Hitched & Hitched Again: A Comedy of Marital Mayhem novel Chapter 550

The woman standing next to her was glaring at Elysia, clearly on purpose. Tarquin's face darkened, and he strode over. With a swift movement, he pushed the woman's hand away and pulled Elysia into his arms. The woman, upon seeing Tarquin, gasped in fright and hurriedly apologized,

"Sorry, Ms. Thorne, I didn't mean it. I was just admiring your dress and wanted to ask where you bought it. Then I slipped, and instinctively grabbed your hair."

"Yeah, yeah, I can vouch for her, it was an accident."

The two women were overly humble in their demeanor. Elysia frowned, touching her hair which was now painful, her face contorted in discomfort. Several strands of hair had been yanked out, and it truly hurt. But since she had her back to them, she couldn’t tell if their actions were intentional or accidental. For a moment, Elysia was unsure how to handle them.

Their kids had been munching on cookies and only now came over, having not seen whether the women did it on purpose. Seeing their mom in pain saddened them deeply. Just as the little ones were about to speak up, Tarquin beat them to it, saying,

"If you're so keen on losing hair, then go shave it all off before coming back to the family dinner!"

Elysia: "?"

The two women: "!!!"

Shave off their hair? Was Tarquin suggesting they go bald? But they were women! They weren't nuns! Having their hair shaved off, how could they even step outside?! Tears welled up in the eyes of the two women as they were about to defend themselves, but Tarquin added,

"If you don't want to shave, then get out of the Bradford family and never come back. Change your names and start anew!"

Change their names and start anew? The two women broke down crying,

"We really didn't mean it, we've apologized, sob sob sob…”

Tarquin couldn't be bothered to argue,

Elysia pursed her lips,

"I think I did pretty well. I took on a whole group by myself, and they didn’t win!"

Tarquin pursed his lips, scoffing, "You're the best, number one in the world."

"I…"

Suddenly, Emmett chimed in,

"Mommy, are you and Daddy flirting or what?"