Heinz was surprised and asked, "Are you serious?"
"Of course, I'm serious," said Little Gary with a proud look on his face. "Are you stupid?"
Heinz opened his mouth and said helplessly, "If I were stupid, would I have been able to have such a smart child?"
"I'm the result of genetic mutation and the genes I inherited from Mommy," the little guy said. He had never failed to flatter his mother while belittling Heinz.
Heinz glanced at Grace.
Coincidentally, Grace also raised her eyes to look at him. When they stared into each other's eyes, his gaze was filled with helplessness.
"What's wrong?" Grace asked while walking over.
Heinz took a deep breath and finally spoke after a long while, "Nothing, I just think that you have given me a good son."
Grace was surprised.
Gary butted in casually, "Thank you for your compliment."
Heinz was so stifled by his son that he had almost burst a blood vessel.
His gaze fell on Little Gary's face.
Little Gary raised his chin slightly and said, "Don't look at me like that. Were you not praising me
insincerely earlier?”
"Of course, I was sincere.” Heinz picked Little Gary up and held him before himself. Then he said, "Little guy, how can you doubt your father's sincerity?"
"A person with a criminal record is never trustworthy," Little Gary said nonchalantly.
"Naughty boy," said Heinz as he pinched his son's nose. "You are good at teasing me."
Grace was watching Heinz shower little Gary with fatherly affection as he held him in his arms when she noticed Ernest watching them from where he stood.
Grace coughed and cleared her throat, then she reminded Heinz, "Alright, hug Ernest too."
Grace wondered if Ernest would feel that he and Gary were treated differently if they acted like that. She was afraid that it would affect him and scar him emotionally.
Unexpectedly, upon hearing that, Ernest said, "It's okay, Aunt Grace. Dad doesn't need to carry me."
Grace was shocked.
Heinz was also astonished.
Ernest smiled and spread out his small hands. Then, he explained, "If you are afraid that I'll be jealous, you don't have to. I know that Little Gary has just reunited with Dad. Dad ought to be kinder and gentler to Little Gary in order to compensate for all the years of loneliness he had gone through without Dad."
Grace was startled. She couldn't believe that she was looking at such a thoughtful and sensible child
before her.
She bent down and smiled warmly. Then, she hugged Ernest. Her heart was moved as she embraced Ernest's little frame.
"Ernest, you are a good boy," Grace said with a voice full of tenderness. "You really are a sweetheart."
Ernest's eyes were curved like the crescent moon, and the warm smile on his face was similar to Grace's.
Heinz was shocked when he saw Ernest's face.
Little Gary lowered his voice and whispered in Heinz's ear, "Did you see that? They're becoming more and more like mother and son."
Heinz panicked and glanced at him.
Little Gary shrugged and continued, "Don't you think that Ernest looks like Mommy?"
That was exactly what Heinz felt. At that moment, he really felt that when Ernest smiled, he resembled a lot like Grace.
Both of them had the same warm smile.
But that feeling came too sudden.
Before he could say anything, Little Gary whispered in his ear again, "Ernest only had two meals with us but he already looks like Mommy. In future, if he has more meals with us, won't he look even more like Mommy?"
Heinz was amused by the child's logic. He wished that would happen.
"Okay, let's go." Heinz brushed it off and didn't continue in the discussion. After all, Ernest was
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