Chapter 609 The Ugly Truth
After wandering the streets near the hospital for a while, Eleanor saw Melanie coming out of the hospital.
With a cunning glint in her eyes, she quickly ran up to Melanie and called out to her politely, “Mrs. Winters!”
Melanie stared at her cautiously as she responded in kind, “Oh, hello, Mrs. Hutton! What are you still doing here?”
“May I treat you to a meal, Mrs. Winters? Lia and I have been separated for over twenty years, so I don’t really know much about her. Would you mind telling me about her over lunch?” Eleanor then put on her most sincere expression as she continued with reddened eyes, “I know I was a little rude in the ward earlier, but I was just worried about my daughter being mistreated by her adoptive family. You’re a mother too, so I’m sure you can understand where I’m coming from here. Will you give me a chance to make it up to you?”
For some reason, Melanie found herself moved by Eleanor’s statement and nodded in response.
Eleanor then brought her over to a relatively fancy café and ordered a huge amount of food. “Here, feel free to order anything you like!” she said while handing Melanie the menu.
“The food you’ve ordered is enough for the two of us. Wouldn’t want to end up wasting food by ordering more than we can finish.”
“All right, then.” Eleanor handed the order chit over to the waiter and said softly, “Please serve up the food as soon as possible.”
Melanie tugged nervously at her sleeves after the waiter had left. Eleanor’s grandeur gave her a lot of pressure and made her feel self-conscious about her own appearance. On top of that, she was also feeling a little guilty about her inappropriate behavior in the ward earlier.
“Relax, Mrs. Winters. I’m really grateful to you for being Lia’s adoptive mother, so let us just have a casual conversation about her childhood,” Eleanor said in a gentle yet authoritative voice.
Noticing a hint of awkwardness and guilt in Melanie’s eyes, she continued,
“Could you tell me how Lia made it into your household? I spent a really long time searching for her, but couldn’t find any information on her whatsoever. I got so worried that I kept dreaming about her all the time. In my dreams, she was starving as she wandered the streets all by herself in tattered clothes, completely exposed to the harsh weather. The anxiety got so bad that I ended up in a psychiatric hospital a few times. Thanks to a psychiatrist’s continuous guidance, I was somewhat able to keep my emotions in check…” Eleanor started sobbing uncontrollably as she went on.
It wasn’t until Melanie’s arms began to twitch slightly that Eleanor realized she had lost her composure.
“My apologies, I didn’t mean to get so emotional. Being a mother yourself, I’m sure you can understand how I feel!” she said with a forced smile.
Melanie simply shook her head in response.
“Being Lia’s adoptive mother, you provided her with everything she needed and kept her from wandering the streets like a beggar. I may have heard unpleasant rumors about how you two treated her, but now, I realize that can’t be true. After all, she is well educated and even found herself such an amazing husband! I’m really grateful to you for everything you’ve done for her!” Eleanor added.
“P-Please don’t say that!” Melanie replied with a look of shame on her face. Providing Amelia with the basic necessities was all she really did for her. Not only did Melanie not care about Amelia, but she was also extremely cold toward her. In fact, it wouldn’t even be an overstatement to say that they were practically as distant as complete strangers.
“No, I really am grateful to you. Thank you for raising her so well. I can’t imagine how life would’ve been for Lia if you two didn’t adopt her!”
“But… Wasn’t your husband the one who handed her over to us?” Melanie asked in confusion.
Eleanor froze upon hearing that.
“What did you just say?”
“Your husband had someone bring Amelia over to us back then. The person told us that you two didn’t like her, and that you two would offer us a huge amount of money to look after her. We were told that we only needed to provide her with the basic necessities, so we didn’t really care that much about her. Our relationship with Amelia has been rather distant the whole time, and it has been almost ten years since I last saw her,” Melanie replied.
After a brief pause, she continued, “Mrs. Hutton, I don’t know why you two decided to send her over back then, but why are you acting like you don’t know anything about it? Why not just admit that you two didn’t like her? My husband and I have never lied to anyone about how we mistreated her, so how about you stop being so pretentious?”
Eleanor was trembling all over when the waiter served up their food and drinks.
“Please enjoy your meal, ladies.”
With both her hands clutching her glass tightly, Eleanor felt the cold sensation of it seep through her skin and spread through her body.
The veins on her neck bulged, and her lips smacked against each other as she tried to calm herself down by taking deep breaths.
“Are you all right, Mrs. Hutton?” Melanie asked worriedly when she noticed her unusual response.
“D-Did my husband really have someone bring Lia over to you?” Eleanor asked in a shaky voice.
“Yeah! Don’t you already know that, though?”
Eleanor let out a wry chuckle as the ugly truth crushed whatever resolve she had left in her.
“Enjoy your meal. I need to get going now,” Eleanor said as she ran out of the café.
Moments later, a sinister grin spread across Melanie’s face as she mumbled to herself, “Sorry about that, Mrs. Hutton. My husband may be a kind-hearted and honest man, but I will do everything I can to protect my son. Your husband won’t come after mine if your family is plunged into chaos.”
Of course, Eleanor was oblivious to her schemes as she had already run all the way down the street by then.
She pulled out her phone and tried to call Amelia Hutton, but her hands were trembling so much that she missed the button thrice in a row.
She even tried holding her trembling hand with the other, but it was of no use at all.
“D*mn it! Why are you doing this to me?” she cried out helplessly in despair.
The passers-by gave her weird looks, and a few of them even stepped forward to ask if she needed help.
Eleanor politely shook her head and carried on walking as she continued trying to call Amelia Hutton.
“Amelia, where is your father right now?” she asked the moment the call got through.
Amelia gave her an address.
“Tell him to wait there for me. I’ll go see him right away!” Eleanor said and hung up the phone immediately after.
She then stopped a passing taxi and read the address out to the driver. “Please hurry, mister. I’m in a bit of a rush.”
“All right,” the driver replied and drove her to that location as quickly as he could.
“Here, keep the change,” Eleanor said while handing him a hundred upon arrival.
She then quickly entered the building, took the elevator upstairs, and rang the doorbell.
It was Amelia Hutton who opened the door.
“Where’s your father?”
Noticing something off about her expression, Amelia grabbed her by the arm and asked, “What’s wrong, Mom?”
Eleanor shot her a vicious glare and raised her voice as she repeated, “I asked you a question, d*mn it! Where is your father?”
The look in Amelia’s eyes turned cold when she saw how hostile Eleanor was toward her. “As you can see, I’m the only one here right now. Dad and Sean went out to visit an old friend, so you can make yourself at home. I’m going to take a nap.”
Eleanor glared at her coldly as she shouted, “Hold it right there!”
“What else do you want, Mom?”
“Where have your father and brother went?”
“I don’t know,” Amelia replied and stood there for a few seconds in hopes of hearing Eleanor apologizing to her, but that never happened.
Feeling disappointed, she turned around and went into her room.
Eleanor waited until she had closed the door before letting out a huge sigh and slumping weakly against the sofa.
I shouldn’t have gotten the children involved in the conflicts of my generation… Now, my beloved children are all becoming more and more distant, and it’s all my fault. I never wanted any of this to happen, but I just couldn’t keep my temper in check.
She was still struggling to come to terms with the fact that her husband was the main reason behind the disappearance of her eldest daughter.
Her mind was in a total mess, but she knew for a fact that her relationship with her husband was surely coming to an end.
