Chapter 158
"If the air quality was halfway decent back home, would I even be living in Australia?" Mrs. Winston's voice was cool and aloof. "I'm having someone bring Owen over to stay with me for a few months."
"That's not happening," Ivan responded firmly. "He's got commitments here; he can't just up and leave for Australia."
"Ivan, I'm getting old; I need company," Mrs. Winston's tone was stern yet tinged with vulnerability. "I live alone in this sprawling estate. Do you have any idea what my days are like? I'm not asking you to visit, just for one of the kids to spend some time with me. Would you deny me even this?"
Ivan fell into a rare silence.
After the twins' first month, he had sent them to Australia to be cared for by his mother. Partly because he hadn't been ready to handle the sudden arrival of two children, and partly to fulfill his mother's longstanding wish to have her grandchildren with her.
Unexpectedly, after just three months abroad, due to his mother's negligence, the children were nearly taken from them. That harrowing event highlighted just how crucial those kids were to him. That was when he truly welcomed them into his life. Despite his mother's objections, he brought them back and never again let them out of his sight, except for the occasional visit to their grandmother when Keith was on business trips in Australia.
"Ivan, I know you can't bear to be away from Keith and Owen, and I won't press you on that. Let's compromise," Mrs. Winston took a step back. "When will you and Emily make it official? Have another child, and once you do, just like before, you can send them here, and I'll raise them."
Ivan's voice grew more resolute, "I've said it many times, I will not marry her."
"After all, she's the woman you were with five years ago, Keith and Owen's biological mother. If not her, then who do you plan to marry?"
"Mom, back off, okay?" Ivan furrowed his brows, the frustration clear in his voice. "I can't marry someone I don't love—let's just drop it."
He ended the call abruptly, leaving Mrs. Winston listening to the dial tone, sighing heavily into the silence.
All these years, it had always been the same with Ivan. Every conversation seemed to fray at its ends, leaving them both adrift.
"Don't worry about it, Auntie," the comforting voice came from beside her.
A young woman with blond hair and blue eyes, embodying a blend of cultures, took Mrs. Winston's hand in hers.
Still grappling with the tones of Mandarin, she offered, "Ivan probably hasn't gotten over what happened back then. Time heals all wounds—he'll come around."
Mrs. Winston pinched the bridge of her nose. It was true, she had been at fault for that past transgression. And while she had offered her apologies, even relocating to Australia as a form of penance, forgiveness from Ivan seemed an ocean away.
For all these years, her son had steered clear of this land.
Four years ago, when Ivan had sent his kids down under, she thought they were on the cusp of mending fences. But when tragedy struck the children, old wounds tore open once again.
"Kaitlyn, thanks for sticking by me," she said, glancing at the young woman, her voice laced with gratitude.
Life in Australia was lonely despite the comforts—Kaitlyn's companionship, her visits for chats and meals, were oases in her emotional desert.
"Auntie, it's what family does," Kaitlyn responded softly, her gaze lowered. "Did I overhear you wanting Ivan to settle down sooner?"
Mrs. Winston exhaled: "Keith and Owen's birth mother might not be the most presentable woman, but she gave the Winston family two grandsons. I've made my peace with that. But Ivan has no interest in marrying her. He's nearly thirty with two sons—it makes no sense. If not with their mother, then what's his plan?"
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