Straightening her hair, Matilda said, “I have to admit that I’m getting old now. I really am, and I’m about to become a grandma soon.” Then, she turned into the living room. After a moment of thought, John trod after her.
John had nothing planned for the day. When the ladies had eaten, they stood in the garden and Matilda came up with the idea to go shopping. She really wanted to visit the maternity store to stock up on some baby items.
“Isn’t it still early?” John exclaimed in surprise as he glanced at Sophia’s belly, which was still so flat that he couldn’t tell she was carrying a baby at all.
Matilda cast an annoyed look at him. “It’s not early at all. When the first trimester has passed, her belly will grow very quickly and she won’t fit into her current clothes anymore. It will be handy to buy some maternity clothing now.” Turning to Sophia, she asked, “What do you think?”
Sophia’s eyes were fixed on Matilda. Their relationship for the past few days had turned for the better. As a simple-minded woman, Matilda was merely spoiled by William before this. Now, she was a little more sensible and clearly much nicer toward her.
On Sophia’s side, she was not a calculative person and it seemed like there wasn’t such a huge ridge standing in between them that they couldn’t overcome. Hence, she set aside their past conflicts and nodded after just one glance at her. “You’re right.”
Smiling, Matilda spun her head to face John. “Get ready and let’s go now.”
He stole a glance at Sophia and replied helplessly, “Okay.”
Subsequently, he drove them to a mall in the heart of the city. Since there were many people on a Saturday, John guarded Sophia into the mall on one side while Matilda was on her other side, asking her if she saw any clothes she fancied that she could still wear for some time while her belly was still flat.
At home, Sophia actually had quite a lot of clothes, and she didn’t go out that often now, so there was no need to get any more new clothes. However, she was thinking about Robin, who was managing the shop by herself now, and she wanted to drop by the shop later. Well, I’ll buy her some clothes now and bring them straight to her at the shop, she thought.
All three of them were on the ladies clothing level and had just come out of a store when they ran into old acquaintances. The moment the three of them exited the shop and turned the corner, they saw Isabelle coming out from another shop. Shopping as well, Isabelle had just bought some clothes and was chatting happily with her mother.
The sight of Isabelle didn’t have any effect on Sophia, but she stole a look at Matilda out of reflex, unsure if she would be awkward at this meeting. Previously, she was always the one next to Isabelle on such occasions.
Seeing Isabelle, Matilda didn’t appear awkward; she simply paused for a second before smiling. “Isn’t this Isabelle? What a coincidence!”
Seeing Isabelle, Matilda didn’t appear awkward; she simply paused for a second before smiling. “Isn’t this Isabelle? What a coincidence!”
Shocked that Sophia was right next to Matilda, Isabelle froze on the spot and stared unblinkingly at them for a long while before greeting her.
On the other hand, John was staring at Isabelle as well, mainly because he couldn’t help but link the things which happened to Sophia before this to Isabelle. Looking at her now, his gaze unwittingly carried a hint of scrutiny as he scanned her.
Mrs. Bailey was also shocked beyond words seeing Matilda together with Sophia; especially when she had heard from Isabelle that John had a complete fallout with his mother because of Sophia. She even heard that he had blacklisted Matilda. Initially, she silently lamented on what a failure as a mother Matilda must have been for her son to turn his back on her. However, from the looks of it now, there didn’t seem to be any problem between them. Not only that, even her relationship with Sophia seemed to have improved tremendously.
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