She wondered how he was doing, and how Annie was.’

’Annie adored her and Candy so much. She had promised to be good to him and play with him all the time, but in the end, she had broken her word...’

Cecelia pictured Shane proposing to her. To her surprise, she realized she might actually say yes.

Shane was good to Candy and treated her well. More importantly, Annie liked them too.

’If the four of them became a family, without all the complicated side issues, they would probably be happy.’

But Cecelia didn’t dare say this out loud. The thought of Annie’s adorable, stubborn little face made her feel even more down.

Seeing her pause for a moment before ignoring him completely and continuing upstairs, Damien was about to explode with anger.

’That ungrateful woman!’

’He had never met anyone as ungrateful as Cecelia Archer!’

’He treated her so well, yet she was still thinking about another man. What did she take him, Damien Vaughn, for?’

Dinner that evening was exceptionally silent.

Cecelia didn’t speak, and neither did Damien. Only Candy and the Old Master interacted as usual.

After dinner, Candy, sensing that her mom and dad were unhappy, decided not to go to the study with the Old Master. Instead, she took Cecelia’s hand and went back to their room.

Cecelia helped her wash up and dried her hair. They lay in bed telling stories, and a long, long time passed, but there was still no sign of Damien returning.

"Mom, why isn’t Dad coming to bed? He seemed unhappy today. Did you two have a fight?"

"No," Cecelia said honestly. "He’s probably busy with work. You go to sleep first. He’ll come over when he’s done."

But Candy had gotten used to him being there when she slept. Without him, she couldn’t fall asleep.

"Can I go see him? Dad is so good to me. It would be too heartless of me to not care when he’s in a bad mood."

In her pajamas, Candy went to Damien’s study.

Inside the study, Damien had unbuttoned the top few buttons of his shirt and rolled his sleeves up to his elbows. He stood with a grim expression, staring out the window as he drank. free𝑤ebnovel.com

The light was dim. He gently swirled the wine glass in his hand, the crimson liquid rising and falling, casting a somber, gloomy air about him.

Candy found this version of him unfamiliar and a little scary, but she suppressed her fear and walked over to his side.

"Dad, why aren’t you in bed yet? Why are you still drinking so late?"

Hearing her voice, Damien raised his eyes to look at her.

The little girl, dressed in cute pink pajamas with her long, glossy black hair draped over her shoulders, looked up at him with a well-behaved, endearingly innocent expression. His vexation instantly eased a great deal.

He set down his wine glass, took Candy’s hand, and lifted her into his arms.

"You know it’s late too? Then why aren’t you asleep?"

"I slept too much during the day, so I’m not tired. You smell strongly of alcohol. Why did you drink so much, Dad? Are you unhappy?"

Damien didn’t answer her directly. He stared at her pretty little face, imagining a future where he could no longer see her, or a scene where even if he saw her, she would have nothing to do with him. He took a deep breath and buried his head in the crook of her small neck.

"Candy, tell me the truth. Between me and Shane, who do you like more?"

Candy didn’t know why he was asking this. She pushed his face up, cupped his chin with her small hands, and said with a determined look in her eyes,

"Of course I like you! You’re the first handsome uncle I’ve met in my whole life. I liked you from the very first moment I saw you!"

’The first handsome uncle she’s ever met? So he just had a first-mover advantage.’

"If the first one you’d met was Shane, would you still like me?"

Candy blinked her big eyes, looking at him with confusion.

"But there are no ’ifs,’ Dad. You’re being so strange today. Why are you making yourself unhappy with ’ifs’ and ’what-ifs’—things that don’t exist?"

"I met you first, so I met you first. I like you, so I like you. Why compare yourself to others? I don’t know how to answer something that never happened. Please don’t use things like that to make yourself sad, okay?"

Her words suddenly got through to him.

Although the little girl was just speaking in the simple terms she understood, it made a lot of sense.

’That’s right, why was he making assumptions about things that never happened? Why was he making himself miserable over things that didn’t exist and hadn’t occurred?’

’Was he really going to give up on Cecelia and Candy and push them toward Shane over something so trivial? No, that would be foolish!’

Tapping Candy’s nose, he stood up, holding her dotingly.

"You, you really are a little angel sent to me from heaven. Dad’s not unhappy. Let’s go, time for bed."

Back in the bedroom, Cecelia was sitting up in bed by herself, reading a book.

She was a bit stunned to see the two of them walk in, chatting and laughing in high spirits.

’Damien really adores Candy. At dinner, his face was so long it was practically on the floor. The little girl only talked to him for a couple of minutes, and look how happy he is now!’

Damien placed Candy on the bed, stared at Cecelia’s face for two seconds, and then suddenly said to her,

"Get out of bed for a moment."

Cecelia didn’t know what he was up to, but seeing his serious expression, she obediently put down her book and slipped on her slippers.

"What is it?"

Damien scanned the room, then suddenly walked to the head of the bed. He pulled the right nightstand away and pushed it into a corner.

Then, he placed both hands on the bed and, with a few powerful shoves, pushed it flush against the wall.

He studied his work, then went to grab a blanket from the sofa outside. He came back in and stuffed it into the gap between the bed and the wall.

"We’ll sleep like this from now on. Candy can roll around as much as she wants, and I won’t have to worry about getting pushed off."

"Yay!"

Candy did two happy somersaults on the bed.

She had wanted the bed against the wall for a long time. This way, she could roll around however she liked without worrying about falling off!

With the bed settled, Damien went to take a shower. Cecelia lay back down on the bed and settled Candy for sleep.

"You’ve stayed up way too late today. No more playing, go to sleep now."

Cecelia gently patted her, and by the time Damien returned from his shower, Candy was already fast asleep.

Cecelia was hugging her, eyes tightly shut, also sleeping soundly.

Damien quietly got into bed. He slid his hands under Candy’s neck and legs, gently lifted her out of Cecelia’s arms, and placed her in the spot against the wall.

Then he lay down between Cecelia and Candy.

In her drowsy state, Cecelia felt Candy moving. Thinking she hadn’t fallen deeply asleep yet, she subconsciously reached out and began patting her gently.

Little did she know, she was patting Damien.