Chapter 434
At the Emerald of the Highlands villa.
It was the dead of winter, but inside the villa her uncle had set up for her, Evangeline could not feel the chill. It was actually too hot for comfort.
Julieta, ever the worrier, kept a tight leash, fearing Evangeline might catch a cold. So, under the guise of getting some healthy sunshine, Evangeline snuck off to the brightest balcony when the afternoon sun was at its peak to enjoy a breath of fresh air.
Rocking gently in her chair, with just a pane of glass between her and the lazy sunbeams, Evangeline basked in the warmth. Her eyes nearly closed in bliss.
Julieta came by with a plate full of neatly sliced fruit and silently set it down on the coffee table right in front of Evangeline.
“Ms. Evangeline, munching on fruit while you’re expecting is great for your baby’s skin. You’ve got to make sure you eat plenty,” urged Julieta, though she had already loaded Evangeline up with more fruit than she could stomach.
Just the sight of fruit made Evangeline queasy, but the ‘do it for the baby‘ card was one she could not play
against.
With a look of utter distress, she shot Julieta a glare and muttered, “You’re always using the baby to guilt- trip me!”
She grudgingly speared a chunk of cantaloupe and ate it, her eyes brimming with a mix of annoyance and charm, sounding more like she was pouting than actually complaining.
Julieta just shrugged, a playful ‘what can you do‘ expression on her face. “It’s out of my hands. You’re all about the baby these days. Any other reason I give, you’d just ignore.”
Evangeline tried to smile, stretching her lips into a grin before taking another bite of melon. Maybe it was the pregnancy, but she was really digging this laid–back life–so serene and reassuring, filled to the brim
with contentment.
As she watched Julieta, smiling away, a vision of her own mother flickered before Evangeline’s eyes.
In that instant, she knew without a doubt that Julieta was the guardian angel sent by fate to fill the void of a mother’s love she had missed.
Evangeline did not see the tender scene between her and Julieta being quietly witnessed by a man in a wheelchair at the yard’s entrance. He waved off his driver and slowly wheeled himself in.
Evangeline was in the middle of a light–hearted banter with Julieta when she spotted the visitor.
Alex?
Her eyes lit up with delight. Sure, she never felt alone since Julieta was always around, but the days of baby–nurturing could get pretty dull. Another person to chat with was always a welcome change.
“Alex, what brings you here?”
With Julieta’s help, Alex breezed through the door. Spotting Evangeline soaking up the sun on the balcony,
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Chapter 434
he could not help but speed up, pushing his wheelchair with a new urgency.
“I just missed you,” he said, his eyes crinkling with a smile, trying to sound casual. “Evie, you’re such a heartbreaker. It’s been over a month since we hung out, and not even a single call? Are we on the outs or
what?”
Evangeline got up and gave Alex’s wheelchair a nudge, guiding it over to her rocking chair before coming
to a stop.
“Of course not! I just figured you were swamped with school stuff. I didn’t want to bother you and get in the way of your work, you know?”
She knew Alex almost as well as he knew her.
On the outside, Alex always seemed so calm and collected. However, that was only because he had not found something–or someone–to really care about.
When Alex did find something that grabbed his attention, he could get even more wrapped up in it than Walter ever did, and far more intense.
As soon as Alex got back, he dove into his school projects, so Evangeline just assumed that was his top priority. She was just relaxing, so why should she disturb him?
However, she had no clue that Alex was actually on a completely different page, thinking the exact opposite.
