Chapter 60 Give Me The Child
“Little one, come, say it!” Sydney seemed to be yanking someone over the phone. “Did you hear that? Your mommy doesn’t even care about you! Now that she’s married to some rich man, she gives no hoot about you anymore.”
“Mommy, this aunt is so fierce. She’s pinching me. Ouch—” From the other end of the phone, Savannah heard Freddie crying in fear.
In a split second, tears welled up in Savannah’s eyes and she lashed out, “Sydney, touch my son again and you’ll see!”
“Well then, let’s see.”
Smack! Right in the next second, Freddie was being slapped and he started wailing.
Sydney laughed lightly and started, “I’ve beaten him. What can you do to me? This is the last time I’m asking you. Are you helping me or not?”
“I’ll help you! What exactly do you want me to do?” Savannah’s feet turned wobbly as she was greatly frightened. In that instance, she yearned so miserably to run over and be with Freddie.
“Help me become a daughter-in-law of the Quaker family.”
Regardless of what Sydney said at that juncture, Savannah would agree. She didn’t even ask why Sydney wanted to become part of the Quaker family.
“You’re simply agreeing for the sake of agreeing and I can’t feel any sincerity. Do you want me to give your son another tight slap?” Sydney squatted down and looked at Freddie who was crying aloud and reached out her hand, ready to hit him again.
“I want Mommy! I want Mommy—” Freddie’s shriek came from the other side of the phone again.
Savannah roared at her phone in anger, “Stop it, Sydney! You’ve conceived Osborn’s child and you want to marry him, isn’t it? What’s so difficult about that? Since you’re already pregnant with a Quaker child, you’ll definitely be able to marry Osborn.”
Upon hearing that, Sydney let go of Freddie and stood up. “That’s right. Do you think so as well?”
“How do you want me to help you? Do you want the Quakers to know about this or do you want me to convince Agatha to agree to this marriage?” Savannah tried to soothe Sydney as she walked to the roadside to hail a cab.
Freddie’s crying was still coming from over the phone every now and then which made her feel like a cat on a hot tin roof. She had to go to the Avery residence to see that her child was okay with her own eyes.
Sydney started laughing. “You’ve really become cleverer. You’ve guessed that Osborn isn’t willing to marry me so you’re targeting the elders in the Quaker family and make them pressure Osborn into marrying me?”
Osborn was a known womanizer so Savannah supposed that he was only messing around with Sydney. Since Sydney could come up with this idea of taking advantage of her pregnancy to pressure him, the only way this could be achieved was either through Agatha or Osborn’s parents.
However, Sydney’s move was futile against Osborn because with such a man who had been used to play the field, there must have been accidents with other women.
Therefore, ploys that she could come up with, other women would have definitely thought about them. Nevertheless, the other women would never have the opportunity to meet the elders of the Quaker family and even if they got to meet them, their status would be incompatible with that of Osborn.
“Yes. Let the elderly Quakers know and he’ll never be able to shake off his responsibility to you.”
Sydney replied, “We’re on the same page.”
“I’m coming back to the Avery residence now. Give me the report of your pregnancy test and I’ll show it to Agatha or Osborn’s parents.”
“Alright, I’ll wait for you at home.” Sydney hung up on her and gave Freddie who was still crying a disdainful look as she shouted to the helper impatiently, “Lily, take this kid away, lock him up in the room and leave him there. Let him cry all he wants.”
“Yes, Ms. Avery,” Lily answered and came to take Freddie away.
Sydney sat on the sofa in the living room and didn’t hear the child’s crying anymore. That made her feel a lot more serene.
It was around ten o’clock in the morning and all the other members of the Avery family were not around. Sean and Nina had gone to the company early in the morning while Ford was on a business trip to verify a project allocation at the branch office.
She lay back on the sofa and took a short rest. Then, rather weakly, she took out the report of her pregnancy test from her bag.
The result above stated that she was pregnant. However, she wasn’t sure about the identity of the child’s father.
