Chapter 158: Chapter 156: You’re My Woman, So of Course I’ll Dote on You (7)
She just watched him like that. This was the first time she’d ever seen him so up close.
Perhaps her gaze was too intense, because he opened his eyes too.
Their eyes met. The proximity, mere inches apart, seemed to suddenly close the distance between them.
Chloe Marshall then turned away and said, "It’s time to get up."
He released her hand, his voice tinged with a playful grievance. "You were holding my hand all last night. I let you. How do you plan on thanking me for all my hard work?"
Chloe Marshall didn’t dare to get up. She was completely naked and needed him to get dressed before she could get out of bed herself.
"What do you want, Boss Ellsworth? As long as it’s something I have, anything goes."
Ethan Ellsworth was perfectly composed, his eyes full of flirtatious charm. "You’re the one who said it?"
Chloe Marshall nodded.
Ethan Ellsworth smiled. "What an idiot. It’s true. Alright, I’ll hold you to that. Just wait for the day I come to collect."
He got up, grabbed his clothes, and went into the bathroom.
Seeing her chance, Chloe Marshall quickly got dressed. By the time Ethan Ellsworth came out, she was ready as well.
"Wash up and come downstairs for breakfast." He opened the door and left.
Chloe Marshall neatly folded the quilt and smoothed out the bedsheets before heading to the bathroom to wash her face. She usually wore her hair in a neat ponytail, but today she simply combed it and let it fall straight over her shoulders. Without any bangs, the style made her look surprisingly alluring.
When she got downstairs, the entire Ellsworth family was already up. Seeing that she was the last one, Chloe Marshall felt a little embarrassed. "I’m sorry, I overslept."
Mrs. Ellsworth looked thrilled. She happily pulled out a chair for Chloe Marshall and said, "Chloe, dear, hurry and sit down! You must have put in a lot of effort last night, huh? Don’t worry, just eat up. Mom made a whole table of delicious breakfast for you."
Ethan Ellsworth and Chloe Marshall froze. ’Mom?’
Zoe Ellsworth was also taken aback. "Last night, my sister-in-law was still calling you Mrs. Ellsworth. How did that change to ’Mom’ overnight?"
"From now on, she’ll call me Mom. Chloe is the daughter-in-law I’ve set my heart on. I’m going to pick an auspicious date today. You two need to get married and give me a grandson! A granddaughter would be fine too, but you have to give me one or the other."
Ethan Ellsworth broke out in a cold sweat. "Mom, didn’t I already tell you to let nature take its course? Don’t be so anxious. You’ll get your grandson. And your granddaughter."
Mrs. Ellsworth glared at him. "How dare you! You said those exact words to me five years ago!"
Ethan Ellsworth said awkwardly, "Your son is only twenty-five. What’s the rush?"
"Right. And by the time you’re thirty-five, I’ll be ancient. Do you think I’ll still be able to hold my grandchildren then?"
Ethan Ellsworth was finally at a loss for words. He understood the Empress Dowager’s desperate need for a royal heir, but he and Chloe Marshall were just putting on an act. It wasn’t real. ’How are we supposed to have a baby?’
"Alright, alright. Let’s eat, let’s eat."
After they left the Ellsworth Family home and got into the car, Ethan Ellsworth turned to Chloe Marshall. "Do you still want to keep this act going?"
Chloe Marshall looked back at him. "It’s up to you, Boss Ellsworth. Like I said this morning, whatever you want, as long as I have it, I’ll do it."
Ethan Ellsworth suddenly fell silent. After a moment, he looked at her and said, "Then let’s keep the act going. We’ll stop when we can’t anymore."
Chloe Marshall nodded. "Okay. To be honest, I really like your mother. She’s so kind. She feels like... a real mom."
Ethan Ellsworth seemed lost in thought. "Didn’t my mom just tell you to call her Mom? Since she said it, you should go ahead."
Chloe Marshall’s eyes widened, her face beaming with delight. "Boss Ellsworth, can I really call her that?"
Seeing how ecstatic she was, he nodded. "You can."
Chloe Marshall was overjoyed. "This feels so nice."
Ethan Ellsworth never knew a single word—"Mom"—could make a woman look happier than if she’d been given a pile of money.
In truth, he was happy too. He’d never expected his mother to like Chloe Marshall. He always thought she, like him, preferred women like Jean.
He’d never imagined she would take such a liking to Chloe Marshall, who seemed to be from a completely different world.
The next few days flew by, each one bringing Jean Grant and Marlon Marshall’s wedding closer. Finally, the eighth of the month arrived. On that day, the news that Jean Grant, the young lady of the Grant family, was marrying down to Marlon Marshall, a man of common stock, became a hot topic for the media.
It wasn’t just because she was marrying so far beneath her station, but also because the dowry provided by the Grant Family was enough to make any man green with envy.
But as the groom’s family, Mrs. Marshall merely hosted the wedding banquet at a small, local eatery, a choice that every one of the Grant Family’s relatives found utterly shabby.
The Grant Family had provided a huge dowry, so booking a proper hotel wouldn’t have been a major expense. But Mrs. Marshall claimed it was too wasteful and refused, insisting on the small eatery instead.
When Mrs. Grant heard about this, her expression turned foul.
Even Jean Grant felt it was a poor choice. After all, the Grant Family’s relatives were all high society. Many of the guests were prominent business figures and major celebrities. Stuffing them into a tiny restaurant was simply unpresentable.
The restaurant was so small that the guests had to be received in three separate waves. In the end, many of the Grant Family’s relatives simply handed their red envelopes to Jean Grant and left.
As they departed, every one of them was gossiping about the reception, leaving Jean Grant with a sour feeling in her stomach.
She had clearly given Mrs. Marshall five million to handle everything, but it was obvious her mother-in-law hadn’t spent a cent of it.
The wedding ceremony proceeded, not in a church as one might expect, but right there inside the restaurant.
Hordes of reporters showed up to take pictures, and the internet was soon flooded with posts mocking Mrs. Marshall’s cheapness.
In the end, the crowd leaving the restaurant caused a massive traffic jam.
Everyone was just crowding around to watch the spectacle.
Mrs. Grant hadn’t come. She was so furious she’d nearly fainted.
This had truly become a huge joke at the Grant Family’s expense. After seeing the online commentary, Mrs. Grant couldn’t take it anymore. She drove to Mrs. Marshall’s house herself.
Staring at the small apartment, Mrs. Grant suppressed her rage. Simply by standing there, her aristocratic air completely overshadowed Mrs. Marshall.
"I’m not against my daughter marrying down. Who can I blame? My daughter has terrible taste and fell for your son. But the five million she gave you was for hosting a proper banquet at a hotel! What is the meaning of this little-eatery stunt? Did you want everyone in Alveria to know just how pathetic your family is?!"
Mrs. Marshall stood up, her expression hard. "Now, I don’t appreciate that tone, my dear in-law. We’re a humble family. We never insisted on marrying your daughter. She’s the one who was throwing herself at my son. Can you blame me for that? As for the five million, she gave it to me. There was no reason for me to refuse it, was there?"
Mrs. Grant sneered. "Since she gave it to you, shouldn’t you, as an elder, give the children a respectable wedding? No church was one thing, but not even a hotel? If I had known, we, the bride’s family, would have handled it ourselves! You shouldn’t have insisted on taking charge. I’d heard you were a penny-pincher, and it turns out to be true. My daughter is the one lowering herself, and it’s only because she’s doing that that you have the audacity to disgrace the Grant Family like this."
Jean Grant, still in her red wedding dress, came out and cried, "Mom, please stop."
