CHAPTER 41: CHAPTER 41: HAVE ANOTHER CHILD WITH TIMOTHY XAVIER

When he saw me come out, he ignored me.

It seemed that because I declined to move back to the master bedroom last night, I hurt his pride and made him upset.

But soon Mrs. Ellison would be arriving, and if Timothy acted like this, Mrs. Ellison would feel uncomfortable too.

I hesitated for a moment but still spoke up: "Soon... my mom is coming."

Timothy finally looked up from his magazine and asked, "So?"

I steeled myself and said, "Please cooperate a bit and don’t let my mom know about what’s happened recently."

"Hmm."

He responded indifferently.

Though the tone wasn’t great, it nevertheless relieved me a bit.

At this moment, the doorbell rang in the courtyard.

I was preparing to roll my wheelchair out to greet Mrs. Ellison.

Timothy had already stood up, walked behind me, grabbed the wheelchair, and pushed me outside.

At that moment, he really looked like a patient and responsible good husband.

Unfortunately, it was all an act.

I ignored the sense of regret and loss in my heart and raised a smile.

"Mom, you’re here!"

I sweetly called out to Mrs. Ellison.

When Mrs. Ellison saw the bandages on my foot, she was particularly worried, "So severe? Will there be any sequelae in the future!"

Timothy spoke before I could, "I’ve invited the best bone specialist to assess Zoe’s injury, so what you’re worried about won’t happen."

Mrs. Ellison sighed with relief, her gaze full of reassurance, "Timothy, with you around, Zoe’s dad and I are both at ease."

Truly, a mother-in-law looking at her son-in-law, the more she looks, the more she likes.

Timothy said, "Mom, let’s go inside and talk."

Just like that, we entered the villa together.

It was then that I noticed Mrs. Ellison carrying several brown paper bags.

"Mom, what’s this?"

I asked, puzzled by the items in her hands.

Mrs. Ellison said with a merry smile, "These, ah! I just got them from an old traditional medicine doctor. Both you and Timothy should drink them for a while and see the effects."

Timothy and I were both taken aback.

Mrs. Ellison explained, "It’s been three years since the last child, Zoe’s body has mostly recovered. You both need to look forward, right? Why not have another while you’re young."

Although she knows Timothy practices Buddhism, she doesn’t know that Timothy and I only have marital intimacy once a month.

I suspect that after having Doris, Timothy never thought of having me bear a child for him again.

I could only play dumb with Mrs. Ellison, "Mom, Timothy and I have long moved past that period. Besides, we’re both very healthy, there’s no need for medicine."

"Then why isn’t there any news from your belly yet?"

Mrs. Ellison looked at me, then at Timothy, and suggested, "How about you both go to the hospital for a check-up? See if there’s any problem with your bodies?"

Timothy is always calmer than I am; his expression remained entirely natural as he told Mrs. Ellison, "Alright, we’ll get checked when we have time."

Mrs. Ellison was even happier, telling me, "You see Timothy, always more sensible than you since childhood."

After saying that, she patted the bags of medicine and said, "Timothy, you need to drink this and also supervise Zoe in drinking it. Understand?"

"Hmm."

Timothy always behaves like the ’ideal child’ in front of elders.

I increasingly felt pathetic.

If Mrs. Ellison knew the things he’s done, I wonder how disappointed she’d be?

Regardless of how Timothy acts towards me privately, his ability to maintain appearances is commendable.

Just like now, he actively invited Mrs. Ellison to stay for lunch.

Mrs. Ellison stayed.

During the meal, she suddenly remembered something and said to Timothy, "Oh right, are you free this Saturday?"

Timothy thought briefly and said, "I have no plans for Saturday, is there something you need?"

"Then why don’t you bring Zoe over for a meal on Saturday?"

Mrs. Ellison’s tone was cheerful as she said, "Declan will be bringing his girlfriend home; it’ll be a chance for the whole family to meet her."

I was startled, fearing that Mrs. Ellison would immediately reveal that the girlfriend is Serena.

If Timothy didn’t witness it himself, perhaps Serena could twist the truth with a few words, and he might even think that Mrs. Ellison and I conspired to wrong Serena.

Thus, I promptly interrupted, "Mom, you should try this fish, it’s Nanny Lowell’s specialty."

Little did I know Mrs. Ellison was still fixated on my brother’s girlfriend’s matter, asking Timothy, "Can you bring Zoe over for lunch on Saturday?"

"Of course."

Timothy agreed and said, "There’s been a lot of work at the company lately, it’s been a while since I’ve hung out with Declan. I had no idea he’s already dating someone. Whose family is she from?"

Mrs. Ellison was just about to speak when Timothy’s phone rang.

