Mom, Don't Cry! Here comes a new Daddy! novel Chapter 151

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Chapter 135

(Kate’s POV – Earlier That Day)

I’m in my study, reviewing contracts, when my phone lights up with a notification.

Someone has tagged me. Kate Hale.

I don’t get tagged often. When I do, it’s usually business-related. Press releases. Industry

news.

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This is different.

The thumbnail shows Jake. That serious little face and those too-bright eyes.

With the title: “My Angry Granny Isn’t Really Angry-She Just Pretends”

I hesitate for exactly three seconds.

Then click play.

Jake’s voice fills my study. Calm. Certain. Explaining me like I’m a case study.

“Everyone sees my granny always angry. But I did research. She’s not mean. She’s just strict.”

Then a footage I didn’t know existed plays.

Me at the hospital. At the community garden. At the children’s art show.

Moments I thought were private. Hidden. Mine.

Now broadcast to hundreds of thousands of people.

My first instinct is fury. How dare this child film me without permission? How dare he expose my private acts of charity? How dare he psychoanalyze me like a case study and expose me to the public-

But then I hear his voice.

“Granny cries when she’s alone. I think she’s lonely.”

The clip of me on the bench. Crying. After helping Mrs. Morgan.

I look old in that moment. Vulnerable. Exactly what I’ve spent seventy-two years avoiding.

And Jake saw through my defenses. Through the truth I don’t admit even to myself.

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I’m terrified of being alone.

The video continues.

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“I was scared of Granny Kate at first too. I thought she was going to separate my mom from my new dad. But then I learned she’s just scared. She wants to make sure mommy is the right person for daddy.”

God. This child.

The video ends with Jake looking directly at the camera, as if looking directly at me.

“Granny Kate, don’t worry. I know you’re not a bad person. And I’ll show you mommy and I are also not bad people. We’re the perfect family for daddy.”

The screen goes black.

I sit in my study, alone, with a six-year-old’s words echoing in my head.

Then I watch it again.

This time I see what Jake saw.

A lonely old woman trapped in the past, who’s built walls so high she’s afraid to let anyone in.

A grandmother who’s so afraid of her grandson following in his father’s footsteps, that she’s pushing away the very people who could fill the void of his loss.

Have I been wrong all along?

I’ve been so focused on preventing Ethan from repeating Stephen’s mistakes that I didn’t see they’re not the same. Ethan is stronger. Better than Stephen will ever be.

He chose Sabrina publicly. Defended her repeatedly. Stood up to me in ways his father never

did.

And I’ve been punishing him for it.

Punishing them all for Ethan being exactly what I was afraid he’ll never be.

Strong. Protective. Supportive when the whole world is against his woman.

The comments on Jake’s video are overwhelming. Hundreds of thousands of people seeing what this child saw.

That I’m not mean. Just scared.

And fear has made me cruel.

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Claan

Still…this isn’t right. That kid shouldn’t have recorded me without asking for my permission.

I pick up my phone. Call Ethan.

“Have you seen it?”

His voice is careful. “Just finished watching.”

“Bring them here. Sabrina and Jake. In one hour.”

(Jake’s POV)

We walk inside. The big house is just as fancy as before. But this time I notice other things.

Like pictures on the wall. Old pictures. Of a man I think is daddy’s dad. And a woman who might be daddy’s mom. And young daddy. And Granny Kate when she was younger.

She stops at one picture. Points at it.

“This was taken forty years ago. See that woman? That’s me. And that girl next to me? That’s my daughter-in-law. Ethan’s mother.”

I look at the picture. The woman-daddy’s mom-is smiling really big. Granny Kate has her arm around her. Both of them look happy.

“She was beautiful.” I say.

“She was extraordinary.” Granny Kate’s voice sounds different. Softer. Sadder. “And I opposed her engagement to my son for six months before I finally accepted it. Six months of making her prove herself. Testing her. Pushing her.”

“Why?” I ask.

Granny Kate looks at me. “Because I thought she wasn’t good enough. I thought my son deserved someone from a better family. Someone with more connections and a better

status.”

“But you changed your mind?”

“Eventually. After she showed me she had something more valuable than connections or money. She had strength. Courage. The ability to stand up to me even when I was being unfair. And your grandfather, Ethan’s dad, he was as stubborn as your dad is, so I was forced to accept her.”

She turns away from the picture. Keeps walking.

We follow her to a room I haven’t been in before. A study. Big desk. Lots of books. Windows

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that look out at the garden.

She sits behind the desk. Tells us to sit in the chairs across from her.

It feels like being called to the principal’s office. Except Granny Kate is scarier than any principal I’ve ever met.

She folds her hands on the desk. Looks at me.

Not mommy or daddy. Just me.

“Jake. Do you know what privacy is?”

“Yes.”

“Explain it to me.”

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“It’s when something belongs to just you. Like your thoughts. Or your bedroom. Or things you do that you don’t want other people to see.”

“And do you believe people have a right to privacy?”

“Yes.”

“Then why did you film me without my permission?”

“Because you do nice things in public,” I say. “In places where anyone could see. I didn’t film you in your house. I filmed you at the hospital and the garden and the art show. Places where lots of people could see what you were doing.”

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