Chapter 641
The Wilkinsons always prioritized Elissa’s health above all else, so there was no way they were going to insist on staying.
Besides, Rowan’s attitude had been absolutely flawless.
Seeing how much he cared for Elissa, Suzanne felt a deep sense of relief. “You really have thought of everything.”
Janice Garrett silently let out a breath she didn’t realize she was holding.
It was one thing for the Wilkinsons to visit, but did they really expect to just whisk away her granddaughter-in-law and great-granddaughter?
Seeing it was getting late, she smiled warmly. “It’s just about dinner time. Why don’t you all stay and join us for a meal?”
“Yes, please do,”
Elissa added softly, looking at Suzanne. “It’s been so long since we last shared a meal.”
Her words brought a sudden, stinging heat to Suzanne’s eyes.
She turned her head slightly to blink away the moisture before nodding eagerly. “Of course, we’d love to.”
The rest of the Wilkinsons were naturally more than happy to oblige.
The group followed Janice to the dining room, leaving Rex and Rowan trailing a few steps behind.
Rex didn’t hesitate to call out the other man’s underlying motives. “Mr. Blaine didn’t actually say that, did he?”
The guy was simply shameless.
He was hogging Elissa, refusing to let her out of his sight for even a single second.
It had been like this since they were kids.
He acted so overbearingly that Elissa used to think he actually disliked her.
Caught in a lie, Rowan didn’t show an ounce of guilt. Instead, he flashed a faint smile. “Go ask Mr. Blaine, then.”
Rex was momentarily rendered speechless.
There was no way Rex was actually going to ask.
Besides, Mr. Blaine adored his star pupil so much that he would undoubtedly cover for Rowan anyway.
Seeing his frustration, Rowan’s smirk deepened. “Speaking of which, you should be thanking me.”
Rex scoffed. “Thank you for stealing Elissa?”
“Thank me…”
Rowan cast a sidelong glance at him, his smugness on full display. “…for giving you the chance to become an uncle.”
“Are you just running out of people to brag to?”
Rex shot him a ruthless smile, unable to resist poking the bear. “Out of the entire world, you were the absolute last person to find out Elissa was carrying your baby.” Rowan paused.
He raised an eyebrow. “You knew?”
It turned out he really had been the last one to the party.
Rex twisted the knife. “Not just me. My whole family knew.”
In truth, he had only found out on the drive to Rivercross Residence, overhearing a conversation between Laurel and Suzanne. Laurel had explicitly warned him not to breathe a word of it to Rowan.
He just hadn’t expected the information to come in handy so soon, letting him score a point against his smug future brother-in-law.
The dinner was a resounding success, with the Murphy family playing the perfect hosts and the Wilkinsons navigating the evening with flawless grace.
After the meal, not wanting to exhaust Elissa, the Wilkinsons decided it was time to leave.
Just as Elissa was about to stand and see them out, Mrs. Gable
approached with a steaming mal.ne
herbal medicine. “It’s the perfect, temperature right now, drink up.’
of
The herbal concoction was impossible to swallow when it was boiling hot, and
tasted absolutely foul when it went cold.
Elissa instinctively glanced toward the Wilkinsons. For some reason, the thought of them leaving left a hollow ache in her chest.
Just then, a hand gently patted her back.
“Drink your medicine first. I’ll wait until you’re done before we head out.”
It was Laurel.
Elissa looked up, offering her a grateful smile, before picking up the bowl and downing the bitter liquid in one go.
The moment she set the bowl down, an unwrapped Plum Hard Candy was pressed to her lips.
Laurel’s gaze was unusually soft. “This will help with the aftertaste.”
“Thank you, Laurel.”
Elissa nodded and popped the candy into her mouth. The rich, sweet-and-sour plum flavor quickly spread over her tongue, washing away the bitter herbs.
Seeing Elissa’s eyes crinkle from the sweetness, Laurel couldn’t help but smile. “Alright, I really should get going now. Go back to your room and get some rest.”
The rest of the Wilkinsons had already made their way to the front courtyard. Elissa immediately tried to stand. “I’ll walk you out.” “Don’t worry about it.”
Laurel gently pressed her back down by the shoulders. “I’ll come visit you again when I have some free time.”
Perhaps because Laurel had been so incredibly warm toward her, Elissa blurted out without thinking, “When will you be free?”
The second the words left her mouth, she regretted them.
Laurel, however, burst into genuine laughter. “When do you want me to be free?”
Given Laurel’s high-ranking position, just carving out the time for today’s visit must have been a logistical nightmare.
Elissa thought about it for a second. “Just whenever you have the time. Come by whenever you’re free.”
“Deal.”
Laurel agreed easily. The usually strict and rigid woman even managed a rare joke. “Then I might just show up unannounced at any given moment.”
Rowan watched the exchange through the floor-to-ceiling windows. Seeing the sheer contentment on Elissa’s face as he smiled at Laure! made his own lips curve upward.
Ever since she was a little girl, she had always envied kids who had a real family.
Now, her wish had finally come true.
Standing next to him, Rex noted his lovestruck expression and asked dryly, “So, how does it feel to be a dad?”
Rowan tore his gaze away and shot him a loaded look. “It’s one of those things you can’t put into words. You’ll only understand it when it happens to you.” Considering Rex didn’t even have a girlfriend, fatherhood was nothing more than a pipe dream for him.
Rex ground his teeth.
His eye twitched, but he fired back
mercilessly. “Is that so? Well, last checked you two aren’t married yet A dad can be replaced at any time, but an uncle is forever.”