Free Web NovelChapter 681: Let’s Never Go Back
Mary finally arrived back in Lake City almost eight hours later where it was already evening. The sky had darkened and the lights along the streets were on.
Wendy saw that Mary had returned and immediately went up to her. "Mom..."
"Did you really find a match?" Mary grabbed Wendy’s hand, asking anxiously.
Although Wendy had already told her over the phone, Mary still wanted to confirm in person. Wendy nodded her head quickly. Only then did Mary heave a sigh of relief.
She mumbled under her breath, "That’s good, that’s good..."
But Mary soon recalled that Wendy had mentioned over the phone that it was Timothy’s sample that had matched.
Mary’s smile started fading slowly.
Wendy saw her mother’s face change. She pursed her lips and hesitated a moment before finally saying, "Mom, Mr. Woods will come to Lake City in a couple of days’ time. If you don’t wish to see him, you could sleep at home. Once you wake up, he should have left."
Wendy knew what was in her mother’s heart now. Now that the truth was out, Mary was most likely unwilling to face Timothy again. If she had wanted to, she could have made it clear who she was the first time she had met him at Wendy’s house. She would not have waited until now, until she had no choice but to speak about what had happened so many years ago. Wendy would not force her mother to meet Timothy. She also would not ask her mother to forgive him.
Mary nodded and said, "Ok. Tell me before he arrives."
"Ok," Wendy replied softly. Then Wendy casually placed her arm around Mary’s shoulders and was about to say something more when she heard Mary’s muffled cry.
Wendy immediately turned to look at her and asked, "Mom, what’s wrong?" freēwebnovel.com
"Nothing." Mary looked down, refusing to let Wendy see her expression. Of course, Wendy was not so easily deceived and quickly tried to check Mary’s back.
Mary took a few steps forward, avoiding Wendy’s gaze. "Leah, did you miss me?"
Mary asked, in an attempt to change the topic.
"Yes," Leah nodded her head.
Wendy followed closely behind and pulled down Mary’s collar. There she saw a large, red welt across her back. Wendy’s eyes grew large. "Mom, what happened to your back?"
Mary tried to use her hand to cover her back but it was no use. "Nothing. It’s not a big deal," Mary said smiling as she shook her head.
"How could it be nothing? It looks very serious." Wendy wanted to have a better look at Mary’s wound but Mary had backed away in an attempt to hide it from her. "What on earth happened?" Wendy asked. She felt a pang of pain in her heart.
"It is really nothing," Mary continued to insist.
Michael had also seen the welt across Mary’s shoulders. Since Mary refused to reveal anything, Michael took out his phone and made a phone call. "Come to the ward now," he said coldly.
Almost instantly, the bodyguards who had been with Mary walked in.
Michael glanced at them and asked in a cold voice, "I told you to protect her. You didn’t do your job?"
The bodyguards were trembling in fear. They did not dare to meet Michael’s eyes.
"We’re sorry. Madam Stewart told us not to interfere..." one of the bodyguards tried explaining.
"That means you knew she was hurt and you just stood by and watched?" The angrier Michael became, the harsher his tone became.
...
"Michael, it’s not their fault. I stopped them from interfering," said Mary.
"Ms. Stewart, you don’t have to defend them," Michael said, still glaring at the bodyguards. "Your mission was to protect her, but you let her suffer such serious injuries and both of you are unscathed. Is this job just easy money to you?"
"We apologize, Mr. Lucas. We did not do our job," one of the bodyguards said with a trembling voice.
"Michael, I really didn’t allow them to interfere. I threatened them," Mary sighed in resignation. "It was Tom, my little brother, who hit me. He didn’t let me see my mother and tried to chase me away. I refused to leave, so he hit me. But he didn’t hit that hard so it’s not a big deal. You don’t have to worry."
"Tom?" Wendy did not know that her mother had a brother. Mary’s brother would be Wendy’s uncle.
"Please don’t blame them," said Mary as she looked at the poor bodyguards. She felt sorry for them. "I have let my family down. Even if they beat me to death, I wouldn’t mind. A single blow is nothing."
Wendy’s heart ached after hearing what Mary said. She reached over and hugged Mary. "Mom, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have let you go back," Wendy said, sobbing.
Wendy had only thought of getting help from Mary’s family to try to find a match.
She had not thought her mother would be treated like that.
Mary patted Wendy’s back. She sighed and said, "It’s not your fault. That was a price I had to pay."
"Mom..." Wendy hugged Mary tightly, not knowing what else to say.
"I’ll dock three months worth of bonuses. You may leave," Michael said to the bodyguards coldly. The bodyguards nodded, feeling wronged, but obediently left the room.
"Michael, it was I who did not allow them to interfere. They wanted to help me," Mary tried to defend them when she heard that Michael still wanted to punish them.
