Julian’s Stand-In Wife

Those were indeed Julian’s exact words.

He was so frustrated, he couldn’t even reply.

After a while, he snapped, “Are you done?”

“No!” Diana took a deep breath. “You’re right. You were basically raising children while not knowing a thing about them. You’ve never experienced the pain and heartache of giving birth. How could you be anything but a happy and ignorant father?”

“Watch your words, Diana!”

The way Diana said it made it sound like he had been cheated on, and had raised children that weren’t his.

Now that it was confirmed that the two children were his flesh and blood, her words made him uncomfortable.

Julian crouched, annoyed. “The children are still here. Could your temper be any worse? It’d be great if you scared them all away. You’d be happy, wouldn’t you?”

This man never had any kind words for her. Diana was hurt by his accusations, but dared not speak loudly again.

“I’m more upset about Betty’s condition than you are,” she said. “Regardless, you have no right to criticize me.”

Julian sneered. “Everything you say is unacceptable, as always. I don’t know where you got such a temper.”

always like

always argue

to what she was saying. He only saw her unusual

every word she said with meticulous scrutiny, but he couldn’t see

he just didn’t want to see

to convince herself that they had nothing between them except the

feel sad or wronged because

at odds, Sean felt uneasy. He held his sister’s

he could call Julian “Daddy” with ease. Now, he couldn’t

that this time, Julian had come

expectantly. “What did you want

to be stuck in his throat,

If you can’t say it now, just

was much gentler with Sean than he was with

he spoke. “Let’s take our time. Daddy was wrong before. Daddy delayed coming here and picking you and your sister

their mother, didn’t do enough and made the children suffer. He was saying that the

Julian really meant it.

with Oliver, Simon, and many other men—it wasn’t conducive to