Chapter 146 How Very Strange
After Madeline had steadied herself and found her footing, she realized that she was in Sebastian’s arms. Upon seeing how closely pressed together they were, she quickly shoved him aside, only to find that she might have overreacted.
Sebastian was only helping her, and after regaining her composure, she managed to utter a stiff, “Thank you.”
“Don’t worry about it,” he answered as he waved his hand dismissively. Then, he asked, “By the way, do you have plans for tomorrow morning?”
“I’m bringing Quincy and Joel over to my parents’ place,” she answered. “My mom said something about introducing her adopted son to all three of us, so she’ll have her driver pick us up after breakfast tomorrow.” She paused and asked him, “Is there something you need me to do for you?”
“Kind of,” he replied. “How about tomorrow afternoon?”
She shook her head after a moment of thought and said, “No, I think I’m just going to take a nap with the boys after lunch.”
“Okay.” He looked at her seriously and said, “I’ll make the necessary arrangements then. After the boys’ nap, I’m taking you to Caleb’s hospital so that he can take a look at the scars on your back and see if he can suggest the best treatment for them.”
He did think about letting Caleb examine her scars at home, but that would make for a very awkward moment between a brother-in-law and a sister-in-law. As such, dropping by the hospital seemed like the best solution. Caleb would be seeing Madeline in his professional capacity as a doctor, and she would be consulting him as a patient.
“I don’t think that’s necessary,” Madeline said now. “I don’t want to impose. I mean, these scars aren’t really affecting my daily life anyway.”
“Haven’t we already talked about this multiple times? Also, haven’t we come to a consensus that if the scars can be healed, we’d go along with the best treatment there is?” Sebastian was insistent as he added, “Right, so it’s settled. Remember to clear your schedule for tomorrow afternoon.”
She couldn’t very well turn him down now. As such, she nodded obligingly and said, “Fine, then. Thank you.”
she thought. There’s still plenty
started hiking the trail, and the kids were already
they returned to her side, she began to lead them home. Joel was reluctant to leave as he muttered coquettishly next to
placated as she rubbed his head. “We
little guy perked up immediately as he said proudly,
to keep herself from laughing as she said affirmingly, “Yes,
they arrived, and before they
hand as he blinked and noted, “There
“I don’t know, Buddy. Why don’t you go
Aldo—let’s go see if our uncles are here. Our uncles are really
he allowed himself to be dragged into the living
of the living room, Joel shouted while pushing open the door, “Grandpa, Aldo and I are back! Are
up from the doorway, the guests in
and he dragged Quincy inside as he trudged through the entryway. “Grandpa,
of the twins, the three young men in the
“Welcome home, my darlings! Come over here and let me introduce you
climbed into the old man’s lap habitually. Then, he began to appraise the three
Caleb and the other two, he exclaimed, “Wow! All of you are really handsome! You’re even more handsome than you were in
Lucas praised heartily as he walked up to the child and crouched down to his eye level.
with wide eyes
and said, “Go ahead and take it. It’s
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