**My Heart Waited Too Long and Choosing Freedom 137**
Amelia stood frozen in shock, her mind racing.
She had never anticipated that Hannah would go to such extreme lengths.
+5 Pearls
Ethan’s eyes were locked onto Amelia, as if he were trying to decipher the faintest flicker of emotion beneath her composed facade.
Yet, to his dismay, he found nothing but stillness.
He pressed his dry lips together, a sign of his unease, and began to explain, his voice thick with remorse. “Today… Hannah was on her way to pick up Isla from school when she unexpectedly encountered the Boyds.”
The Boyds—the family of Jack, Hannah’s late husband.
“When Jack proposed to Hannah all those years ago, the Boyds were vehemently opposed. They believed her family had fallen from grace, that she was unworthy of their son. But Jack, being their only child, was resolute, and eventually, they relented. Yet now, with Jack gone too soon, they’ve shifted the blame entirely onto Hannah. They’ve branded her as cursed… claiming she’s the source of their misfortune.”
Ethan’s voice grew heavier with each word, the weight of the situation pressing down on him. “Not long ago, they even evicted Hannah and Isla from the Boyds’ estate without a single penny to their names. That’s when I stepped in to support them, out of respect for Jack. The Boyds likely assumed that after being cast out, Hannah and Isla would be living in squalor. But when they saw them today, realizing they weren’t as destitute as they had hoped, they erupted into a scene right there on the street. They hurled insults, called her despicable names. They even struck Hannah, and Isla was so frightened that she’s still running a fever… When they finally returned home, Hannah locked herself in her room and wept for what felt like an eternity. And then… she reached a breaking point. She swallowed an entire bottle of sleeping pills.”
Ethan swallowed hard, the gravity of his words weighing heavily on him. “She even left a note… asking me to look after Isla for her. She wrote that she was exhausted, that she longed to be with Jack again.”
As he spoke, as if to reinforce the reality of his words, Ethan retrieved a crumpled piece of paper from his pocket and handed it to Grace.
Grace accepted it cautiously, leaning closer alongside Fiona to read the contents.
The handwriting was unmistakably Hannah’s, every line infused with despair, revealing her heartbreak over leaving Isla behind, and her implicit trust in Ethan.
“It was Isla who first realized her mother wouldn’t awaken, no matter how desperately she called out for her. She phoned me in tears. When I rushed over…”
Ethan’s gaze remained fixed on Amelia, his expression a mix of anguish and desperation. “The situation was… incredibly dire.”
He faltered, unable to continue. His tortured eyes remained locked onto her, as if he were pleading for her to comprehend the depth of his pain.
In the living room, after Grace and Fiona finished reading the letter, most of their initial fury dissipated, replaced by a complex blend of pity and discomfort.
And Amelia, having absorbed the whirlwind of this dramatic tragedy, finally allowed the faintest shift in her expression to surface.
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