Oops! My Secret Baby Is Caught By His Top-Lawyer Daddy! Novel

---- had never imagined she'd meet her mother's family one day. She answered Lori's questions one by one, then added with a soft smile, "I felt a connection with you the first time I came here, but you fell asleep before we could really talk." "Of course, you did! We're bound by blood," Lori said proudly. "I only had two children, and Sue was the apple of my eye. She was always such a good girl. I don't know what got into her, suddenly insisting on marrying that man-a plain old schoolteacher! We were so angry back then." "I understand," Clara said softly.

"I only learned the truth later." She began recounting what she knew, piece by piece. Tears welled up in Lori's eyes. "That girl was so stubborn. She faced something so big and didn't even come to us." Clara's throat tightened. "Mom only wanted to ---- protect me, Ma'am." "Don't call me Ma'am. I'm your grandmother! We're family." Lori handed her phone to Clara. "Here, give me your number. My memory isn't what it used to be, and I might fall asleep again. I don't want to lose contact with you." "Okay, Grandma." Clara entered her number carefully.

Lori stroked her hair with trembling fingers, her tear-filled eyes shining. "Clara, tell me more about your mother." So Clara told her-stories from her childhood, moments that were light and happy, anything that might make the old woman smile. Lori listened, crying and laughing by turns. "Sue, cooking? That girl never lifted a finger when she lived here!" "She taught you piano too? She used to have no patience with children at all." "She loved that villa? Funny, I had people keep an eye on her for a while, and she never even ---- went there." "Oh, is this the two of you?

You look like sisters!" "Sue was such a spoiled girl, yet she became a piano teacher? Incredible." "That man, Owen, he really wasn't any good, was he?" "She truly suffered her whole life... your grandfather never stopped worrying about her, even before he died." On and on Lori went, her voice weaving between laughter and tears. Every few sentences, she would pause to add another memory, her tone full of nostalgia. Eventually, her voice began to fade. Her eyes drooped, and her breathing slowed as sleep took over again.

Clara gently helped her lie back down, tucked the blanket in around her, and stood quietly for a moment. Outside the window, the sky had already turned ---- dark. When she checked her phone, it was past seven. She greeted the maid waiting by the door before heading downstairs. In the living room, Donald and the others were sitting in silence. When Clara appeared, Xander stood and said with a half-smile, "Who would've thought we were actually related?" Clara smiled back. "So I guess that makes you my cousin?" Dana crossed her arms, smirking. "Already trying to cozy up to us?

Hoping for some kind of benefit?" "Miss West," Clara said coolly, her smile fading. "I'm perfectly capable of standing on my own two feet. I don't need anyone's charity." Dana tilted her head. "We'll see about that." Donald sat still, expressionless, not bothering to stop his daughter's rudeness. ---- Clara felt a flicker of contempt. From the moment she'd met them, both father and daughter had been cold toward her. If this was about Dana losing Aaron, then that was just pathetic. After all, Aaron was her husband now.

And if they still held a grudge over the money they'd lost at the horse race, that was even pettier. Clara decided they weren't worth another thought. She turned to Xander. "Mr. Lewis, thank you for inviting me today. I'll be heading home now." Xander glanced at Donald, who remained silent, his face unreadable. Feeling awkward, Xander quickly said, "I'll walk you out."