Love Me Back (Amelia and Daniel) novel Chapter 250

Ever since Amelia left three years ago, Mrs. Clark’s moments of clarity had grown fewer and farther between. Now, she could go days in a fog, barely aware of her surroundings. Nora knew the old woman was simply heartsick with longing and could only sigh, “Ma’am, this little girl just looks like her. She isn’t—”

Before she could finish, Ashley hurried over and greeted them with a smile.

Nora recognized her instantly—she worked over at Emerald Meadows. Stunned, Nora blurted out, “Wait… is she really the young master’s child?”

“No,” Ashley replied firmly.

But Mrs. Clark’s tone was even more resolute. “Yes. I know it.”

Nora took Ruby off to fly a kite, leaving Ashley to help Mrs. Clark settle herself onto a bench. “Ma’am, there was a paternity test. Ruby isn’t his daughter.”

“Those tests can be wrong. I trust my instincts.” Mrs. Clark was as stubborn as ever, refusing to listen to anyone. Only her own intuition mattered.

She gazed at Bunny, who was laughing joyfully in the breeze a little ways off. “That child may look like Amelia, but everything about her—her spirit, the way she moves—reminds me of Daniel when he was little. She’s his daughter. Without a doubt.”

Ashley knew all too well about Mrs. Clark’s illness and didn’t bother arguing. Agitating her could only make things worse.

After a while, Ruby, tired out from running with the kite, came over for a drink. Grandma Edith’s loving gaze seemed to wrap around her like a warm blanket. “Ruby, how would you like it if great-grandma turned all the shops on Ivy Road into an amusement park just for you?”

Ruby stared at her, wide-eyed and speechless.

Ashley leaned over and whispered to Nora, “Is her condition getting worse?”

Nora sighed. “Don’t even mention it. These days, we’re lucky if she’s lucid for half an hour every three or four days.”

“No wonder,” Ashley murmured. “She doesn’t seem very clear-headed right now.”

“Don’t get smart with me,” she snapped, her voice uncharacteristically grave. “I have something important to discuss.”

It had been ages since she’d spoken to him like that—like the formidable, sharp-minded matriarch she used to be. Daniel straightened in his chair. “Yes, ma’am?”

“I ran into someone today—” Mrs. Clark began, but then her train of thought simply vanished. Her stern expression melted away, leaving her face utterly blank, her mind a blank slate.

Here we go again, Nora thought, all too familiar with the signs.

She picked up the phone and spoke to Daniel. “Sir, she’s having another episode. I think you’d better hang up.”

Daniel gave a few instructions before ending the call.

As for Mrs. Clark, her thoughts were tangled and sticky, a muddled mess she couldn’t unravel, smothering whatever it was she’d wanted to say.