A few seconds later, she approached and greeted me, “Hello, Ms. Stovall.”
“Hello,” I replied flatly. To be honest, I hadn’t moved on from the past, but I was no longer haunted by the things that had occurred ages ago.
It only took me a few seconds to figure out she had conceived Jared’s child when I saw her baby bump.
As a surge of anger welled up within me, I scoffed and glared at him. “Jared, you shouldn’t have brought her here…”
What the heck is this? Is she trying to assert dominance over Macy?
Kristina rebutted, “Ms. Stovall, please don’t blame Jared for this. I was the one who insisted on tagging along.”
I found the duo hilarious and fell silent. Staring at her baby bump, I asked rhetorically in a sarcastic manner, “How dare you show up in front of her? Aren’t you afraid of her paying you a visit in the middle of the night to get her revenge?”
Kristina was one of the main reasons Macy had passed on back then. Since she had the audacity to show up in front of Macy’s grave, she must be having a great time over the years.
With a frightened look, she cast her gaze on Jared. She seemed to be afraid of Jared instead of Macy.
What a joke! It seems that Jared was never made aware of the truth behind Macy’s death.
“Ms. Stovall, I know you’re a close friend of Macy’s, but we can’t possibly bring the dead back to life. Do you really want us to spend the rest of our life in sorrow?”
I couldn’t believe she had the guts to pick on me in such a righteous manner.
If I wasn’t conscious of her past doings, I would definitely think of her as a noblewoman with a positive mindset.
“We can’t bring the dead back, but we can always ensure justice is served!” I looked at Jared with a scowl and asked, “Have you never wondered the reason behind Macy’s death?”
“Ms. Stovall!” She yelled to stop me in the nick of time because she didn’t expect me to be so frank about it. “Macy died because she couldn’t handle the news of your incident! Why are you bringing this up again?”
Why?
As I looked at her baby bump, I changed my mind about saying the truth. After all, the child had nothing to do with the feud.
Seeing that I fell silent, Jared probed further, “What are you talking about?”
“It’s nothing. Why don’t you send someone to get to the bottom of this if you’re curious? You need to stop behaving like a fool. Otherwise, others won’t stop taking advantage of you.”
At the end of the day, there were a lot of parties involved in Macy’s death. Although Kristina was one of them, if I brought the truth up when she was the most vulnerable, it would simply make me another vicious woman like her.
“Summer, it’s time to go home.” As we departed early in the morning to reach the cemetery on the outskirts, the little girl started spacing out as she stood in front of the grave.
Summer nodded and paused. Looking at Jared, she bade him goodbye. “Goodbye, Uncle!”
Her words took me by surprise. Similarly, Jared’s body stiffened because he too was taken aback by her response. He replied with his voice quivering, “G-Goodbye!”
I carried Summer on my back and made our way down the stairs because it would take me a lot of time to walk her down.
Halfway through the seemingly endless stairs, I asked, “Summer, do you like that uncle?”
I knew Summer better than others—she wouldn’t greet a stranger unless instructed to do so. To my surprise, she took the initiative and greeted Jared who was a complete stranger.
“Not really. It just feels like he’s different from the other uncles.”
I chuckled lightly as I wondered if it had something to do with the fact they were biologically related.
“Mommy, do you hate him?” Seemingly exhausted, the little girl placed her head on my shoulder.
After some consideration, I shook my head and shared my feelings. “I don’t really hate him, but I don’t like him either. He’s heavily indebted to an important person in my life.”
She yawned, “O-Oh…”
By the time we walked out of the cemetery, Summer had fallen asleep on my back.
I ended up standing by the road for some time because it wasn’t easy to hail a cab.
Just then, a black Jaguar pulled up in front of me. As soon as the window was wound down, Jared’s gorgeous face could be seen.
“I’ll give you a ride home.”
I shook my head and turned his offer down. “Thanks, but no thanks. I prefer hailing a cab and making our way back on our own.”
Kristina leaned over and added with a courteous smile, “Ms. Stovall, it’s not easy to hail a cab around here. Why don’t you get in the car and allow us to give you a ride home?”
Pursing my lips, I said flatly, “There’s no need.” I had no intention of continuing the conversation with her.
Staring at Summer behind my back, Jared instructed, “Do you want the child to sleep behind your back until you get a ride home? Just get in the car already!”
I furrowed my brows because the duo was slowly getting on my nerves.
Thankfully, a cab showed up from afar just then. I waved at the driver and cast an indifferent glance at the duo. “Thanks for the offer, but my ride is here.”
Summer continued sleeping soundly after we boarded the cab. I tucked her in when we reached Glenwood Apartments. After packing my stuff, I reached for my phone to order something to eat.
I noticed I had a few missed calls from Ashton and Jackson. I was supposed to tell Ashton that I had arrived safe and sound, but I completely forgot about it since we touched down late in the night.
Seeing that it was a weekday, I knew Jackson should be in the middle of work. Hence, I dropped him a text and told him I had reached my destination.
