“It’s not you I’m looking for; I want to speak to Sonia. Is she there with you?” Grace asked on the other line, prompting Charles to glance over at Sonia.
“She’s here,” he answered.
“Pass the phone to her.”
Having made a noise of agreement, Charles handed Sonia his phone while saying, “Here, it’s my mom.”
Sonia took the phone over and greeted pleasantly, “Mrs. Lane.”
“Sonia! I’ve missed you so much.” Grace beamed as soon as she heard Sonia’s voice on the other end of the call.
Sonia, on the other hand, smiled as well. “I’ve missed you, too, Mrs. Lane.”
“You could always drop by to see me, you know,” Grace pointed out, feigning dejection.
“Sorry, Mrs. Lane. I’ve been tied up with tons of stuff recently. I barely have time to breathe,” Sonia winced and said apologetically.
“Well, you could come over for a meal right now if you have the time. I’ll bust out a few of my best recipes for you,” Grace cajoled kindly.
Sonia was just about to say something when Charles—who had been eavesdropping—spoke up instead. “Mom, I’m bringing my darling for seafood.”
Grace, however, was insistent as she countered, “You know how restaurants never run a quality check on their seafood supplies, and it’s not as if they could do better than me when it comes to cooking.”
you for the offer, Mrs. Lane. We’ll go over
chortled happily, elated that the
and gave Sonia a resigned look. “Well, it looks like we’re going to have to give the seafood restaurant a
pick out gifts for your parents.” With that, she linked arms with him and led him
made their rounds through the boutiques in the mall, they finally picked out an elegant cloak for
was more family than anything else. In particular, Grace had been best friends with Sonia’s mother.
pulled up
the same as it had
her guest when she heard the sound of the car pulling up. Her eyes lit up at the sight of Sonia, and she approached the latter with her arms spread wide
Lane,” Sonia greeted
and drawled sarcastically, “Don’t mind me, Mom. I’m just your biological son, is
me when I say I’m getting tired of it. My attention is on Sonia now. Come here, Sonia, let me take a good look at you!” She clasped Sonia’s hands in hers and slowly spun her around, then concluded
amused by the remark. “No,
Grace insisted. “Your face
slender than usual,” Sonia placated. “Alright, that’s enough fretting, Mrs. Lane. Shall we head into
then.” Grace took her by the hand and led her into the family
no one else at home but them, and she couldn’t
for the past six
to detail the life she had had with the Fullers, though she kept
those Fullers were rotten! You should have told us how badly they were treating you, Sonia. If you had told
he bit into an apple. “That’s what
kept mum about her abusive marriage wounded him, and the rage he felt never went away. That being said, he was less angry with her than he was
Sonia felt warmth course through her. Tears pricked her eyes as she said,
had lost both her parents, and the closest thing she had to a family was Grace and the rest of the Lanes. She might have been able to get them to stand up for her throughout her marriage to Toby, but they couldn’t come to her defense all the time. Besides, they weren’t actually related to her,
Grace gently prodded
was frustrated, but she smiled good-naturedly as
at this gesture and smoothed Sonia’s hair with
Charles frowned as he sniffed the air curiously. “Mom, what do you have on the stove? I
and her eyes lit up with panic. She
simmering in the
she brought two tall glasses of juice over to Sonia and said, “Here you go, Sonia. Have some juice while you
nodded with
shot Charles a look. “Come and help me
hardly believe what he had just heard as he pointed at his nose. “Are you serious, Mom? What could
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