RETAKE

Part 41

"Why?"

"Because she is your grandma," Brent explained.

Matt looked at Mrs. Jefferson before answering, "Okay."

Brent then put Matt on his feet and told him to kiss his grandma goodnight, and when the latter ran to do as told, he turned to face her. " Bring Matt upstairs and let him sleep. I will talk to mom."

Anne nodded and then turned to see that Mrs. Jefferson was hugging Matt and talking to him in a low tone while Matt nodded. It was the first time she saw the older woman's face softened in her presence because of her newfound grandson. She hoped this time it would not be a pretense but genuine affection.

"Go now to your Mommy to sleep." Mrs. Jefferson said as she unwrapped her arms on Matt. "Grandma will revisit you tomorrow."

"Tomorrow is my friend's birthday. Mommy and daddy will go with me. Daddy and I picked Mommy in the mall because she bought my gift."

"Oh!" Mrs. Jefferson said as she nodded her head as if understanding the reason that they were not there when she came.

Her son would always be the bearer of the news without anyone asking. Anne hoped there would be no more other information he would share with someone who would incriminate them.

"Mommy, where was my gift?" Matt turned to ask Anne.

Before Anne could answer, Brent said," You will see it tomorrow Matt. It is time for you to sleep now; go with Mommy."

"Okay," Matt answered and kissed her grandmother again before running to Anne.

Anne made her excuse, and this time there was no hostility on the older woman's face as she nodded.

While Anne was bathing Matt, he asked her a lot of questions. Like, where his grandma lived and why he had never seen her before. In which she fabricated an answer again. " His grandma stayed in another house and that she was busy at work." Thankfully, her son accepted it as an answer.

She was tucking Matt on the bed when the door opened. Brent directly went to the bathroom. Matt was almost asleep when he went out of it, wearing a pajama set. When he sat on the bed, Matt opened his eyes, looked at him, and asked, " Daddy, why don't you live with your Mommy?"

Brent smiled, then tousled Matt's hair, and then answered. " Daddy is big already."

"I don't want to leave you and Mommy even when I am big," Matt told them while he inched towards her and hugged her. "Mommy, you will not let me leave you even when I am big, okay?"

Anne gathered Matt in her embrace and touched his head before saying, " Of course, Mommy would love to have Matt living with me forever." Then she looked at Brent, and they both smiled. It was because Matt was like any kid who always wanted to be with his parents. Once they reached the age of independence, they wouldn't like to be tamed.

Matt yawned, so she laid him down on his pillows, and once his head touched it, he fell asleep. Anne then settled on her side of the bed while Brent leaned on the headboard as if he had no plan to sleep.

"Marie, I didn't know that Mom would come here. Her visiting us here was a surprise to me too. I never..."

"You don't need to explain about it, Brent," Anne interrupted his explanation. " She is your mother; it was normal for her to worry about what was going on in your life."

"Thank you, Marie," Brent said, making Anne turn to her side to face him, and she smiled. "I hope that you could also understand that my Mom would like to acknowledge Matt to the public, " upon hearing the last word that Brent said, Anne's brows furrowed. Brent reached out his hands to touch her browse while smiling, "What I meant when I said, was at least in the company so the board would know that he is my son and heir, and then to our relatives and friends."

Anne got up and then leaned her back on the headboard. " Won't it confuse Matt? she asked, looking at Brent, who then lowered his head and touched Matt's cheek. "if you want to introduce him, start with your relatives first," she suggested after a minute without Brent saying anything. "Once he got used to having a lot of families, you could introduce him to whoever."

It was then Brent raised his head and directed his attention to her. "Okay, we will do as you suggested." Then there was silence in the room; Anne was going to slide back on her pillow; however, Brent's hand stopped her. "Don't you think it's time for us to talk about ourselves? We can't be like this."

Anne gaped at what she heard, then slowly closed her mouth and swallowed before saying, "There would be a time for that. For now, we must think of what is good for Matt." She saw the disappointment on Bent's face and tried to ignore the hand that reached out to hers and squeezed it.

"I am not asking that we will get married now, but I hope you put it in your mind that I want us to be a family. It's not only because we have a child. You know how much I love you, Anne."

"I know that, and I wanted it too, Brent. However, give me some time to get used to everything. Besides, it was only last month you broke up with Amanda. I don't mind being the topic of everyone's conversation, but we must consider how it would affect Matt."

"Okay, we will follow the pacing that you wanted," Brent said, and then they settled down to sleep.

Anne was thankful they had agreed on what she wanted; at least her son's life would not be overwhelmed by the influx of new faces and information. For her, well, she had lied to Brent that it would not matter what people would say about her, but everything would be inevitable. The best thing she should learn must be to become more unsusceptible about gossip because once she had conquered it, she would not be afraid. It was also for her happiness as well as for Matt and Brent.

She woke up again in the room's emptiness, and suddenly she sat down on the bed as it dawned on her the activities she would be doing. The first thing she did to start the day was to enter the bathroom and take her bath. She went out of the bedroom, wearing skinny jeans, topped with a white knitting blouse and her hair tied in a ponytail.

Brent and Matt were in the living room. Matt was wearing khaki shorts with a blue t-shirt, while Brent was in pants and a white shirt. Matt ran towards her and held her hand after a kiss when they saw her. Brent then got up from the chair, and they went to the kitchen together with Matt in between them, each holding his hands.

After they ate their breakfast, Brent drove them to the party venue. Anne was a bit apprehensive of his presence at the party. Fear of everyone's finding out about his identity drove her mind worried. In the end, she didn't need to concern; no one cared about anyone's family relationship. Every parent was happily talking about their child.

There was a father who recognized Brent as he was one of the employees of Jefferson's subsidiaries. Then, everyone knew of Brent's status and started talking about the business world.

The mothers' topic of conversation was still their kids, though Bryan's mother edged towards her. It was to ask her if she could recommend her husband to Brent for a job. It was then that Anne's attention drifted to Bryan's father, who was setting a chair away from Brent, listening intently to the talk.

"I will try," that was all Anne could answer. Then Bryan's mother told her to send the cv of her husband in her email, to which Anne nodded. She doesn't want to interfere in Brent's business but knowing Bryan made Anne pity the child if his father has no job.

Anne reasoned that she would only hand his papers to Brent. It would still depend on HR, which she explained to Bryan's mother, who was still happy about the gesture.

After lunch, Anne asked permission from the host and the hostess of the pool party for their departure. Matt was a bit reluctant initially, but when she reminded him of her colleagues' party at another house, he immediately left the pool. They left the venue, a clubhouse of a subdivision, after thirty minutes they had eaten.

This time Brent didn't go inside the building where Susan lived. Instead, he dropped them outside the building's entrance after telling her to call him once they were ready to leave.

END PART 41

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