Chapter 702: Turning Back Is Never Easy
"In that case, Ms. Stewart, Mr. Lucas, shall we move over there to have the photos taken?" the man suggested. He continued, smiling, "The scenery is much nicer over there."
They all trooped behind the man to the location he had suggested. He then instructed them on how they should pose for better pictures.
While all this went on, Zess stood on the side and did not join them.
"Zess, come and join us," Wendy gestured to her.
"I’ll pass. You go ahead," Zess waved back at her with a smile.
Wendy and her family were having some family photos taken. Despite having worked for Wendy for many years, she was still an outsider. That was why Zess did not think that it was appropriate for her to join them, Knowing what Zess was thinking, Wendy walked over to her and tugged at her hand, "Come and join us, Zess."
"I..." Zess was about to decline.
However, Michael interrupted her and urged, "Come, Zess. Join us."
Both Michael’s grandmother and Mary also called out for her to join them.
Since Zess was still hesitating and had not moved, Leah immediately ran over to her and pulled at her arm, saying sweetly, "Auntie Zess, please have a photo taken with us. Don’t be shy."
Zess was so touched by the sincere warmth of everyone inviting her to join them that she was unable to control her emotions and tears welled up in her eyes.
"Ok," she replied, trying desperately to hold back her tears, not wanting to dampen the merry mood of the group.
She followed Wendy and joined the group.
Michael’s grandmother took the center spot. Michael and Wendy stood side by side, next to her. The kids stood in front of them while Zess and Mary stood on the other end.
"Mr. Lucas and Ms. Stewart, can you please move a little closer?" the man suggested while holding his camera.
Michael wrapped his arm around Wendy’s shoulders, resting her head on his shoulder.
"Yes, that’s excellent!" the man said excitedly.
"Now, can the little kiddo give me a bigger smile please? Don’t stare so sullenly into the camera, ok?"
Leah smiled even more radiantly thinking that the man addressed her. In fact, she was practically blooming.
"Not you, I meant your brother," the man remarked. "Come on, kid. Give me a big smile."
Having been pinpointed, Jake relented and tried his best to put a bigger smile on his face.
"Can the person on the outer edge move in closer please?" This time, he was referring to Zess.
"Yeah, that’s perfect." At that, he clicked on the camera and captured the moment.
Everyone in the photo smiled happily.
During the shoot, they had more than a dozen photos taken. The cameraman then showed them those photos.
"Take a look through these and let me know if they’re ok. I will then have them printed for you right away."
Having looked at the photos, Wendy concluded that they were indeed well taken and nodded.
"And, Ms. Stewart, may I take a photo of just you on your own?" the cameraman asked.
Ruffling his hair awkwardly, he added, "It’s for my wife."
"No problem," Wendy replied without hesitation.
And so, Wendy had a photo taken of just herself.
In no time at all, the photos were printed and delivered to her. She could see that they were all smiling radiantly in the pictures.
Seeing her own portrait, she asked, "Have you got a pen?"
"Yes, yes, here it is." The man took out a pen and handed it to her happily.
Wendy signed her name on the photo and handed it over to the man.
Nodding cheerfully, the man gushed, "Thank you so much, Ms. Stewart. My wife will be so happy with this."
"She will be happy every day of her life with a husband that loves her so much," Wendy replied. Smiling she added, "I wish you every happiness for the rest of your lives."
"Thank you." The man thanked her sincerely and profusely once again.
Having paid him for his services, Wendy waved him goodbye.
At that, they left the theme park.
...
They had come to the end of August very quickly.
Which signaled the end of summer vacation.
Both Jake and Leah had recovered and were fit for school while Mary had to return to her students in Linton.
Wendy felt a pang of sadness at Mary’s imminent departure as she watched her pack. She reached out to hug Mary and said with tears in her eyes, "Mom, why don’t you stay a couple more days?"
"I can’t. It’s already the 28th of August. I have to prepare the teaching material for the new term," Mary smiled. She said, caressing Wendy’s hair, "You guys should come and visit more often."
"Grandma, I’m gonna miss you," Leah said as she hugged Mary’s legs and looked up at her.
"And I will miss you too. But Grandma has to get back to work. I have many students waiting for me back home," Mary replied.
Sitting on her haunches, Mary hugged Leah, "I will come visit again soon, ok?"
"Ok," Leah nodded.
"Let us send you off then," Michael suggested.
"That won’t be necessary. Haven’t you arranged for a car to take me to Linton?"
Mary uttered.
Smiling, she continued, "Actually, I could have taken public transport. It’s only a two to three-hour journey."
"There’s absolutely no question of you taking public transport back to Linton. Let us see you to the car."
Mary graciously accepted the offer and nodded.
The rest of the family trooped out of the apartment to send Mary off while Michael helped her with the luggage.
At the ground level, Mary stood beside the waiting car and hugged Wendy tightly.
She reminded her daughter, rather concerned "Don’t forget to eat nutritious meals and get plenty of rest. Understand?"
Wendy nodded, "Yes I will. Don’t worry about me. I had originally planned to pay a visit to the old family home with you."
Wendy had been referring to Mary’s family in Queens City when she said ’family home’.
