CHAPTER 190: CHAPTER 190: HAWTHORNE FAMILY’S FOURTH SON

Poppy Hale was taken aback.

She had just taken a bath with Florence Lynch, and now her skin was damp, and water was still dripping from the tips of her hair.

When Florence mentioned Anya Archer and Chloe Archer were going abroad and never coming back, Poppy was a bit surprised.

Then she thought, it’s actually a good thing.

There’s nothing great about being here in this country.

The parents on Chloe’s side were also not around, so she had no attachments left.

Poppy took out her phone, opened the messages, and sure enough, she saw Chloe inviting her for dinner tomorrow.

After agreeing on the specific time and place with Chloe, Poppy put her phone away.

Florence looked at Poppy, "Mom, shouldn’t you go to sleep now?"

"Yeah, let’s go to sleep."

Florence shook her head and pointed to a shadow that flashed by the door.

"Uncle Hawthorne has come to look for you several times, Mom, does he want to kiss you again?"

Poppy: "..."

Florence’s innocent words didn’t make her realize she was dancing in her mom’s danger zone.

"Last time, I saw Uncle Hawthorne kiss Mom and he even ate Mom’s tongue."

"Another time, I saw Uncle Hawthorne leaning on Mom’s chest. Is he like me, still a baby who needs feeding?"

Florence was speaking and suddenly started to sniffle quietly.

"Mom, does he want to eat you and then I won’t have a Mom anymore?"

Poppy braced herself to reassure Florence.

She mentally cursed Declan Hawthorne several times over.

In the future, such things must not be seen by Florence!

Poppy patiently instructed, "Florence, this is a secret between me and your Uncle Hawthorne. Florence, can you promise not to tell anyone else? If others know, Mom will be sad."

Tears still hung on Florence’s eyelashes, and hearing this, she nodded, pouting pitifully, "Okay! Isn’t Uncle Hawthorne going to eat you?"

"People who eat others have black teeth, Uncle Hawthorne doesn’t eat people; he has white teeth. Have you seen Uncle Hawthorne’s teeth, Florence?"

Florence thought carefully and actually remembered, Declan Hawthorne had white teeth.

Every time Declan Hawthorne smiled, his teeth were dazzlingly white.

Florence immediately stopped crying, her face beamed as though the rain had cleared.

Her nose was still red, and Poppy felt both heartache and amusement looking at her.

After coaxing Florence to sleep, she got up to tidy the toys on the carpet.

Jackie Barrett and Truth Hale were not the type to spoil Florence; they played with her every day, but also insisted on cleaning up with her.

Even though the house had many servants, these small, manageable tasks were to train the children’s hands-on abilities and organizing skills.

Poppy bent down to tidy up the toys and left the room door slightly open.

Jackie’s room was opposite, and seeing Poppy come out, he made a shushing gesture with his index finger.

Jackie nodded and whispered, "You should go up, Declan has looked for you several times already. I don’t know if there’s something going on. I and the nanny are here for Florence."

The Hawthorne Family had hired a full-time childcare expert who lived next door.

Poppy nodded in agreement.

She headed upstairs.

The room light was off, but Declan Hawthorne’s study was lit.

Seeing Poppy, Declan beckoned her over, "Come here."

Entering the study, Declan pulled Poppy to sit on his lap, flipping through a jewelry booklet on the desk.

"These are the pieces for the Hawthorne Group’s upcoming jewelry exhibition. Want to take a look?"

Poppy covered her eyes.

"No way, fair competition!"

"I’m kidding, these are past exhibition works by the brands. I don’t have the current ones. To be fair, this time the theme is blind selection."

With Poppy involved, Declan couldn’t help but face allegations of unfairness.

Poppy herself wouldn’t like that.

So it became a blind selection theme; all participating companies were to send their jewelry for exhibition, all kept confidential.

"However, their heads sent me booklets to review. If you want to know, you’ll have to bribe me."

"I don’t want to know that badly."

Poppy smiled, sitting in Declan’s embrace, flipping through previous Hawthorne Group jewelry exhibitions.

"These exhibition pieces are indeed excellent."

"Justin has a copy of this booklet too, speaking frankly, your design this round seems promising, but jewelry design and embedding craftsmanship are also crucial."

Poppy nodded.

"We’re currently in contact with several jewelry masters who are quite interested."

The only drawback was that the Chrysalis series, as a fledgling company’s maiden work, didn’t have strong backing.

Poppy and Justin Hawthorne didn’t want to use the Hawthorne Group’s name.

To break out of the chrysalis, they needed to break free from their original confines to have a chance to emerge as butterflies.

Declan was dissatisfied, but said nothing.

If she wanted to do it, he’d give her the opportunity to try.

As he leaned in towards Poppy’s neck, just about to kiss her, a shadow flitted by the doorway.

Poppy jumped up in a flash.

She ran over and shut the door.

Declan frowned, "Am I not allowed to kiss you in my own home?"

"Declan, I’m too tired to even argue with you!"

Poppy’s face was red as she recounted what Florence had just said.

"You must have left the door open last time, and Florence ended up seeing it!"

Declan smirked, knowing he was at fault, reaching out to smooth her hair and comfort her.

"It must have been me who forgot to close the door, but Florence is still young, it’s fine."

"It’s precisely because she’s young that she shouldn’t see it. Her little brain can’t process it, she thinks you’re trying to eat me."

Declan’s voice held a laugh, he replied with an "mmm."

"I do want to eat you, just like last night."

Last night during the movie, the ambiance was so flirtatious and ambiguous that Poppy couldn’t bear to recall.

She cleared her throat.

"If Florence were older and understood what we were doing, it wouldn’t matter, but right now she’s too young; it would scare her."

The most important thing is.

What if Florence’s mind couldn’t process it and she started telling everyone?

Would she still have any face left?

Declan didn’t think it mattered; even if Florence told the whole family, it didn’t matter.

It would merely prove his great relationship with his wife.

But Poppy was slightly annoyed, her furrowed brows showing a hint of anger.

Declan agreed with her, acquiescing.

"Okay, I’ll listen to you. We’ll make sure to close the door properly."

"Who was that person just now?"

Florence was already asleep, and besides, the third floor rarely had visitors, it wasn’t likely the nanny or Jackie.

Declan pondered for a moment, "Probably the fourth brother, his room is downstairs, he just got back."

Fourth brother, Ronan Hawthorne, indeed hadn’t met Poppy yet.

Declan squeezed the back of Poppy’s neck and kissed her.

"You’ve been avoiding me so long with Florence, now it’s time to be with me."

"What’s the point in competing with kids for affection... go easy!"

It is pointless.

But he insisted.

In front of Poppy, he wanted to compete for affection with everyone.

-

Early the next morning, Poppy and Declan went downstairs, breakfast was already prepared.

Jackie invited them to join for breakfast.

At the dining table, a young man stood up, "Big Brother, Sister-in-law."

Declan responded and pulled out a chair for Poppy to sit down, casually saying, "Good to be back, Poppy, this is the fourth brother, Ronan."

Poppy nodded to Ronan Hawthorne, only glanced at him before looking away.

Which also made her miss the unfiltered scrutiny in Ronan’s eyes when he looked at her.