Chapter 174: Coaxing His Son
Skyler just said, “Just give it a try and leave here for a while. By the way, your absence will help get this matter out of the limelight that much quicker, don’t you think?”
Scarlett took a lighter and a cigarette out from nowhere, and then she lit it up and took a small puff of her cigarette. She stared at the spark between her finger and said, “I haven’t smoked for a long time because of Carlos. I’m about to quit smoking…”
“It doesn’t matter if you want one now,” Skyler said.
Scarlett smiled helplessly and puffed a smoke ring, and said, “Sometimes, I think we need to change ourselves a lot to cater to someone else. When I woke up on that huge bed at midnight, I had this deep, unsettling feeling that I’m not even me anymore.”
Skyler didn’t know how to comfort her. Usually, people like her having relationship problems didn’t need advice at the moment, and all they needed was a good listener instead.
Skyler poured another glass of wine and handed it over to her.
Scarlett had the cigarette with her right hand, and then she drank away the wine with her left hand. The tears kept streaming down her face.
***
Francis was busy dealing with Carlos; right then, he was a child with a temper who hadn’t seen his mother in what felt to him like an eternity.
“Sweetheart, how about let’s go to sleep? It’s time for sleep!” Grace walked around the house holding Carlos. Nobody had been able to comfort him lately.
When Francis came out of the study room with the smell of smoke on him, he happened to see that Carlos was still crying. He frowned and felt a headache coming over him. It was a nasty one.
Seeing that look on his face, Grace thought he didn’t like a baby’s crying, so she instantly coaxed Carlos. She desperately wanted him to quiet down before Francis lost his temper, “Oh, sweetheart, stop crying, your mommy will be back home very soon… She’ll be here soon!”
Francis smelled the smoke on his shirt and wrinkled his nose in response. He didn’t like that strong, putrid smell. Looking at the sweet, tiny face of Carlos, he felt heartbroken for his son.
“Daddy…” Carlos said.
Considering the smell of smoke on himself, Francis wanted to change into a new set of clothes. However, Carlos just burst into tears when he saw Francis turned away. Because of that, Francis had no choice but to rush to pick him up.
Smelling the smoke on Francis’s clothes, though Carlos didn’t like the smell, he still rested his small head on his father’s shoulder and sobbed.
“I’m so sorry, sir.” Grace apologized, kind of at a loss.
“It’s okay. Leave him to me.” Francis said. After that, Grace just retreated quietly.
“How about let’s take a shower together? It’s very interesting, there are toys there.” He said.
But Carlos still buried his head in his father’s arms and sobbed in a low voice.
His son’s crying moved Francis so much that he almost changed his mind; he felt ready to call Scarlett up and ask her to come right back.
Francis got the water ready in the bathtub, and then he lifted up his sleeves and took off Carlos’s clothes. After that, Francis carefully put Carlos in the water.
When Carlos saw the yellow ducks in the water, he became very excited.
Francis forced a smile on his face and remembered Scarlett again because she had bought those toys for Carlos.
And then Carlos said, “Mommy!”
As Francis had expected, the toy reminded Carlos of Scarlett, too.
Francis took off his clothes and got in the bathtub. Lying in the bathtub, Francis said, “Mommy won’t be coming back, Carlos. I’m sorry… Will you be happy to live with just your daddy?”
Staying in Francis’s arms, the white and chubby baby bit his finger and stared at his father with bright eyes. He seemed to have no idea what his father had just said.
“Mommy…”
Upon hearing that, Francis lowered his head to wash him and said, “Your mommy is a bad mommy. She abandoned you. So you’d better not think of her. Forget about mommy, Carlos.”
However, Carlos still didn’t understand what his father was saying. All he knew was that he hadn’t seen his mother for a long time. When he saw the pink bath towel that had belonged to Scarlett on the wall, he pointed at it with his fat fingers and said, “Mommy, mommy…”
Francis was defeated by Carlos and felt very tired. Having such a lovely baby to keep reminding him of Scarlett, it was unlikely that he would ever be able to forget Scarlett in his life.
“It’s done. Time for sleep!” Francis said. After that, he wrapped the baby up in a large bath towel and dried him off quickly. Francis put Carlos down on the bed and then dressed him in his nightclothes.
When he finished that, Francis lay down under the quilt with the baby. Carlos took the pillow that belonged to Scarlett. He held it in his arms tightly and rolled around on the bed.
“Come here, sweetheart. Do you want to hear a bedtime story? I’ll tell you a nice bedtime story.” Francis said after grabbing him and keeping him in his arms, stopping him from rolling right off the bed.
Carlos was a sweet kid as long as he was with his father. Francis only told him the first few minutes of the story, and Carlos fell right asleep without any complaints at all.
On the other hand, Francis had a sleepless night. No matter how hard he tried, he just could not get Scarlett out of his head.
***
Scarlett walked out of the building. A black Audi car parked at an angle on the road honked. Scarlett turned around to look at the car. She recognized it, so she walked over towards it confidently.
After she got into the passenger seat, she asked smilingly, “What brings you here?”
It was Chuck. He was dressed in a slick leather jacket with tight-fitted jeans, and a pair of black aviators sat on his head. He looked like a member of some local biker gang or something.Content protected by Nôv/el(D)rama.Org.