Anyway, the fact that she was pregnant should never be revealed to Ford. When she went to see Osborn and showed him the report the night before, she didn’t expect that he would ask her to get an abortion without any hesitation.
At that moment, there was no difference in the way that Osborn was looking at her compared to how he used to look at those celebrities and models with whom he had fooled around.
She had never been in such a lowly position in front of any men before. In any case, she was from the Avery family. Therefore, she wouldn’t listen to Osborn in this matter.
In order to make Osborn realize that she was no ordinary woman, she had to become his wife.
Savannah who was sitting in the cab was exceedingly worried. She couldn’t wait to see Freddie and hoped that his pure puny heart and soul wouldn’t be hurt anymore. She couldn’t bear to endure it even for another day.
I have to bring my child away from all these troubles. This thought in her mind had been growing stronger and firmer by the day.
As soon as she reached the Avery residence, Savannah got out of the car swiftly and entered the residence. When she saw Sydney, she splurted, “I want to see my son! There’s nothing to talk about if I don’t see him first!”
Sydney raised her chin and looked upstairs. “Lily had brought him upstairs. You know his room. You can go upstairs yourself.”
Savannah rushed to the third floor in quick steps and when she reached the narrow door, she pushed it open abruptly and saw Lily carrying Freddie in her arms and was coaxing him.
Freddie wasn’t wailing anymore but tears were still trickling down his face as his eyes were closed. “I want Mommy…”
His voice wasn’t loud but it was fearful and heart-rending.
“Give me the child.” Savannah was greatly distressed.
Lily handed the child over to her and started with a heavy heart, “You need to comfort this child properly.” With that, she left the room.
Lily was the helper who had worked for the longest time in the Avery residence. She had been obeying only the orders given by the other Averys and not Savannah. Lily had never taken Savannah who showed up in the Avery family from nowhere seriously.
That was because all the other Averys had never been fond of Savannah as well and they even treated her like the family’s helper.
However, since this child was sent over to the Avery residence, Mr. and Ms. Avery had asked her to take care of him. She wasn’t a heartless person and as the days went by, there were some changes in her.
She had developed a bond with the adorable and obedient Freddie. To her, he was just like her own grandchild and she couldn’t help sympathizing with and feeling sorry for him.
Lily shook her head and could only wish that Freddie would not be locked up there anymore. She then went downstairs to the kitchen.
When he heard Savannah’s voice, Freddie knew that he was in his mommy’s arms.
He was no longer behaving like he used to in the past when he would pester and plead to leave with Savannah as soon as he saw her. This time, he was only burying his puny face in her arms and tugging firmly at her shirt with his tiny fingers.
Savannah knew very well that she owed this child too much and she uttered sadly, “Freddie, it’s fine now. It’s all Mommy’s fault. Just bear with me a little longer and Mommy will bring you away from here very soon.”
Freddie nodded his head in her arms and replied in a hushed voice, “Mommy, I’m a good boy but why is Aunt Sydney treating me so badly?”
“It has nothing to do with you, my child. That aunt has some mental problems. Before Mommy can take you away from here, you must protect yourself and not let anyone hurt you.”
Freddie opened his eyes and looked at her perplexedly. It was as though he had understood something but then the way he looked implied otherwise.
Savannah couldn’t hold it in anymore and tears streamed down her cheeks. How can I possibly ask a two-year-old child to protect himself? And what difference would it make to tell Freddie all these? I can only blame myself for I’ve been such a useless mommy.
Freddie reached out his tiny hands to wipe away her tears and, half-grasping what Savannah just said, he replied, “Don’t cry, Mommy. I’ll protect myself when you’re not around and I’ll wait for you to come.”
The fact that her child was far more sensible than his peers agonized her. Her tears came gushing out uncontrollably and she could only hug Freddie tightly in her arms, saying to him apologetically, “Sorry, Freddie. Mommy’s incompetence is the cause of all these. Mommy’s to be blamed…”
