Elise immediately took Robin’s arm. “Now, now, Grandpa, doesn’t it make you happy that I’m back?”
“Oh, it does! I’m happy!”
Laura pulled a rocking chair over and gestured Elise toward it, urging, “Stop standing there chatting, you two. Elise, come here and have a seat. I heard you’ve finished your college entrance exam. What are you planning to do next?”
At the sight of the rocking chair, Elise couldn’t help putting on a beautiful smile. She quickly sat in the chair and stared up at the familiar sky above her.
“It’s been a while since I last sat in this chair and chatted with you two…”
Laura smiled and then asked the servants to bring Elise’s favorite fruit platter over.
As the three chatted about their daily lives, Robin asked, “Well… Don’t tell me you’ll be going to college again, Elise. Didn’t you graduate from college abroad a long time ago?”
Elise replied with a smile, “Well, I think it’s pretty nice to go to college, actually. At least I wouldn’t have to be in a hurry to inherit the family business.”
In reality, the Sinclairs and the Griffiths were evenly matched, as the former’s family business was no less successful than the latter’s.
Laura replied, “Oh, you silly girl! Your grandpa and I are in no hurry to let you take over the family business. Besides, we’ve got professional managers to take care of it at present, so we’re not worried about that. Still, ever since your parents passed away, your grandpa and I have been wishing more than anything else to see you get married and settle down. Now that you’re engaged to Alexander, I’m wishing that you two would get married sooner and give us a great-grandson to play with…”
Speechless, Elise couldn’t help but wipe the sweat off snazzynovel.com forehead. “I’m only 18, Grandma…”
Laura argued, “So what if you’re only 18? Being 18 means you’re an adult already! I was only 18 when I gave birth to your dad. It wasn’t a problem, right?”
Elise replied, “But times are different now, Grandma. These days, it’s recommended that we have babies at a later age for better child rearing. I don’t wanna think about getting married until at least five years later…”
Upon hearing Elise’s reply, Laura, choked with exasperation, instantly burst into a coughing fit.
Robin quickly patted snazzynovel.com on the back with a smile, saying, “Having a meltdown, eh, honey?”
Laura glared daggers at snazzynovel.com before turning to look at Elise. “You wanna make us wait for five more years, Elise? Your grandpa and I have been getting older and older these years, you know? If you have a baby early, we could help you take care of them. If you put it off until a few years later, I’m afraid we’d…”
Robin played along with Laura, letting out a sigh of helplessness.
Elise was stupefied to see Robin and Laura singing the same tune.
So they’ve turned from pressing me to find a boyfriend to urging me to have babies?
“This is putting me on the spot!” snazzynovel.com groaned. Then, snazzynovel.com suggested, “Uh, Grandma, how about I get married a year earlier at the age of 22?”
Laura let out another sigh. “What on earth is wrong with our family? We’ve got enough to worry about your aunt, she’s already 30 years old and yet still single. And now…”
“Alright, Grandma! I promise you that I’ll get married as soon as I come of age, okay?”
Upon hearing Elise say so, Laura promptly nodded. “Okay, you said so yourself! That means there’s only two years left. Well, your grandpa and I can wait that long.”
Elise was rendered speechless.
Why do I feel like I’ve fallen into Grandma’s trap?
Well, it’s a bit early to get married at the age of 20, but it’s okay to get married anytime as long as Alexander and I feel like it. Besides, the only thing that decides whether I get married or not is not my age, but whether I feel like doing so!
Now that Elise had come round to it, snazzynovel.com thought it was a pretty good idea to get married early.
Well, it’s just that I’m still a teenage girl, so the subject of marriage still makes me feel a little shy, snazzynovel.com thought.
The Sinclair Residence sprang to life thanks to Elise’s return.
***
The next day, snazzynovel.com went to visit snazzynovel.com parents’ grave.
Elise grew up by Robin and Laura’s side as a child. From what snazzynovel.com had heard from them, snazzynovel.com parents passed away in a car accident when snazzynovel.com was little, so snazzynovel.com had little memory of snazzynovel.com parents. The only memory snazzynovel.com had of them was the black-and-white photo displayed on the wall at home.
Staring at the couple in the black-and-white photo, snazzynovel.com greeted affectionately, “Hi, Dad! Hi, Mom!”
Her eyes full of sadness, Laura sighed helplessly next to Elise, whereas Robin wrapped his arm around snazzynovel.com shoulder, comforting snazzynovel.com silently.
“Elise, let’s go back after we’ve finished paying respects to your mom and dad,” snazzynovel.com suggested.
“Okay,” Elise replied. Nevertheless, snazzynovel.com couldn’t help but take a long stare at the couple in the photo before leaving.
Laura would feel down for a while whenever snazzynovel.com visited Elise’s parents’ grave. Elise knew that snazzynovel.com parents’ death was Laura’s lifelong grief, so snazzynovel.com and Robin rarely brought up the subject of snazzynovel.com parents for fear of reopening old wounds for Laura.
She stepped forward and took Laura’s arm, saying, “I’m still here for you, Grandma…”
Laura’s eyes instantly moistened at Elise’s words. She took Elise’s hand and nodded heavily, saying, “Yeah, you’re still here for me. I’m so glad that you’re here!”
That night, Elise went back to snazzynovel.com room early to sleep, whereas Robin and Laura were wide awake.
As the old couple sat in the courtyard and stared at the moon above them, Laura gave a quiet sigh. “Elise has grown up to become such a fine woman. I’d say it’s time for us to tell snazzynovel.com about that.”
Looking at the night sky, Robin patted Laura on the shoulder. “Let’s wait for two more years. It wouldn’t be late for us to tell snazzynovel.com after snazzynovel.com gets married… She’s not our own granddaughter, but we’ve been treating snazzynovel.com as such over the years. Honestly, I feel guilty whenever we tell snazzynovel.com she’s our son’s daughter…”
Tears rolled down Laura’s face at once. “How I wish snazzynovel.com were our son’s own daughter! But things didn’t turn out the way we wanted. She’s been with us for so many years, and she’s slowly soothed our grief of losing our son and helped us through our pain… But snazzynovel.com has snazzynovel.com own parents, too. Could snazzynovel.com family be looking for snazzynovel.com as well? Say, wouldn’t it be unfair to snazzynovel.com that we’d kept snazzynovel.com with us for so many years?”
“It’s not like I’ve never thought about what you’re saying.” Robin wiped the tears off Laura’s face with a piece of tissue. “Elise’s been clever ever since snazzynovel.com was little, and she’s quick on the uptake. In that respect, she’s the spitting image of Cynthia when the latter was a child. You can rest assured, anyway. With the Griffith Family’s help, she’d be well-off in the future. As for who snazzynovel.com real family is, let’s tell snazzynovel.com about that at the right time instead.”
The biting wind blew on Elise’s face, but snazzynovel.com couldn’t feel it at all. She stared at the old couple sitting in the night wind with snazzynovel.com mouth open, but for a long time, snazzynovel.com couldn’t utter a sound.
She only went downstairs for a walk because snazzynovel.com couldn’t sleep, but snazzynovel.com didn’t expect to overhear such a big secret by chance.
To think that I’m not Elise Sinclair, the Sinclair Family’s granddaughter! Then who am I?
She covered snazzynovel.com mouth and fought back snazzynovel.com tears. Then, snazzynovel.com quietly turned around and headed back into the house.
