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

they always argue whenever they

really listened to what she was saying.

but he couldn’t see the vulnerability and

just didn’t want to see

to convince herself that they had

or wronged

two of them at odds, Sean felt uneasy. He held

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

time, Julian

“What did

Sean said. The word “Daddy” seemed to be stuck in his throat, and he couldn’t

say it now, just wait and

was much gentler with Sean than he was

was wrong before. Daddy delayed coming here and picking you and your sister up. Daddy made you

Diana; as if she, as their mother, didn’t do enough and made the children suffer. He was saying that the children would only have a

Julian really meant it.

life was a mess. She had complicated relationships with Oliver, Simon, and