Chapter 701 Your Choice
Even though Lucy was curious to see Dawn and Kimberly in person, she didn't follow Tom as he went downstairs since it was their family business and had nothing to do with her.
Instead she busied herself with packing her bag. She was just going to go over to her parent's house to spend the time there and would attend Lawrence's funeral from home.
She was not needed here. She could tell her presence here was causing more trouble than good, and maybe she just wasn't compatible enough with Tom and his family.
They were all misunderstanding each other and Tom's attitude was beginning to make her feel like she was the problem when all she had been trying to do was set healthy boundaries.
She glanced at the door when a knock sounded followed by Sonia's voice, "Lu? Are you in?" Sonia called, and Lucy brushed the tears away from her face as she walked over to the door to meet her.
"What are you up to?" Sonia asked since she had seen Tom going downstairs alone earlier and had figured Lucy was in the bedroom.
She had realized that they were yet to talk about the craziness of the fact that Dawn was Lawrence's child, and they were yet to discuss how absurd Kimberly's request was. She had come for them to do that as the others were busy talking with Kimberly.
"Packing my stuff. I think I should go over to my parents for the time being," Lucy said and Sonia frowned when she noticed that Lucy seemed upset.
"Why? Don't tell me it's because of what happened during breakfast," Sonia asked, and Lucy shook her head as tears stung her eyes.
Lucy's lips wobbled as she spoke, "I think I'm causing too much trouble for everyone…"
"Did Tom say that?" Sonia asked with a frown.
"Not in those exact words. He didn't have to. You saw how upset Evelyn was. Tom was upset too," Lucy said as a tear dropped from from her eyes and Sonia shook her head.
"Let's take a stroll," Sonia suggested as she took Lucy's hand and tried to pull her out of the bedroom.
"Let me get my phone," Lucy said as she went to pick up her phone from the bed, and she said nothing else as she followed Sonia quietly.
Sonia led her to the main balcony. After they were both seated, Sonia looked at her as she waited patiently for Lucy to say what was upsetting her.
"I can't believe Tom is blaming me for raising the subject. I admit that I was wrong to have brought it up without discussing it with him first, but how could he accuse me of trying to stir things up?" Lucy asked, feeling genuinely hurt.
"Maybe he was upset because his mom was upset," Sonia said reasonably.
"And he thinks I'm not upset that she was so upset? I wish I didn't say anything. I wish I had just kept mute about the whole thing and let him sweep it under the rug like he wanted to," Lucy said and Sonia shook her head.
"We both know you could never have ignored it even if you tried. Besides, Desmond supports you. Bryan and Jade might not be happy that their mother is upset but they agree that this had to happen. Don't beat yourself too much over it," Sonia said and Lucy shook her head.
"This is the last time I'm ever going to interfere in anything that involves Tom and his family. I'm not going to get involved. If they want to meddle in each other's business, I'm going to let them do that as long as it doesn't affect me in any way," Lucy said and Sonia sighed.
"If you really want to step out of the house, we can both go over to my apartment or go see your parents but we will come back. Leaving now is a bad idea, trust me. You took your leave from work so you will be with Tom. You can't just leave now over a misunderstanding," Sonia said and Lucy drew a deep breath.
"It's not like he stopped me from leaving when I said I wanted to leave. He doesn't want me here. What use is my presence here if I'm causing him trouble?" Lucy asked and Sonia patted her shoulder.
"I'm sure he was only upset. He is going to apologize when he is calm enough…"
"I honestly don't care for his apology…" the rest of her words trailed off when her phone started ringing and she checked to see it was her mother calling.
While she spoke with her mom who had called to check on her and inform her they were on their way to pay the Hanks a visit, Sonia busied with checking for the hot news of the day.
Lucy raised a brow when Sonia's jaw suddenly dropped as she stared at her screen in disbelief, and Sonia turned the screen so that Lucy would see the trending news online.
Away from there, seeing the way the Hank family were gathered in the living room, no outsider would guess what had happened between them during breakfast.
Evelyn looked like her usual self, fully in control and her hand was tucked in Desmond's hands who was seated beside her.
Although Tom was still pretty upset over his misunderstanding with Lucy, he managed to keep a straight face as he waited for his parents and Kimberly to speak, since as far as he was concerned he had no business to discuss with Kimberly.
He pretended not to notice the way Dawn was staring at him with adorable eyes and avoided looking in the kid's direction entirely.
Desmond cleared his throat, "We have all deliberated on your request and we agreed that you have to come clean with your family. Tom won't be taking responsibility for something his grandfather did. You do not care about my father's reputation more than we do," Desmond said without beating around the bush.
"But I think my paren…"
"There are no buts. It's absurd that you would make such a request in the first place. If you knew anything about Lawrence then you would know that he wasn't the type of man to ditch his responsibilities. He would never have wanted Tom to take the fall for him. You put both yourself and Lawrence in this mess, so you should deal with it. If you need us to speak with your parents, we will. But what you want isn't going to happen," Evelyn said firmly.
Everyone turned to Tom when his phone started ringing and he excused himself when he realized it was Harry. They had both not had the time to speak since the previous day after he left Ludus, and right now he would rather speak to Harry than just sit there.
"It's Harry," Tom said as he excused himself and walked away to receive the call.
