In the meantime, Archie and Benny had switched off the lights and were lying on their beds in the darkness, but they couldn’t fall asleep. Benny climbed out of bed and crossed the room to Archie’s bedside. “Archie, say. Do you know why Mommy doesn’t want to marry Daddy?” he asked as he shook Archie’s arm. Archie sat up with a troubled look on his face. “I don’t know either.”
He paused for a beat before the corners of his lips curled into a smile. “But we found our sister! Isn’t that great?” he exclaimed as though to console Benny and himself.
Benny nodded fervently in agreement. They had always thought Estella was their half- sister who shared a father with them. It was such a pleasant surprise to find out they shared the same parents.
That also meant their father had never cheated on their mother, and they were the ones who misunderstood Lucian from the start. Their hearts soared with joy at the thought. “But when will Mommy tell Daddy we’re also his children?”
Recalling how Lucian lifted them into his arms earlier, Benny couldn’t hide his disappointment. “I also want to be like Essie. I want to have a mommy and a daddy. I don’t want to call Daddy Mr. Farwell’ anymore.”
Daddy could lift us up so high into the air. Archie missed his father’s embrace as well but chose to put himself in his mother’s shoes. “Maybe Mommy has her own plans?”
Benny frowned as he speculated, “Do you think. it’s because of Mr. Damaris? Mommy is close to him. He even gave her flowers. Do you think Mommy wants Mr. Damaris to be our daddy?”
Benny pursed his lips unhappily before continuing, “I like Daddy more! Daddy is more handsome than Mr. Damaris, and he cares for Mommy more than Mr. Damaris does!”
Archie pondered briefly before shaking his head and disagreeing with Benny. “I don’t think so. Mommy only considers Mr. Damaris a friend at most.”
After Mommy accepted Daddy, there is a massive difference in the way Mommy interacts with Mr. Damaris and Daddy. The look in Mommy’s eyes whenever she looks at Daddy is different from when she looks at Mr. Damaris.
Hearing Archie’s disagreement, Benny felt even more perplexed. “Then why didn’t Mommy say yes to Daddy?”
Archie suddenly remembered Roxanne did reach out her hand when Lucian proposed, but she quickly withdrew her hand upon hearing their grandmother’s coughing.
Realization dawned upon him when his train of thought ended there. He finally understood what his mother was thinking. “I got it!”
His eyes were gleaming brightly, but his eyebrows were furrowed. He felt bad for his mother. Noticing the change in Archie’s expression, Benny hurriedly held onto Archie’s arm. “Why? Tell me.”
Archie turned to Benny with a solemn look on his face. “It’s because of Grandma. She still hasn’t accepted Mommy and us. Mommy doesn’t want us to suffer with her, so she rejected Daddy.”
The light in Benny’s eyes dimmed when he heard Archie’s explanation. His heart clenched for his mother, too.
Indeed, Grandma’s attitude toward us and Mommy has always been terrible. I don’t understand why, though. What did Mommy ever do wrong to deserve such hatred from Grandma? Mommy is the best mother in the world in my eyes. I’m sure she felt pressured to reject Daddy because of Grandma. But she never tells us these. She keeps everything to herself. What should we do to get Grandma to accept Mommy?
