Chapter 677: I Would Like Your Help
Since then, whenever Wendy asked her mother about her father, Mary always replied that he was dead.
Because she saw how sad her mother became every time she asked that question, she decided to stop asking.
But Wendy was still very young then and believed that her father had really died.
Then when she got older, she started to realize that things were not that simple.
But it never crossed her mind that this was the reason.
That her father was actually a cold and heartless man.
"If it weren’t for him, I would have been like other women and married with children," Mary choked while sobbing. "I had thought of keeping this from you forever. I didn’t want you to know what sort of man your father was. I’d rather you thought of him as dead. But unfortunately, you still had to know the truth."
Mary was already in her fifties. When she was younger, being a school teacher showed that the woman came from a middle-class family.
Mary also said that her parents ran a business.
If she had not met Wendy’s father, her family would have introduced someone of a similar background to her and she could have led a simple yet happy life.
"Mom..." Wendy’s face was covered in tears. She sat next to Mary, holding her hands tightly.
Wendy knew that Mary had been through a rough time.
Mary gave birth and brought up Wendy all by herself.
But after calling out to her mother, Wendy did not know what else to say.
Mary sighed. She pulled her hands out of Wendy’s hands and patted the back of her hand gently. "When I first found out the truth, I hated you. I hated being pregnant with you and that I was carrying that man’s child. When you were already five or six, I had thought of giving you away."
Mary paused before continuing her story, "But I couldn’t bring myself to do that because I had watched you grow up bit by bit, and how it had been just the two of us for all those years. You were also a very obedient and meek child. You were adorable and our neighbors and friends said you were pretty.
In the end, I decided to keep you and carry on living with you together.
Sometime after that, I would visit Queens City every few years but I didn’t dare to go home. I couldn’t face my family so I could only watch your grandma secretly."
"Mom, these years have been difficult for you," Wendy said. She reached over to hug her mother, her body shaking uncontrollably.
"I’ll tell you now who your father is." Mary took a deep breath before continuing, "He didn’t die. He’s still alive."
Wendy was not surprised by that revelation.
All in the hospital ward were silent as they waited for Mary to continue.
"Timothy Woods..." Mary said in a shaking voice. "...your biological father is Timothy Woods."
"Timothy Woods!" Everyone in the room was shocked when they heard his name.
Wendy released Mary from her arms. Looking at the tears streaming from Mary’s eyes, Wendy asked in disbelief, "Who did you say he is? Say it again!"
"You heard it right. Your father is Timothy Woods. Your mentor, Timothy Woods," Mary said firmly. "Only when I met him at your house did I find out that your biological father was right there with you. Life is sometimes one big joke. After all the twists and turns, he still ended up in your life in a different role."
"But if he were my father, why didn’t he recognize you then?" Wendy’s mind recalled what had happened at her house.
...
Wendy recalled that day at her house and remembered that her mother was acting a little strangely.
Mary had seemed out of sorts and depressed after meeting Timothy.
Wendy had asked her to join them for dinner, but she refused and shut herself inside the room.
Wendy had assumed that her mother was not feeling well.
Most people would have assumed that to be the reason.
"That is what makes me the most bitter." Mary gripped Wendy’s arm hard without thinking, so hard that it started to hurt Wendy but she did not say a word.
"He did not recognize me," Mary said. "Almost thirty years have passed but I could tell it was him immediately.
"But he did not recognize me at all."
"Well..." Wendy opened her mouth, remembering something from that meeting and said, "I think he asked me after that what your name was. I told him Mary Stewart and he didn’t say anything else."
"So I am reduced to a name in his memory," Mary sneered. "My name at that time wasn’t Mary. Your grandfather had named me Sylvia. And Timothy Woods wasn’t his name then. He was known as Hubert Woods."
"Maybe that was why after he found out from me that your name is Mary, he didn’t think too much about it," Wendy said.
"I have been living in Linton for many years. Even though I am still a teacher, I’ve also not been taking care of my appearance as compared to when I was still at home. I have changed quite a lot. And after so many years, he has a new family who is happy and wonderful. It’s only natural that he has forgotten me," Mary said, thinking that this was what might have happened.
Though it was all in the past, there was still bitterness in her heart.
To Timothy, those years were such a brief period in his life that he had eventually forgotten who Mary was.
But to Mary, those years had followed her for life.
Even her own father had met with a car accident all because of this.
