Filed to story: My Gorgeous Wife is an Ex-Convict Novel by Anastasia Marie
“I, uh, I mean, let’s not overplay this,” she said as much to Lina as Jay. “These are my family members. They won’t physically harm me.”
“It’s not the physical harm I was worried about,” Lina muttered.
Jason’s eyes narrowed as if he heard Lina’s words and was also concerned about Grace’s emotional duress.
“Relax,” Grace said to the both of them. “I am only going to visit my grandmother. I will be back in two days.”
Grace set off early in the morning. Before she set off, she hurriedly brushed a kiss against Jay’s cheek. “Take care, Jay. Mind your safety.”
He smiled crookedly. One hand lifted to his face where her lips.
had been.
“For you, sister, I can do anything.”
After Grace left, Jason looked around the small rental apartment and felt empty inside.
He picked up the scarf she had placed on the table and wrapped it around his neck. The corner of his lips curled into a slight smile.
When Jason walked out of the rental apartment, Terrence had already been waiting outside for a long time. When he saw his boss, he was stunned. The president had never liked wearing a plain scarf, but then… he was wearing one.
And when Jason walked closer to him, Terrence studied the threads on the scarf and the knitting method. He was almost sure that it was a hand-made scarf.
There seemed to be only one answer to Mr. Reed’s hand-woven scarf.
This scarf was probably knitted by Grace!
“Mr. Reed, we’re going to…”
“Let’s go to the hospital. Today, I probably should have dinner with the Old Master.” Jason ordered.
“Okay,” Terrence responded. He started the car and headed for the hospital.
The bus stopped at a place not far from the southern entrance of the town where Grace got off. It had already been three years, and this town seemed to have changed a lot.
Some of the muddy roads had been rebuilt with cement.
On the way, she met some of the neighbors who used to live close to her grandmother’s house. They all pointed at her and whispered to each other. Grace was already used to this.
Ever since she was released from prison, those who knew her in the past could not help but talk about her when they saw her.
When she arrived at her grandmother’s house, she found it to be crowded with her relatives.
Seeing her, her second uncle forced a smile and said, “Grace! Come on in and have a seat. We’ve been waiting for you for a long time.”
Grace was a little surprised. After all, after what had happened to her, her second uncle had even sent someone to tell her to not implicate them at the courthouse.
“Come, come, sit down!” Her third aunt walked over with a warm expression and pulled Grace down to the chair. Then, her uncle-in-law, aunt-in-law, second uncle-in-law, and third uncle… All these relatives surrounded her and asked her about her well-being.
Grace had a flash of doubt in her eyes. “Where’s grandma?”
she asked.
“Grandma is taking a nap right now. You can go see her when she wakes up,” her third aunt said.
Her uncle then said, “Grace, now that you are out of prison, you have to be a decent person. You’re not with anyone now, right? Women should always find a man to rely on. I will introduce you to a good partner later.”
“Uncle, I don’t want to find anyone to get together with right now.” Grace refused.
“Sigh, child, what’s wrong with you…” Her uncle seemed to want to say something else, but her third aunt winked at him, and he didn’t say anything more.
At this moment, Grace’s grandmother, Susie, was in an intense argument with her husband.
“I disagree. I absolutely don’t agree to marry her off to that fool. She’s going to ruin her whole life!” Susie shouted.
Mr. Kelleigh snorted and said, “She has already been ruined for a lifetime. What do you think Grace can do now that she is out of prison? I have asked around about it. She’s a street cleaner now. It’s better for her to get married while she is still young. The Miller family said that as long as Grace gives birth to a baby for the Miller family, they will support her for a lifetime. I am doing this for her sake.””
“What do you mean you’re doing it for her sake? You are simply greedy for the Miller family’s money!” Susie said with hatred, “You are selling Grace off!”
“Mom, what do you mean we are selling her off?” The third aunt came over and said, “Dad is doing this for our whole family. My nephews are going to get married soon. Now, with the 300,000 dollars of the Miller family, they can at least get a down payment if they buy a house in the town. Mom, you can’t let your grandson fail to get a wife.”
The third aunt tried her best to persuade Susie. After all, her father and two elder brothers had promised her that they would give her 300,000 dollars when the time came.
300,000 dollars was equivalent to her yearly salary!
However, no matter what her daughter or her husband said, Susie refused to cooperate. In the end, the third aunt simply said, “Mom, Big Brother and Second Brother said that if your mess this up and our nephews can’t afford a house and a wife, they will blame you for the rest of their lives!”
Susie felt angry and anxious when she heard that. “Do you… do you still have any conscience? Have you forgotten how
Grace used to take care of us?”
The third aunt smiled and said, “Mom, the past is the past, and the present is the present. You can’t ruin our family and the future of our younger generation just because of her. Besides, my nephew and second nephew not being able to marry also has something to do with her. Why would any daughter of a decent family still want to marry them if they heard that one of our family members was in prison? Not to mention if we don’t even have a house prepared for the brides-to-be.”
After a while, Susie gritted her teeth and looked at her third daughter with tears in her eyes. “How… how can you be worthy of your sister?”
The third aunt didn’t take it seriously. Her fourth sister had been dead for so many years. Even if she was indeed close with her before, how could that compare to the money she could get now?
Grace was still surrounded by her cousins out in the front. Her cousin, Stella, was chewing on some crackers as she said with a faint smile, “I heard Grandpa said that he had asked your father about you. Your father said that you’re a street sweeper now. Is that true?”
Stella was one year older than Grace, but she had been on the losing end since they were young. Grace had been a straight-A student in school, but Stella couldn’t even manage to enter a university. After graduating from high school, she went to take on part-time jobs. Later, she ended up marrying a metal smith in the neighboring town.
At that time, Grace was dating Sean, the son of a rich and powerful family. When Stella thought of the person that Grace had managed to hook up with and thought about her own partner again, she felt inferior and ashamed.