Have I Told You Lately

Theresa bit her lower lip and calmed herself down. "I've been with your dad for several decades. I can tell everything about him. The only thing that I regret is that I didn't follow him to the office every day. Otherwise, I wouldn't let him make so many troubles behind me," she said. Rachel tensed up and put down her cup, comforting Theresa, "All is gone. Don't overthink about it. He's got what he deserved. The prison is the punishment of law and being stuck at home is the compensation for you. It's not your fault. It was his."

"And I will ask him later. Maybe he will tell me something. Relax, even if he does have something in his mind, he wouldn't hide it from you now," Rachel added.

Theresa sighed and spoke no more.

After that, Rachel taught Monica to write in her room for a while. When the little girl fell asleep, she went out of the room.

Theresa was coming out from the bathroom after a shower, drying her hair. "Does Monica fall asleep?" she asked.

Rachel went to her and help her dry her hair with a towel. She nodded, "Yeah. I'm just trying to ease her autism, so I bring her back here. This is the way that Osmond and I think of."

Theresa sat down, raised her eyebrows, and asked, "So you and Osmond..."

Be together?

"I've turned him down. Don't joke about our relationship anymore," Rachel chuckled.

Theresa seemed to be not surprised at all. She said with a mild tone, "So you still think of Kenneth."

A mother was the mirror which could reflect her daughter's thought. She knew what would happen from the very beginning when Kenneth followed Rachel back home. Certainly, Theresa was on her daughter's side. She wouldn't interfere no matter what choice Rachel made.

Rachel rolled her eyes with her mouth twitched, "I'm not thinking of him. There are thousands of men in the world except them two."

She still had a lot of chances.

"But I have only one daughter. No matter whom you choose, I will respect your choice," Theresa said seriously.

Rachel was stunned for being touched deeply by her mother's sudden pledge. She put her arms around Theresa, sobbing gratefully, "Mom, I love you."

"All right, that's it. Don't be so emotional. Take a bath and get some steep," Theresa said. She gave a seemingly distasteful look, pushed her away, snatched the towel from Rachel and do the drying by herself.

Rachel held back her chuckles, raised her chin towards Chapman's room. "Did dad fall asleep?" she asked.

Theresa got down. She left Rachel behind and went back to the bathroom. "You can go and see by yourself," she said.

Rachel shook her head, opened the door gently and walked in.

The man on the bed seemed to notice the stirring. He closed his eyes right away.

Rachel didn't notice that. She walked towards him, took a glance at him, and then sat by the bed. "Well, come off it. It's me," she said.

These days there were only three of them at home. Every night she came back from work Theresa would tell her about Osmond's emotions in the daytime. She did have comforted her mother, but it didn't mean she would stop her over-thinking.

There was still no response from the bed.

Rachel raised her eyebrows and sneered, "Still pretending? Fine, if you don't want to talk then just bury it in mind."

She stood up and made some noise deliberately.

"Wait a minute," Chapman finally gave up. His old voice became hoarse after cough.

He opened his eyes and watched her, smiling embarrassedly. "You're back," he changed the subject to her.

Rachel wanted to roll her eyes at once. She sat down once again and asked, "Why are you doing up so late?"☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