Chapter 2051

Wealth or not, even the most successful mother ends up babysitting, Cecilia

reminded herself. Elena, after all, spent half her days wrangling two toddlers who weren’t even her own.

Four daughters-in-law, eight grandkids-my house will be louder than a circus ring.

And heaven forbid they start squabbling over shares of the family company… The mere prospect turned the air around her slightly metallic.

She started feeling dizzy, the world rocking as if it couldn’t decide which reality to land on.

Beside her, Elliot was lost in a parallel fantasy of his own: When I’m big, I’ll marry a girl just like Dahlia-sweet, polite, helpful. Then everyone in our house will laugh more than they argue. The vision painted a smile across his small face.

So the woman and the boy stood together on the dim porch-one tall, one small -both staring after a taillight long gone, both dreaming of futures woven from hope, fear, and the soft glow of an April evening.