The Best Revenge It Wasn't Even Your Child novel Chapter 629

Over the next few days, Catherine spent almost every spare moment outside of caring for Lanny buried in her work.

Despite living under the same roof, she and Lance only ever crossed paths in the dining room during meals.

At night, she handled the baby alone. Yet, every morning when she woke up, she would find faint indentations on the other side of the bed.

The crisp, intoxicating scent of his cologne lingered in the air. She knew Lance had been there.

He was slipping in after she fell asleep and leaving before she opened her eyes.

Amidst all the chaos of her preparation, a strange, suffocating tightness gripped her chest whenever she thought of him.

Lance was making her feel things she couldn't quite put into words.

Lorinda still didn't know about their remarriage, leaving Catherine with absolutely no one to confide in. She had to swallow all her anxiety down.

"Don't worry. My mom was definitely pissed, but she didn't yell at me. She loves me too much to do that."

After the catastrophic incident at the equestrian center, Lorinda had called to reassure her for nearly an hour.

Catherine had insisted she was fine, but Lorinda still repeated the reassurance every few days, terrified that Catherine was secretly blaming herself.

"You've sounded totally off lately. Is it because of what happened? I'm telling you, they seriously couldn't bring themselves to yell at me!"

"No, it's not that," Catherine interrupted gently. "It's about work."

"You have months left on your maternity leave," Lorinda scoffed. "Why are you stressing over work right now?"

"I'm planning to go back next month." The moment the words left Catherine's mouth, a loud gasp echoed through the receiver.

"Absolutely not! Lanny is still tiny. This is when he needs his mom the most! Who's going to watch him if you go to work?"

Lorinda was fiercely opposed to the idea. "Kids only grow up once, Catherine! You have to be there for him!"

"I'm just going to the office, not abandoning him. It's a half-day schedule, but I still get full pay. Why wouldn't I take that deal?"

A normal maternity leave usually came with paid benefits.

The line went completely silent.

After a long pause, Lorinda sighed heavily. "You're just too damn stubborn."

What Lorinda didn't quite grasp was that it wasn't pride. Catherine simply had no one to lean on. She was her only safety net.

Over the past twenty-plus years, Catherine had occasionally allowed herself to dream of a beautiful, loving family, of having someone who would always have her back.

But those fantasies were long gone.

Who could she actually rely on?

The fact that her ex-husband, Lance, had become her shield against the Lee family was already a wildly unexpected miracle.

And even that support was strictly temporary.

"Fine, I won't push it. But if anything comes up, you have to text me immediately. Got it?"