Chapter 544
After lunch, Elissa realized it had been a while since she visited her mentor and his wife. Taking advantage of a free afternoon, she dragged Tanya out of the house with her.
Janice Garrett knew how much Aaron and Jacqueline had done for Elissa over the years, so she had Mrs. Gable pack the trunk full of premium gifts.
Elissa didn’t decline the gesture. “Thank you, Mrs. Garrett.”
“What are you thanking me for?”
Janice adjusted Elissa’s collar, looking at her with the deep affection of a grandmother. “Everything of Rowan’s belongs to you.”
To her grandson, this girl was his ultimate anchor.
If he hadn’t held onto his desperate love for her, he might never have survived his darkest, most life-threatening trials.
Now that his lifelong wish was finally coming true, Janice was overjoyed.
When Elissa was in a good mood, she had a wonderfully sweet tongue. “It belongs
to both of us. We’ll spend all his money together from now on!”
In truth, she earned more than enough on her own.
But the elderly woman loved hearing it, and it cost nothing to say.
If her mentor and his wife knew she was coming, they would undoubtedly spend hours preparing all her favorite foods. To spare them the trouble, Elissa hadn’t called ahead.
She simply planned to drop by for a visit, and then take Tanya shopping.
Unexpectedly, just as she and Tanya walked into the front yard carrying the gifts, they ran straight into Frank.
Likely startled to see him there, Elissa froze. The awful spectacle Carmela had caused just a few days ago made seeing Frank now incredibly awkward.
“Elissa, Lawyer Foster.”
Frank, however, maintained his composure. Seeing the heavy bags in her hands, he closed the distance and reached out. “Let me help you carry those inside.”
Elissa quickly let go. “Thanks.”
She didn’t want a drawn-out tug-of-war.
Frank didn’t slow down to match their pace. He quickly carried the items inside, setting them down before turning back to the entryway just as the two women stepped in.
Noticing the cool detachment on Elissa’s face, Frank paused, his voice soft. “Elissa, do you have a moment? I’d like to talk to you.”
Tanya didn’t give them privacy right away. She glanced at Elissa, and only after Elissa nodded did she step further inside the house.
As Elissa’s best friend and a natural social butterfly, Aaron and Jacqueline were both very fond of Tanya.
Jacqueline, in particular, rushed over to take the gifts. “Tanya, you came too! Look at you both, why did you bring so much stuff?”
Tanya chuckled. “We aren’t this thoughtful on our own. Rowan’s grandmother arranged all of it.”
“Did that wicked old mistress suddenly develop a split personality?”
Aaron threw in a sarcastic remark, earning a swift smack on the arm from
Jacqueline. “Are you going through menopause? They bring you gifts and you start insulting people…”
Tanya couldn’t hold back a laugh, quickly clarifying. “Not the abusive monster. This is Rowan’s biological grandmother.”
With a few quick sentences, she filled Aaron and Jacqueline in on the entire backstory.
She knew Elissa wouldn’t hide anything from the older couple anyway, so she figured she might as well satisfy their curiosity.
Listening to the tale, Aaron fell into a thoughtful silence. Jacqueline, however, was eagerly soaking up the
drama. “Are you saying that wicked old mistress didn’t just abuse lissa,
Elissa,
but actually tried to have Rowan
killed back then?”
“Most likely.”
Tanya and Elissa had been discussing it right before bed last night.
l.ne
Back when Rowan was fighting for his life, everyone claimed it was just standard family power struggles. But Paige Jensen held all the authority at the time. Without her pulling the strings or directly giving the orders, who would date attempt to murder the eldest grandson of the Murphy family?
In the past, they had naively believed that even a tiger wouldn’t eat its own cub, so
they hadn’t connected the dots.
Out in the entryway, Frank looked
down at Elissa’s visibly rounding belly. After a long moment, he finally spoke. “Now that you’re showing, it getting uncomfortable? I saw online that some people get terrible backaches…”
Elissa felt a momentary wave of displacement.
Because Frank always seemed exactly like this gentle, attentive, and considerate.