Mrs Haward Finds Out About Julia
"Mum, how can you assign me to do this," Mirenda murmured in the shower. "She is gross," she added.
Meanwhile, back in the dining area, dinner was over, and it appeared no one enjoyed their food except Grandpa. Mrs Haward left the dining area, went to the living room and started going through the TV channels. Jason descended the staircase to the living room and was glad to find Mrs Haward there. He walked up to her and looked at her for a while.
"Mum, she is my wife. We are legally married. When the time is right, I will let you know the details. So I would appreciate it if you left her alone," Jason said. "She has been through a lot. I will plead with you to stop making life more uncomfortable for her than it already is," he said in a calm voice.
"Wow, I never thought I would see the day, my little brother would go all out and defend a woman from his heart," commented James, who had just walked through the front door, making Jason and Mrs Haward turn to look at him.
"You are in love, brother. Hi, mum," James said and walked towards his room.
They both heard the door closing. Jason stood there for a while. The words of James playing in his mind 'You are in love,'. Mrs Haward looked at Jason, who slowly left the living room, climbing the staircase back to his room.
"He is falling in love with her," Mrs Haward thought and unlocked her phone screen.
Mrs Haward looked at the image of Julia and her mother she had taken with her phone, trying to recall where she had seen the face before. After searching her memory without an answer, she sent the image to someone to find out who the woman in the image was. She left the living room for her bedroom to rest for the night. Everyone lay in their bed, each doing their own thing. James was on the phone chatting with one of his girls. Mirenda was fast asleep. Julia lay on her bed in tears, missing her mum and her old home. Jason was on his bed, thinking about Julia if he was really in love with her, and Mrs Haward, sitting on her bed, bothered about the fact that Jason was falling in love with Julia, and she didn't even know who Julia was and why her husband chose Julia for Jason as a wife. Grandpa was peacefully asleep snoring.
The next morning, Jason asked Julia to wait for him in the car, and he went to see Grandpa. Mirenda was passing by with her coffee in hand as usual. James and Mrs Haward were still sleeping.
Inside Grandpa's room,
"Grandpa, I came to see how you are doing?" came Jason's calm voice.
"Sure, you did, and I am good, but you are not," Grandpa said, and Jason raised his eyebrows.
"Jason, come sit down," Grandpa said, and Jason sat next to him on the bed.
"Jason, I know the only reason you have kept the beautiful young lady here is out of respect for your father. Your father asked you to, right?" Grandpa asked and Jason nodded in a 'yes'.
"There is a reason, your father chose this lady and got you married the way he did and you are smart. Look into it," Grandpa said.
"You knew about my marriage?" Jasson asked with an eyebrow raised.
"Oh yes, I did. I wish I could have been there, but well. It was planned overnight because that was all the time your father had, and he wanted to make sure you were safe before anything happened to him," Grandpa explained.
"Grandpa, what was my father trying to save me from?" Jason asked, recalling a part of the letter his father had given to him, informing him there was something he needed to understand.
"Is that what Grandpa is talking about?" Jason wondered as he awaited Grandpa's response.
"He did this, so when the terrible things meant to happen start, you can always come back. He gave you salvation," replied Grandpa, and Jason looked puzzled.
"He can always come to where? And what terrible things?" Jason thought.
"Never trust that woman you call mother," Grandpa warned, but before Jason could ask another question he spoke again.
"Jason, my boy, you are very clueless when it comes to women and love, but I can see it in your eyes you like that girl," Grandpa said, touching Jason's hand.
"I know you have not recovered fully from what happened when you were six. You have kept your distance from women to date. How many female servants do you have here and do they stay here? Aside from Matilda and Mirenda, whom you don't mind, do you have another female staying here?" Grandpa asked.
"Grandpa, if you are talking about my relationship with Julia, she is family now, we are married," Jason replied.
"Well, that is an excuse you give yourself to prevent yourself from admitting what you feel anytime you see her," Grandpa said.
Jason figured it was time for Grandpa's medication, thinking Grandpa's ill health was having some impact on his thinking ability. Jason just nodded and helped Grandpa with his medication before stepping out of the room.
"Remember what we talked about," Grandpa called after Jason and he nodded before closing the door on his way out.
He went straight to the garage and found Julia waiting in the car as he instructed. She was very obedient to him. He felt his heart racing abnormally as he sat down next to her in the car, but he composed himself.
"Are you okay?" Jason managed to ask, seeing Julia was gloomy.
"I am fine. Thank you," Julia replied shyly and forced a smile.
Julia's smile warmed Jason's heart. Jason told the driver to move. The engine came to life and the car moved out of the compound towards Haward International.
Back at the apartment, Mrs Haward had just woken up from her sleep. As she stood stretching, her phone buzzed, and she picked it up. Unlocking the screen, she saw an SMS notification from the person she had sent Julia and her mother's image.
Yawning, she tapped on the SMS to read the content. Her mouth, which was wide open because she was yawing, remained open as her eyes read the SMS content;
The woman in the image, Amber Harrison, a friend of your late husband, got together one drunken night. The result of that one-night stand was the other lady, Julia Harrison. Julia Harrison is your late husband's biological daughter.
The phone slipped from Mrs Haward's hand, crushing it to the ground and shattering it into pieces. Everything started making sense to her.