"Mom..." Wendy did not know how to comfort Mary.
"Grandpa is so bad. Hmph, I don’t like him anymore," Leah gave an angry little small huff.
Wendy immediately walked over to Leah to hold her and kissed her forehead after she had said that.
Mary wiped her tears and looked at Leah. "I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have said that in front of you."
Mary was so sucked in by her painful memory that she had not thought about Leah.
She had only thought of telling them what happened.
Wendy also did not want to leave any scar on Leah, but she did not know what she should say to Leah.
In the end, Wendy simply said, "Leah, all of that happened between us adults. And all of that happened before you were born so you have nothing to do with it, understand?
"Whether you want to hate Grandpa or like Grandpa, I want you to wait till you’re older before making a decision. You’re still too young now. You shouldn’t let us influence whether to hate someone or not."
Leah blinked her large eyes. She seemed to have understood and then nodded her head.
Knowing now that Timothy was her father, Wendy felt that she should contact him.
With that in mind, Wendy quickly took out her phone. "I’ll call him and persuade him to test his bone marrow."
When she found her phone, she called Timothy but the number was no longer in use.
With the recorded message still playing over her phone, Wendy looked at Michael in panic and said, "This number is no longer in use?"
"Calm down, Wendy," Michael said. "After HG went bust, he got arrested. He is most likely in prison now."
...
"That’s right," Wendy nodded her head. "I’d forgotten about that. So how do I contact him?"
"Don’t panic. I’ll ask Todd. He should know how to get in touch with Timothy Woods," Michael said.
Todd had been living in Rheinsville City for so many years and was Timothy’s mentee; he should be able to find a way.
At least, Todd was more familiar with Rheinsville City than Michael.
While still talking, Michael had already taken out his phone and was calling Todd.
Todd saw that the caller was Michael and answered without hesitation, "Michael."
"Todd, I would like to ask a favor of you," Michael said urgently.
"Sure, I’ll help you if it is within my means," Todd replied straight away.
"Are you able to contact Timothy Woods?" Michael decided to go straight to the point.
"Mr. Woods?" Todd asked. "That’s not a problem but may I know why you are looking for him? He has been sentenced to twenty-six years in prison. I don’t know if he’ll make it out alive."
"I..." Michael looked at Wendy with some hesitation. He was not sure if he should tell Todd the truth.
Because that was Wendy’s family’s affairs and so Michael was not at liberty to share.
"Go ahead, there’s nothing to hide," Mary told him.
Michael placed his phone on speakerphone so that everyone could hear Todd.
With Mary’s permission, Michael explained, "Timothy Woods is Wendy’s biological father. Leah needs a bone marrow transplant and we need to test if his bone marrow is a match. If they match, we hope that he is willing to donate his bone marrow."
Michael summarized the situation as succinctly as possible.
On the other end, Todd was taken aback by the news.
He swallowed a few times, taking a while to digest this piece of information.
But he did not ask for details. "Ok, I’ll contact someone in Rheinsville City to help."
Todd was still in Nolvania to care for Zen, so he was not back in Rheinsville City yet.
"Thank you," Michael said.
"Don’t mention it."
After hanging up, Todd called the prison warden in Rheinsville City immediately.
He had already visited his mentor several times and had also gotten to know the prison warden.
The call was connected and Todd said, "Barzel, I have a favor to ask of you..."
Ten minutes later, Michael’s phone rang.
It was from Todd.
Michael answered immediately.
"How did it go?" Michael asked anxiously.
"There is no problem with testing for a match because you only need a blood sample, but it’ll be a bit of a problem to send Mr. Woods to Lake City. If it’s just to test for a match, you’ll most likely need to take his blood sample in prison and then air freight it to Lake City for the testing," Todd said.
"That’s not a problem. He would need to come to Lake City only if they were a match," Michael replied.
"That’s good then. And in the event Mr. Woods is a match, you’ll have to follow their procedures in order to bring him out to Lake City. As for the details, you can send someone over to find out later."
Todd continued, "The prison warden I spoke to said that if you follow their legal procedures, you may take Mr. Woods out. But they will also send one of their people to go along."
"Thank you, Todd, thank you so much," Michael thanked him from the bottom of his heart.
"There’s no need to thank me. This small help is all that I can give." Todd was dying to ask what on earth was going on but he also knew that Michael and Wendy must be frantic right now and were in no mood to explain things to him.
He would ask again when everything was over.
