She turned to a frowning and utterly confused Keith and snapped, "You listen to me. I do not approve of her joining the West family. You two will break up immediately!"
Keith shot to his feet, his fists clenched. "Mom, what are you talking about? Why are you suddenly telling us to break up?"
"I love Amara, and I've chosen her. She's the person I want to spend the rest of my life with. I will not leave her."
Even Nathan was looking at Edith, his brow furrowed in confusion.
Just as Edith was about to speak, the door opened again, and Amara rushed in. "Mrs. Winters, please let me explain. I just happened to run into Mr. Everly. I didn't pay any attention to what he was saying."
"And if you had heard the entire conversation, you would have heard me disagree with him!"
"I have absolutely no private contact with Mr. Everly. Besides, he's getting married himself! I have no complaints about you or Mr. West. Please, don't misunderstand me!"
From Amara's words, Keith pieced together what had happened.
His expression darkened. He took Amara's cold hand and said softly, "Don't worry. Leave this to me. I'll handle it."
"Handle what?" Edith retorted sharply. "You can't handle anything!"
"This girl looks innocent, but she's been conspiring with her ex-husband to badmouth her future in-laws. What kind of person is that?"
"The fact that I didn't lose my temper in public was the last bit of decency I could offer her. Nothing more. We're leaving now!"
Just then, the door opened one more time. Finnian walked in, closed it behind him, and his dark eyes swept over the four people in the room, finally settling on Amara's face.
He had overheard Edith's words from the hallway. Seeing that Amara was alright, he turned to Edith and spoke.
"Mrs. Winters, first, let me be clear: Amara and I have no private contact. I was the one who pursued her on a few occasions, but that was entirely my mistake. Amara did nothing wrong, and you shouldn't accuse her like that."
"Second, as you should have heard, I was the one who made some unflattering judgments about you and Mr. West. I shared those thoughts with Amara, but she didn't agree and even argued with me about it."
"Furthermore, she never said a single bad word about you or Mr. West. You can be angry with me, hold a grudge against me, and direct all your frustration my way. But you shouldn't blame Amara, who has done nothing wrong. It's not fair to her."

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