Chapter 703: Chapter 674: Fleeting Years (Part 3)
The year 2046,
when Sienna Thornton was fifty-five years old, Melinda Linton, who had been hospitalized for a long time, was already withered and decayed.
In fact, Melinda Linton’s health had been deteriorating for years. She had a rather severe heart condition, making it difficult for her to live long. But later, when Sienna Thornton brought her to live in the city, and after reconciling with Quentin Thorne, she received excellent care, which allowed her to live to sixty through various means of repair.
But once she entered her late sixties, her condition declined.
Quentin Thorne found her the country’s best heart specialist. The expert suggested an artificial heart transplant to extend her lifespan, and Simon Forrester spared no expense, arranging for an artificial heart for his mother-in-law.
Before the heart transplant, they knew that even with a new heart, Melinda Linton could only extend her life by a few years.
Initially, Sienna Thornton was particularly distressed, crying herself to sleep every day.
Birth, aging, sickness, and death, and the eternal separation from loved ones, are inevitable stages of life. But the thought of the mother who shared a life with her since childhood, ultimately leaving her, turning into a handful of ashes, and disappearing forever, filled her with overwhelming grief like a flood, drowning her to the point of suffocation.
Her feelings towards Melinda Linton were complex.
When she was young, her grievances against Melinda Linton were numerous.
When Melinda Linton neglected her to care for Felix Raines’ twin children, she resented her; when Felix Raines forced her to marry the village chief’s son instead of allowing her to attend high school, she blamed Melinda Linton for not fighting for her until the end.
But when she became a mother of three herself, taking care of the children day and night for twenty years, she finally understood that a mother is not a superwoman. In those countless days and nights, there are always times when one child needs her more than another.
Over the years, she also came to terms with why Melinda Linton couldn’t decisively fight Felix Raines back then. Besides Melinda Linton being too weak to stand up to Felix Raines, being alone and cut off from her family in Raines Village, she had no choice but to endure. Later, it gave her the opportunity to secretly send her to school in the mountains.
These were things Melinda Linton never mentioned, but with age and changing identity, Sienna Thornton gradually appreciated a mother’s deep love for her children.
For all her success and happiness now, she was immensely grateful to Melinda Linton for giving birth to her against all odds, raising her in such difficult circumstances, supporting her education, and risking beatings from Felix Raines to send her out of the mountains.
...
In these years of Melinda Linton’s illness, Quentin Thorne became increasingly doting, accommodating, and responsive to her every need.
In earlier years with Ian Grant, he was more of a hands-off husband, but with Melinda Linton, he handled everything from laundry to cooking to making soup. After retirement, he personally took care of Melinda Linton at home.
Sometimes, when Sienna Thornton visited her maternal home, seeing her father take such good care of her mother, she would often reflect that even Simon Forrester didn’t do so well.
Later, with the artificial heart replacement, Melinda Linton suffered severe rejection symptoms, severely deteriorating her body, leaving her almost unable to get out of bed. Every morning, Quentin Thorne wheeled her to the market, then after grocery shopping took her for a stroll in the park, and then returned home to cook lunch and care for her afternoon nap before taking her out again.
Fortunately, Quentin Thorne has always been strong. Even in his seventies, he had the strength to carry Melinda Linton up and down with ease.
In the subsequent one or two years, as Quentin Thorne approached eighty, his stamina gradually declined. Sienna Thornton proposed hiring a caregiver for them, which he refused. He reasoned that a male caregiver would be inconvenient for Melinda, while he didn’t want a female caregiver moving around the house.
The two elderly ones continued living this way for many years until Melinda Linton passed away.
Two days before Melinda Linton’s passing, just like Old Master Forrester, she suddenly became lucid after months of confusion, waking up in high spirits. She told Quentin Thorne that she wanted to eat buckwheat rolls from her hometown and to see Jenna Raines and Jared Raines.
Upon hearing this, Quentin Thorne burst into tears.
Simon Forrester immediately sent someone back to Wrayhaven to bring Jenna Raines and Jared Raines’ families to the hospital overnight.
Jenna Raines and Jared Raines were both in their fifties, with grandchildren of their own. They rushed to the hospital with their families.
Upon seeing them, Melinda Linton, lying on the hospital bed, shed silent tears.
Sienna Thornton, with tears in her eyes, stepped aside to give space to the Raines siblings.
Melinda Linton indicated for Quentin Thorne to remove her oxygen mask, raising her hand weakly.
Jenna Raines stepped forward, held her hand, and called out, "Mom." Immediately, tears rolled down her cheeks.
With labored breaths, Melinda Linton looked at her two children and asked, "Jenna, Jared, have you been well all these years?"
Crying, Jenna Raines nodded, "I’ve been doing very well."
Jared Raines remained silent with his head lowered.
Melinda Linton looked at him and asked, "How about you, Jared?"
"I’m fine, too..." The short response faltered towards the end.
Looking at her well-dressed children, Melinda Linton seemed relieved, smiled weakly, nodded, and once again fell into a coma.
Quentin Thorne placed the oxygen mask back on her.
That midnight, Melinda Linton passed away.
Sienna Thornton cried to the brink of collapse, unable to stand.
Even though she was mentally prepared, she couldn’t stop the tears from breaking through when her mother permanently closed her eyes.
Memories flashed like black-and-white films in her mind, frame by frame.
In memory, the sunlight was dazzling, and the wheat in the fields was golden.
She sat under a tree doing homework. Her mother, having paused from farmwork, sat by her side, drank some water, and gently asked if her homework was done.
She used a white handkerchief to wipe the sweat from her mother’s forehead and handed her a military-green water bottle filled with hot water.
After drinking, her mother smiled at her, rubbed her head, and said, "Mom is going back to work. I’ll make you an egg tonight."
...
The funeral was low-key and solemn, attended only by relatives and friends of the Thorne family, Zane Forrester and his wife, as well as Sienna Thornton’s colleagues and friends.
Having kept vigil for three consecutive nights and overwhelmed with grief, Quentin Thorne looked frail and unwell.
Simon Forrester and Seth Sutton took charge of presiding over the funeral.
Mina Thorne also wore mourning garments for Melinda Linton and stayed by the crystal coffin alongside Sienna Thornton and Quentin Thorne.
White chrysanthemums covered an entire wall. In the photograph, Melinda Linton, with her ear-length, wavy hair and a gently arched smile, looked as kind and gentle as ever.
From her smile, it was evident she had a good life in her later years.
But such a smile, Sienna Thornton would never see again...
.
After the memorial service, Melinda Linton was moved into the cremation room.
Sienna Thornton cried to the point of breathlessness.
Her heart felt as if it had been gouged out by a knife, bleeding profusely, with a heart-rending pain.
Tears streaming down his face, Simon Forrester embraced her, pressing her head against his chest, preventing her from witnessing the final scene.
