Chapter 97
Chapter 97 A Mother’s Torn Choice
“Where’s Dad?” Holden asked out of habit.
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At the mention of Wayne, a faint look of sorrow clouded Wendy’s face. The memory of her bitter falling-out with Zora the day before, paired with her own mother’s relentless pressure, left a sharp ache in her eyes.
“He’s swamped with company work lately. He gets home really late every night p>
Wayne had been tied up with business these past few days, coming back well after dark each evening.
“How about Jolie? Is she upstairs resting?” Holden nodded, not pressing further, and glanced toward the upper floor.
“She’s been really down lately. I tried comforting her for ages before she finally settled down. Don’t go disturbing her p>
The thought of Jolie twisted Wendy’s heart with a dull, stinging pain. She couldn’t tell if the choice she’d made was right or wrong. Jolie had been by her side since childhood-she could never bring herself to send the girl away.
What’s more, her husband and three sons would never agree to it either.
Zora was still furious right now. Once Jolie’s mood calmed down and Opal’s anger faded, she would reach out to Zora again. They were flesh and blood; surely Zora wouldn’t truly disown her own mother.
She refused to believe Zora would turn her back on the entire Knox family for good.
Yet if Jolie’s troubles went unresolved, the girl would stay heartbroken and even refuse to go to school. Her grades would surely suffer, and Wayne would grow resentful toward her too. Before long, the whole house would be torn apart by arguments all over again.
Wendy couldn’t bear the thought of more family strife.
She couldn’t understand why neither her own mother nor her daughter could see where she was coming from.
Could it really be, as Jolie had claimed, that Zora was just holding a grudge and egging Opal into forcing her to pick sides?
Why did Zora insist on pushing her into this corner? She was only trying to be a good mother. Why couldn’t Zora understand her intentions? What was wrong with having an older sister? Why did it have to be a choice between keeping one and abandoning the other?
Wendy’s chest ached just thinking about it. Why couldn’t Zora be as sensible as Jolie?
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Chapter 97 A Mother s Torn Choice
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“Mom, I need to ask you something.” Holden fixed his gaze on Wendy, confusion heavy in his
“Did you really make a choice to cast Zora aside p>
eyes.
“Holden, did Zora tell you this?” Sadness flickered across Wendy’s face at her son’s stern, questioning stare. “I never abandoned her. She just refuses to come home with me, so she’s staying with her grandma for a while longer p>
Deep down, she knew Jolie had been right-Zora had gone running to Holden to complain.
“There’s a far better way to fix this, Mom. Why make such a drastic call?” Holden said tightly. “If you’d brought Zora home and talked things through calmly, let her spend some time cooling off with Grandma, this whole mess could’ve been smoothed over easily. You could’ve mended your mother-daughter bond with her too.
“But by making this choice, you’ve pushed Zora further away. You’ve broken her heart completely p>
Every word Wendy spoke left Holden’s chest tight with frustration.
“On top of that, pulling everything down from the internet so abruptly will only make the gossip worse.
“We could handle this another way to quiet the drama. Let Jolie give a sincere apology, then we will release a public statement. Admit she’s not blood-related, but make it clear she’s your daughter in every way that matters. Let everyone know the Knox family stands firmly behind her.
“Who would dare badmouth her openly after that? With time, everyone will forget the whole thing, and it’ll blow over. Zora’s never the type to hold a grudge forever anyway.
“Why did you have to make this terrible call?
“Besides, we’ve never even officially confirmed Zora’s identity publicly. She’s your biological daughter-we owe her a formal statement all the same p>
Holden’s head throbbed with frustration, baffled by how foolish his mother’s decision had been.
He’d hoped it was all a misunderstanding, that Zora had exaggerated things. But hearing his mother’s excuses, he knew getting Zora to agree to come home would be harder than ever.
The memory of Zora’s cold, distant gaze from that afternoon stabbed straight through him.
Twice now, she’d been cast aside.
Holden had never shared a close brother-sister bond with Zora; they’d spent barely any time growing up together. Even so, it had never crossed his mind to turn his back on her.
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Chapter 9: A Mothers Torn Choice
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He’d only thought she’d come back into their lives too late for them to grow close quickly. But after their few brief encounters, he’d seen that Zora was just a little headstrong-never imagined things would fall apart this badly between them.
Wendy fell silent at Holden’s words, doubt creeping into her mind. Had she really messed up?
“I… Jolie’s been heartbroken over all the online gossip. Reed still won’t take the posts down, and everyone’s bashing her nonstop p>
“When your dad came home the other day, he insisted I get Jensen to remove those posts. He made it sound serious, so I went to talk to your grandma.
“Your grandma said she’d only help take the posts down if I picked a side. I thought she and Zora were just saying that out of anger… I never stopped to think it all through p>
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