"Hey! I'm sorry I haven't been able to call to find out how things are going over there. It's been crazy here," Tom said the moment he received the call, and Harry frowned.
"I guess that's why you haven't seen the news. Or have you seen it? I've been busy myself. Eric only just brought it to my notice a moment ago," Harry asked, and Tom raised a brow.
"What news is it this time?" He asked, tired already of whatever it was.
"Well, I've been doing all I can to get the sites to take it down. It's a rumor about the possibility of a marriage between you and Kimberly, giving details of the closeness between your family and hers, and there are pictures of the kid too. Basically they're saying you both already have a kid together. I'm doing all I can to handle it so you don't have to worry," Harry said and Tom stood still.
"Tom? Are you there?" Harry asked when Tom said nothing.
"I think Kimberly and her parents are behind this," Tom said, feeling his blood boil at being forced into this mess.
"Jade told me about Kimberly and your grandfather. I considered that her parents might be behind it but I didn't want to jump to conclusions yet," Harry said honestly.
"Kimberly is here right now. Let me call you back," Tom said as he hung up the call and returned to the living room.
"Are you behind the news or is this your parents doing?" Tom asked Kimberly harshly and everyone in the living room looked at him
"What news?" Desmond asked the question that was on everyone's mind while Jade quickly went online to find out what was happening.
"It's here. Rumors of marriage between Tom and Kimberly who have a daughter together. There are pictures of the kid here," Jade said without reading through the article.
"Did you know about this? Are you behind it? Did you do it to force Tom's hand?" Evelyn asked, feeling very annoyed.
"It wasn't me. My parents are behind it. I was going to mention it earlier but you didn't let me get a word in. I called them before coming here and they said if Thomas was going to be a coward about taking responsibility for his child, then they would have to do something about it since Lawrence is dead and they can't trust your husband to handle things," Kimberly explained to Evelyn.
"I'm going to sue them for this," Tom said angrily, but his father shook his head.
"Suing them will only escalate things and bring unnecessary attention to you. Right now, it's only a speculation so we can ignore it and handle things internally. Let's straighten things out right now," Desmond said as he looked at Kimberly.
"Give your father a call," Desmond said but Kimberly was hesitant to do that.
Although she was a grown lady, she knew how her parents could be, and she was scared of what their reaction might be the moment they find out Dawn was Lawrence's.
"Is there a reason you're not doing as you've been told? Or do we have to escalate things before you realize that you're not going to have your way?" Evelyn asked impatiently.
"It shouldn't be so hard to tell them the truth. It's not like they're going to disown you and your daughter. The worse they can do is be mad at our grandfather. That's the worse that can happen," Jade said, trying to encourage Kimberly to call her parents.
Kimberly shook her head but didn't say a word. They didn't know her parents like she did. She knew it wouldn't be as easy as they were all thinking it would be.
She glanced down at Dawn, "Can you take her somewhere else? I don't want her to be here when we talk to my parents," Kimberly told Jade, and even though Jade didn't want to miss what was going on, she rose and reached a hand out to Dawn.
"Go with her, darling. Mummy needs privacy," Kimberly told Dawn, and watched as they both walked away.
The moment Kimberly was certain that Dawn was nowhere close, she dialed her father's line and they all waited for the call to connect.
"You can either tell them exactly what they need to know or we will tell them ourselves. I believe it is better they hear it from you," Evelyn said Kimberly rose just as the call connected.
"Hello, Dad!" she greeted in a shaky voice while Tom, Bryan, and their parents continued to look at her.
"Hello, honey! Your mother and I were just talking about you and Lawrence's grandson…."
Kimberly's palms both felt sweaty as she held the phone very tightly against her ear and cut in, "Thomas is really not Dawn's father. Dawn's biological father is Lawrence Hank not Thomas," Kimberly said very quickly before she could lose courage.
"What are you talking about?" Her father asked in a very grave voice.
"I'm sorry. I'm very sorry. I didn't mean to hurt you or to disappoint you. I…" Kimberly stopped talking when she realized her father had hung up and she turned to Desmond with tearfilled eyes.
"He hung up," she informed them, and almost immediately her phone started ringing with a call from her mother.
"Kim? What is this your father is saying? You admitted to having a one night stand with Lawrence's grandson, didn't you? Why are you trying to break our hearts by coming up with such a lie about you and Lawrence? You are only saying this because Thomas is denying you and Dawn, aren't you?" Her mother asked, and Kimberly broke into a sob when she heard the hope in her mother's voice.
"It's the truth, mom. Lawrence is Dawn's biological father…"
"No! There is no way Lawrence could have had any sexual relations with you. You don't know what you're talking about! How can you say a man old enough to be your grandfather is the father of your kid? That is absurd!" Her mother exclaimed in dismay, ignoring Kimberly's tears.
"I'm sorry, mom. I'm sorry. I didn't mean for you to find out this way or for any of this to happen," Kimberly cried, and her father snatched the phone from his wife.
"If what you're saying is the truth, then I don't want to see that kid in my house…."
"DAD! You can't do that. She is still your granddaughter and she…."
"I don't know who that kid is. You've been lying to us this whole time and the only way I can stand you right now is by not seeing the kid. So, you can either leave her behind and come back home at once, or you can go wherever you please with her and don't come back at all! It's your choice!" Her father said before hanging up, and Kimberly broke into a sob.
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