Chapter 558 Apology
Winter solstice arrived in the blink of an eye. Imperick welcomed a heavy snowfall, while Coral Bay, after several false starts, finally surrendered to winter's embrace.
This winter, Aurelia didn't feel the cold—perhaps due to her pregnancy hormones, which had certainly amplified her temper.
Just this morning, she had scolded Nathaniel into speechless submission. The offense? Yesterday, she'd asked him to pick up oatmeal on his way home from work—apple cinnamon for Jacob and banana chocolate for Dorothy. After a grueling workday, Nathaniel had remembered the oatmeal but forgotten the specific flavors, returning with blueberry instead.
"It's alright, don't worry," Nathaniel soothed, trying to calm her. "I'll drive out and get the right ones now. It'll take an hour tops—we'll still have plenty of time before lunch."
Aurelia stood with her swollen belly, her face darkened with annoyance. "What a waste of time. If you'd just listened carefully in the first place, you wouldn't need to make another trip."
"It's not wasted time," he assured her. "I can squeeze it into my schedule."
"And the gas money? Does your car run on water?" she snapped.
Nathaniel sighed inwardly. Surely they weren't hurting for a few dollars of gas? The nearest supermarket was barely ten minutes away—a twenty-minute round trip wouldn't even burn through a gallon.
"I'll add your shopping requests to my phone notes next time," he promised. "I won't make this mistake again. You all stay here, I'll go right now."
He threw on a cashmere coat and hurried out. Pregnant women were challenging to please, and he needed to be quick—exceeding the one-hour mark would only invite another lecture.
Fortunately, traffic cooperated. Nathaniel moved efficiently through the store, carefully checking labels this time. He also grabbed some strawberries and cherries the kids loved, plus grape tomatoes for Aurelia, who was limiting sugar during her pregnancy. Checking out, he noted with satisfaction that only thirty minutes had elapsed—plenty of time to get home.
Just as he pulled up to their building, Chris called, immediately launching into complaints.
"Nathaniel, I'm at my wit's end. Pregnant women are impossible! Mine kicked me out of bed this morning. Want to know why?" Without waiting for a response, he continued, "She dreamed I bought Häagen-Dazs for my secretary but not for her. I'm completely innocent! My entire secretarial staff is male now. She's jealous over a dream about men!"
Nathaniel laughed silently, feeling a kinship in their shared predicament. The reasons pregnant women got upset were endlessly creative—sometimes absurd enough to be amusing in retrospect. What could you do but indulge them? They were your wives, after all.
Chris, desperate for advice, asked, "What do you do when Aurelia gets angry?"
Chris had hoped for some sophisticated conflict resolution techniques, but Nathaniel answered with complete seriousness, "I apologize. That's the only strategy I know."
"Damn it! You're something else," Chris cursed, then paused. "Fine, I'll try that too."
Glancing at his watch, Nathaniel realized his hour was nearly up. "Gotta go—heading home now."
When he arrived, Aurelia was in the kitchen making pizza with Burry and Marcus.
Burry's surgery had gone smoothly, and her recovery had been excellent. She and Marcus now lived in the apartment below, making visits convenient.
Nathaniel placed the oatmeal on the table like a student submitting homework. "Aurelia, I promise I got it right this time. I checked the labels carefully."
Aurelia set down her dough, picked up the bag, and her expression immediately soured.
Nathaniel tensed. "What's wrong? Did I miss something?"
"You mixed both flavors in one bag. How are we supposed to separate them now?" she demanded.
Nathaniel froze. He hadn't considered that—he'd just seen they were the same price and bagged them together.
"My fault, completely my fault," he conceded.
With Marcus and Burry present, Aurelia restrained herself, though her displeasure was evident.
Jacob seized the opportunity to pile on. "Daddy's such a dummy!"
Dorothy, clinging to Aurelia's leg, came to his defense. "Mommy, it doesn't matter. I like all the flavors anyway."
Nathaniel felt a wave of warmth. Daughters were truly special. He hoped the baby Aurelia was carrying would be a girl—sons were useless in these critical moments.
Thankfully, Aurelia let the matter drop.
Nathaniel washed his hands and joined them in the kitchen. The children eagerly participated, soon covered in flour from head to toe.
Marcus stared at the children, then at Aurelia's prominent belly, his eyes betraying such obvious longing that even Dorothy noticed.
She turned to Marcus and asked innocently, "When are you and Aunt Burry going to have a baby?"
Marcus was momentarily stunned by Dorothy's innocent question, while Burry, hearing it, couldn't help but blush. The rest of the family, sensing an opportunity for some good-natured teasing, eagerly chimed in, asking when the two would have a child of their own.
Trying to keep a straight face, Marcus replied, "Well, I'll do my best," and shot Burry a look full of affection. Burry grew even more flustered, gently tapped his arm, and protested, "Oh, stop it!"
Later, Burry tried her hand at making pizza for the first time. To everyone's surprise, she picked it up quickly and soon got the hang of it. The pizza crusts she made were small and delicate, each one perfectly shaped. Aside from being a little slow, her technique was flawless.
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