Mary’s face slightly darkened at that as she said, "Indeed, we need to go back there at some point in time but not with your health in this present condition.
"Let’s leave it for a while. I will go with you when the time comes. You should meet your grandmother."
That said, Mary sighed, "Assuming that she’d be willing to meet with us."
"Sure," Wendy nodded. "I will look after my health. When I’m ready, we will visit them together. Don’t fret about it. I’m sure Grandma will forgive us."
"Yep," Mary nodded.
She bent down to hug both Jake and Leah as tears welled up in her eyes, "Come and see me during your next vacation. I will take you fishing and crabbing. We can also pick fruit from the orchard."
"Ok, we will. Bye Grandma," Leah said, choking back her tears.
"All right then. Give me a smile. Linton is not halfway around the world, you know.
It’s only three, maybe four hours away by car. I’ll be off then."
That said, Mary turned and got into the car. She then rolled down the window and waved to them.
"Bye, Grandma," the kids waved back.
Wendy watched until the car disappeared from her line of sight before turning to Michael.
He wrapped his arm around her shoulders and said, "We could always drive there whenever you’re missing her."
"Ok," she nodded.
At that very moment, Wendy’s phone rang. It was a call from the mansion.
Wendy could hazard a guess at why Grandmother had called. Smiling, she said, "I think our lunch is all sorted."
Accepting the call, Wendy said cheerfully, "Hi, Grandmother..."
"Hi Wendy. I remember you saying that you’d be visiting in two days. Why have you not kept your promise?"
Michael’s grandmother continued, "The new school term is about to start. Once the kids are back in school, they’d be too busy during the week to visit.
"Why don’t you bring them over today? I’ll have the kitchen prepare all your favorite food. Oh, and do invite your mom and Zess as well. The more the merrier."
...
"My Mom has just left for Linton," Wendy replied as she watched the car that Mary was traveling in disappear into the traffic.
"Oh, why didn’t she stay longer?" Grandmother asked.
"The new school term is starting soon. She needs to go back to her teaching."
"Oh, that’s right. Your Mom is a teacher," Grandmother said. "You guys should come over then. Come soon. We’ll have lunch together. I’ve instructed the kitchen to prepare lunch for us."
Wendy replied with a smile, glancing at Michael, "Ok, we’ll leave right now."
Wendy hung up, took each child by the hand, and said, "We’re going to have lunch with your great-grandmother."
"Hooray, awesome!" Leah exclaimed excitedly.
"I’ll drive," Michael said. "Wait here for me."
"Zess, come with us," Wendy looked at Zess.
Wendy quickly added, sensing that Zess was about to decline the invitation, "Grandmother says the more the merrier. Come on."
At first, Zess hesitated. However, she eventually caved into Leah’s cajoling.
Smiling, she nodded and agreed to join them.
When they arrived, they found Grandmother waiting for them in the living room.
When the helper announced their arrival, she immediately got to her feet. Then, supporting herself on her cane, she walked outside to welcome them.
"Hi, Great-Grandma..." Leah ran happily into her outstretched arms.
"Hello, Jake, Leah," Grandmother hugged Leah while waving hello to Jake.
Jake humored her and walked over and leaned against her.
"Come along now. Let’s eat. The food’s about ready to be served," Grandmother ushered them inside.
At the dining table, Grandmother was so busy serving food to them that she did not have time to eat her own food.
"Wendy, you must eat more of this nutritious food, it has been cooked according to the recipes provided by the doctor. This will give you all the nutrients needed to make you strong."
"Sure. Grandmother, you should eat too," Wendy urged as she served the old lady some food.
"Grandmother, why are you ignoring me? Just look at my plate," Michael complained, showing them his empty plate.
"I get that you want to make sure Wendy eats well. But, the kids’ plates are also heaped with food. Everyone has been served lots of food except me. I’m looking at an empty plate here," he whined.
"You’re a grown man. Surely you don’t need to have food served onto your plate?"
Grandmother glared at him.
Everyone burst out laughing at Grandmother’s words. All except for Michael, who rubbed his nose, looking pitiful.
He had accepted the fact that he was low on the pecking order in his own home. But even here, at the mansion, his position was still at the lowest rung on the power ladder.
And that was how they enjoyed a leisurely and fun-filled lunch.
"Madam..." a helper suddenly walked over and whispered in Grandmother’s ear.
The laughter on Grandmother’s face faded away as she instructed curtly, "Send him away!"
Nodding, the helper scurried out.
Michael and Wendy looked at each other questioningly.
Wendy then asked, "What is it, Grandmother?’ "Nothing, keep eating." Grandmother urged, smiling again, "Come on, let’s keep eating."
Wendy frowned, obviously not convinced.
Seeing their disbelief, Grandmother sighed and came clean, "It’s Anthony."
Hearing that name, Michael and Wendy looked each other in the eye again.
Grandmother continued, "He’s been coming around every day recently, waiting at the gate. He wants to come back here to stay but I’ve refused to let him in. So, here he is again. What a wet blanket!"
It would not be an understatement to say that Grandmother had lost all hope in that son of hers.
In the past, he had been so adamant about leaving the family home that he had heartlessly abandoned his legally wedded wife and his own mother.
Grandmother was definitely not going to let him come back now just because he asked to.