"Ms. Stewart," Michael interrupted her. "It’s because you told them not to interfere that they are only getting docked three months worth of bonuses. If not, their punishment would have been worse." Mary did not think that she would implicate the bodyguards and felt bad.
"Mom, let’s ask a doctor to take a look at your injuries," Wendy said, pulling Mary’s arm. "This is a hospital. Don’t say you don’t need a doctor."
Wendy had anticipated her mother’s words and refuted them before Mary could protest. She had no choice but to go with Wendy to see a doctor for her injury.
After the doctor had taken a look, she had rubbed some ointment on the bruise.
Fortunately, the injury was not serious. The doctor said that if the force of the blow had been any harder, her bones would have been affected.
"I told you I’m fine," Mary said.
Wendy’s heart felt a little more at ease after finishing the checkup. Because she was the one who had let her mother go, if anything happened to Mary because of that, Wendy would not have been able to forgive herself.
"Mom, let’s not go back there. Let’s never go back there again." Wendy could not bear for her mother to be mistreated again.
Mary understood that Wendy was concerned for her. She patted the back of Wendy’s hand and said nothing. However, deep inside Mary’s heart, she still wished to go back. For so many years, she had secretly peeked at members of the Stewart family every couple of years. She also knew that her mother had been paralyzed three years ago and was now bedridden. At a time when her mother needed care the most, Mary, her daughter was afraid of going home. Oh, the irony.
When Mary’s father passed away, she had not been able to see him one last time.
That regret had remained in her heart ever since. If she could, she would readily go back to the Stewarts and care for her mother till she passed. However, because of the willfulness of her youth, she had lost her family. She had lost everything.
...
A day later, Mr. York called to say that all the paperwork had been completed and they would fly to Lake City that night by helicopter.
In the evening, Wendy told Mary the news. "Mom, Mr. Woods will arrive tomorrow morning. He should be coming directly to the hospital. Why don’t you go home and rest tonight?"
"Do you know what time he’ll arrive tomorrow?" asked Mary.
"They are leaving at nine tonight, so they should arrive around eight in the morning," Michael replied immediately.
"Then I’ll leave at six tomorrow morning," Mary said, peeling an orange. After peeling it, she divided it in half and gave Leah and Jake a half each. Then she peeled another orange and gave Wendy and Michael half each.
Since Leah was in a private VIP ward, there was a bed for a visitor to sleep in. For the past two days, Wendy and Michael had been sleeping on that bed. Mary and Zess had been staying in the room next to her room. Mrs. Lucas was a bit too old, so she would go home to rest every day. Although Mrs. Lucas was rather unwilling, Michael and Wendy would check up on her so she had no choice but to go home.
Wendy had wanted to persuade Mary to go home and have a good rest, but she stopped herself. She thought that if her mother wanted to stay in the hospital to spend time with Leah and Jake, she should let her.
That night, Wendy and Michael could not fall asleep, but time did not stop simply because they could not sleep. The next morning, the sun still rose as it always did.
Mary had gotten up early to buy breakfast. After she had quietly put down the food, she left the hospital. Wendy and Michael both knew that Mary had entered the room and left, but they pretended not to know. After Mary had left, Wendy and Michael got out of bed. They looked at each other, their eyes were filled with some sorrow and resignation.
Mary and her child were abandoned thirty years ago by a man who never once contacted them. Mary hated him to the core. But now her granddaughter’s life depended on his bone marrow. They knew that Mary must have been feeling quite confused. There was probably more hatred, but her rational mind told her she had to endure it to save her granddaughter’s life. Because of that, she could only bear with all the grievances she had experienced over the past thirty years. That was very unfair and cruel to Mary.
After washing up, Wendy took the breakfast bought by Mary and served it to Michael and Jake. Then the three of them focused on eating and finished their breakfast in silence. Soon it was almost seven-thirty. Not long after, Michael received a call from Mr. York, informing him that they have landed and were on their way to the hospital.
Mr. York arrived at the hospital ward at ten past eight.
"Mr. Lucas, he is here," Mr. York said as he stepped aside.
Behind him, a middle-aged man emerged slowly. Only three months had passed since they last saw him and he seemed to have become a completely different person. He had become more haggard and had lost weight. He wore simple clothes made from coarse material that seemed a bit oversized. His thin body looked unable to hold it up.
Outside the door, there stood two foreign policemen in plain clothes. One of them walked into the room and said, "I am sorry to intrude. Because Timothy Woods is a felon, we have to escort him twenty-four seven. I hope you will understand."
Michael nodded and said, "Yes, I understand." With that, the policeman left the room and stood guard at the door.
Timothy looked around at all the people in the room as if looking for something.
When he could not find what he was looking for, his gaze landed on Wendy. He opened his mouth, wanting to say something, but he could not find the words.
