“Thank you,” her mother said mildly. Then, she started gently brushing Camelia’s hair with her fingers.
Camelia’s defeated appearance finally became slightly warmer with her mother’s help. She had probably forgotten how it felt like to be loved and cared for so dearly.
I didn’t want to interrupt their mother-daughter time, but seeing Tobias standing next to the bed hesitantly made me unwilling to just leave him behind in this situation.
I gently pushed the child toward them and said awkwardly, “This is Camelia’s son, also your grandson.”
I purposely avoided mentioning Marcus’ name. After all, the whole reason Camelia argued with her family and left in the first place was Marcus.
Her mother turned around calmly and looked at Tobias before saying, “Ah, he does resemble that fellow quite a bit. It’s definitely his kid.”
Her tone was nonchalant and casual. It was as if she were simply a stranger.
Just her calling Marcus ‘that fellow’ explained how much resentment and bitterness she must have held toward him.
A second later, she turned back around and said just as mildly, “I understand. I will bring the child back with me. Thank you for your help.”
After that, she reached out and tried to undo the buttons on Camelia’s elaborate wedding dress. However, since it was brand new, it was quite hard to undo them, and she had to start using both hands.
She was then forced to make bigger movements.
Camelia’s mother kept shaking her head. Right after I finished speaking, she burst out, “She’s doing it on purpose. I know it! I brought her into this world, and I treated her like a princess for so many years. Not once did I ever raise my voice at her! But for Marcus, she never called or even texted me. I’ve always known she was stubborn, and when she simply texted me saying that Marcus was gone, I immediately came to pick her up. Despite that, she’s still making such a fuss! How could I not be devastated? She’s trying to drive me insane!”
She must have been holding all of these harsh words back for years and years for her to suddenly explode like that. She was already clutching her chest in pain from crying so much, but she didn’t stop ranting about Camelia.
“Your father and I never badmouthed you to any outsiders. We even wrote your name on our wills. What did Marcus do? He treated you like a stray dog! Even now, after he died, not one bit of his inheritance is going to you. Why have you let yourself fall this far?”
I felt tears forming in my eyes from the anger and sorrow in her voice and pressed my lips together tightly to stop them from falling.
The love between a mother and her daughter was not just a fairytale. Eventually, Camelia started crying as well, her tears wetting her wedding dress and the bedsheets underneath.
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