The Indifferent Ex-Husband: Heartstrings in the Mall of Fate novel Chapter 347

Grace has been there for her since she got a bun in the oven, looking after her like she was part of the fam. She's been all hands on deck, making sure everything from her grub habits to her nutrition and pregnancy tips were more dialed in than she could've done herself.

Once Theresa popped out, Grace went full mama bear on her, bending over backward to care for her. She even showed the two greenhorns, her and Susan, the ropes on how to handle a kiddo.

It was all thanks to her going the extra mile that she managed to juggle kiddo duty with hitting the books and the daily grind.

She'd totally got used to having Grace around, and Theresa had had Grace on her watch since day one, so she'd basically family in her book.

With Theresa's incident, plus the whole DNA test with Brandon, laying the foundation stone for the Zenitha-style resort, and sorting out her travel plans, Sophia's had zero bandwidth to sweat Grace's situation.

If she was away, having Grace around would've been a major comfort. She and Susan would've had time to hang with Theresa, without worrying about a repeat of the past drama.

But now, taking off wasn't in the cards. She and Brandon gotta punch the clock, and Theresa still needed someone on deck.

Sophia would take Grace sticking around over some rando any day of the week. Just bring in another pair of hands, and it was sorted.

Grace glanced at Brandon, hesitant.

"Grace, stick around and keep an eye on Theresa, will ya? She needs you. I'm partly to blame for what went down before. Just take it as a lesson; won't happen again," Brandon chimed in. It wasn't that he thought Grace was irreplaceable, but swapping out the people around Theresa and Sophia on the fly could throw them for a loop.

He was on the same page as Sophia: just bring in extra help.

Theresa couldn't make heads or tails of the grown-ups' chat but got the gist that Grace might bail. She looked up at Grace with those puppy dog eyes, all heartbroken, "Wanna stay with Grace."

Those mushy words nearly had Grace in tears. She'd been there every step of the way with Theresa, and the thought of splitting from her and Sophia was a tough pill to swallow.

Brandon's words caught her off-guard, but she managed to nod through the tears, "Thanks, Sophia, and Mr. Crawley. I swear that last time won't repeat itself."

"Coming back for dinner then?" Sophia asked.

"I wanna check on my own kiddos; I'll skip out tonight. You three have your first family reunion -wouldn't wanna crash it."

After leaving some last-minute instructions, Grace finally hung up.

Brandon took Sophia and Theresa next door to the mall for some grub. They'd been caught up in moving all afternoon, no time to whip up dinner.

They landed in a restaurant, quiet and not too crowded, with a menu that Theresa could dig into.

"Just when daddy first played the claw machine with me," Theresa tried to recall.

Brandon looked at Sophia, "He was there too?"

Sophia met his gaze, a subtle nod, "Yeah, he happened to be looking for me."

"You saw me coming to find you, too?" Brandon pressed.

Another soft nod from Sophia, lips sealed.

Brandon asked, "And you saw me with Theresa?"

Again, Sophia nodded, no denial.

Brandon looked at her, opened his mouth like he was gonna say something, then glanced at a confused Theresa looking up at him and let it be.

He gave Theresa a smile, gently stroked her hair, and told her softly, "In the future, if other man wanna give you presents, you can't take them, okay?"