I also temporarily breathed a sigh of relief.

When Timothy Xavier saw the caller ID, he glanced at me and my mom without changing his expression, then got up to take the call outside.

If I’m not mistaken, it should be Serena and her daughter.

Taking this opportunity, I whispered to Mrs. Ellison, "Mom, please don’t tell Timothy that my brother’s girlfriend is Serena just yet."

Mrs. Ellison was taken aback and asked, "Why? Timothy is one of us; it’s fine if he knows."

In a moment of quick thinking, I made up an excuse, "He’s a fan of Serena; why not give him a surprise and let him find out when we have dinner."

Mrs. Ellison covered her mouth and laughed, "I didn’t expect Timothy to be star-struck."

We were chatting when Timothy returned from the phone call.

He seemed deep in thought for some reason and forgot all about the topic of my brother’s girlfriend.

Even Mrs. Ellison noticed Timothy was preoccupied.

Concerned, she asked, "Did something happen at the company? If you have something to attend to, don’t worry about me. Once we finish dinner, I’ll head back."

Timothy replied calmly, "It’s okay, there’s no rush."

He’s always been like this, no matter what he’s thinking, he always maintains a perfect facade.

I thought, maybe this is what people like Timothy refer to as ’dignity.’

After dinner, Mrs. Ellison, worried about delaying Timothy, left.

Before leaving, she specifically instructed us to take the medicine on time and to have a big, healthy baby boy next year.

I responded with a forced smile.

After Mrs. Ellison’s car drove away, Timothy pushed me back into the villa.

The large packages of medicine were still on the coffee table.

Feeling a bit embarrassed and my face a little warm, I said to him, "You don’t have to take my mom’s words to heart. Thank you for playing along with me just now."

Timothy nodded and called Nanny Lowell to throw the medicine away.

It seemed he wasn’t planning on having another child with me either.

Watching the traditional medicine that Mrs. Ellison had specifically brought us being thrown away by Timothy, I was at a loss for words.

Timothy glanced at his watch, as if he had something urgent to attend to, and quickly went upstairs.

At that moment, my phone rang.

Seeing the caller ID, it was unexpectedly my mother-in-law, Sophia Kendall.

This woman, instead of calling her son, why is she calling me?

Upon answering, I heard Sophia’s scolding voice: "Zoe Ellison, how can you be so vicious, clinging to Timothy all day and not even allowing him to see his daughter!"

I replied coldly, "I never stopped him from seeing his daughter; what he does has nothing to do with me."

"How nice of you to say that! Then why did I call him an hour ago, and he’s still not here?"

Sophia arrogantly said, "Let me tell you, these days, Serena is out of town for filming, so Timothy has to stay with Doris at my place. He won’t be returning home! If you dare to stop him, see if I haven’t had enough of you!"

Her words were like a machine gun, firing incessantly.

However, all my attention was focused on the part about ’Serena being out of town for filming these days.’

So, Serena hasn’t been in Veridia for the past few days.

Yes, she’s supposed to go to The Ellison Family with my brother on Saturday; she can’t be in two places at once, so she naturally has to come up with a way or an excuse.

Now I’m even more convinced that while Serena is entangled with Timothy, she’s also stringing along my brother.

After scolding me, Sophia hung up the phone.

Soon after, Timothy came downstairs, hurriedly.

It seemed he was preparing to head to Sophia’s place.

As he passed by me, he stopped and said, "I’ll be staying at my mom’s for the next few days, so I won’t be coming back."

"Hmm, your mom just called me."

After I said that, I added, "By the way, my mom mentioned that we should go back for lunch on Saturday. You won’t bail, right? You promised yourself."

Timothy chuckled and said, "I won’t. I’m also curious about what kind of girlfriend your brother has found."

"Alright, then it’s settled."

I nodded, watching his departing figure, unable to help but wonder what reaction Timothy would have when he saw that the mother of his child turned out to be my brother’s girlfriend.

...

In the blink of an eye, a few days passed, and it was Friday.

And during these days, Timothy hadn’t returned at all.

Although my foot injury hadn’t healed, and I couldn’t go to work for interviews, I still had a lot of news articles to write at home.

I even had to squeeze in time to write novels, so I had pushed the matter of asking Jenna Sutton to arrange the paternity test to the back of my mind.

It wasn’t until Friday evening that Jenna called me.

Her voice was urgent, "Zoe, are you home? Listen, you need to go back to The Ellison Family immediately, right now!"

I was puzzled, "What happened?"

Jenna said, "Timothy found out about the DNA test I arranged for Serena and Doris, and he just went to the nursery to cause trouble. Now my dad has locked me at home. You need to run quickly; he’ll definitely come back to give you hell next!"