Filed to story: The Return Novel (Natalie & Bryce) PDF Read Online Free >>
Mrs. Perkins quickly asked, “Mrs. Claire, why are you back so late? Are you hungry? I’ll make you some food.”
Natalie was moved by Mrs. Perkins’ concern. She said slowly, “Mrs. Perkins, I’ve already eaten. There’s no need to wait up for me when I’m late. You have to look after yourself.”
Mrs. Perkins looked flattered and said, “Oh, don’t worry about me. I’m too old to need much sleep.” She thought that not only was Mrs. Claire nice, but she also did not have the slightest bit of arrogance when she talked to the house helps. She sighed inwardly at Bryce’s good taste.
Natalie was tired. She asked absently, “Mrs. Perkins, where’s Liam?”
“Liam is upstairs in Mr. Claire’s room preparing to sleep,” Mrs. Perkins said with a smile. She remembered that Bryce had accepted Liam’s request to sleep in his bedroom. This made her happy. She had watched Bryce grow up, and from a young age, he had loved to be clean and separate from other people to a much higher degree than others. Ever since adolescence, he had lived by himself, even his mother had rarely gone to his room. She hadn’t expected that Bryce would change so much in response to Liam and Natalie coming to live in the house.
Natalie walked upstairs to the door of Bryce’s room. She knew about Bryce’s moods, and she couldn’t quite believe that Liam was in his room. The door was not closed tightly, and through this small crack, she saw Liam laying on Bryce’s bed. Bryce was reading him a story. She stood at the door and listened to Bryce’s deep voice. It made her feel slightly numb. For a moment, she felt as if what she was seeing wasn’t real.
She’d originally meant to take a quick look before returning to her room so as to avoid disturbing them, but now she found that she was reluctant to move. She stood in the doorway for a long time. After a while, Liam spotted Natalie. He immediately got up and shouted, “Mommy, you’re here!”
Her face turned red. She felt extremely embarrassed to have been discovered watching them. Natalie braced herself and entered the room, going to sit beside Liam. She surreptitiously observed Bryce’s reaction. He only glanced at her indifferently, just like he always did. She let out a sigh of relief.
Seeing that it was getting late, she said to Bryce, “Thank you for looking after Liam tonight, but it’s getting late, so I’ll take him and go back to rest.” Then she looked at Liam and said, “Come on, Liam, let’s go to my room. I’ll read you a story and then we’ll sleep.”
But Liam, who was normally so obedient, decided to disagree with her. He looked at her with tears in his eyes and said, “No, no, Mommy, I want to be with Dad.”
Liam’s simple words made Natalie gasp. An image of her and Bryce lying on the same bed suddenly appeared in her mind, and she didn’t dare to catch Bryce’s eye. She said, “Listen, Liam, Dad has to work tomorrow, so let’s not disturb him. Come with me.” She tried to pull Liam up from the bed, thinking about the image of her and Bryce lying down together. She became more determined and picked Liam up from the bed.
Liam looked at her with tears in his eyes. He looked upset and said, “Mommy, don’t make me go.”
Her heart suddenly softened, but then she told herself that sleeping here would be really inappropriate. So she could only harden her heart and say, “Liam, please, can you do what I ask you?”
But Liam only shook his head and grabbed hold of Bryce’s sleeve. He refused to let go. He couldn’t bear to leave Bryce.
Natalie sighed helplessly. She looked pleadingly at Bryce and saw that his eyes were lit up with an amused smile. When Natalie looked at him, he took Liam’s small hand in his own. Bryce said to Liam, “Go to sleep, Liam, right here.”
Liam laughed out loud, and the look of upset vanished from his face. Natalie’s heart almost melted as she saw Liam like this. As long as Liam was happy, she didn’t care about anything else. With that thought in mind, she moved to the bed and lay down next to Liam. She felt Bryce’s gaze on her and didn’t dare to look at him.
Liam was very happy to be lying in the middle between his mom and dad. He didn’t know whose hand to hold; he was very excited. Natalie took the storybook from Bryce and said to Liam, “Okay, it’s getting late. I’ll read you a story and then you can sleep, okay?”
Liam finally stopped messing around and went to sleep without her noticing. In the end, she herself fell asleep while she was reading. Bryce looked at the sleeping mother and child and smiled. Then he simply closed his eyes and fell asleep himself. This was the first time the three of them had slept together as a family.
The next morning, when Mrs. Perkins got up, she passed by Bryce’s room and saw Natalie, Liam, and Bryce asleep in a row on the bed. The warm family scene made her smile. She was delighted to see them all together like that. Previously, Bryce and Natalie had been distant from each other, and she was worried that there was a problem with their relationship. But now it seemed to her that maybe she had been worrying unnecessarily. She was so happy to see Mr. and Mrs. Clare together.
Little did she know about the arrangement Bryce and Natalie had made. But what will happen when the truth about their relationship comes out in the open? Will Mrs. Perkins treat Natalie with similar love and respect, or will her attitude toward her change?