SWNOVELS Chapter Chapter Thirty-Five: Future's Obvious Outcome
Chapter Thirty-Five: Future’s Obvious Outcome
ERIN searched for her aunt Maine but she was nowhere in sight.
And Philip, too, was gone.
Her hand rattled as her thoughts suggested that maybe Maine and Philip went on a date. It’s not a ridiculous notion, considering that the two will eventually get married in the future.
It’s a good thing that her parents were both busy with the baby Erin while Aunt Jean opened her arms to welcome the walking babies in her arms. Jean’s son, Andreus, looked squishy and vulnerable as he walked on the lawn.
How she wished she could strangle the baby version of her childhood friend. He is quite condescending towards her and acts like an army general whenever she tries to have a decent conversation with him.
Andreus walked towards the baby Erin and hugged her like a plush toy. The baby Erin giggled and kissed his lips.
Oh no. Erin’s cheeks reddened.
Did she just witness her first kiss?!
Her mother, Hyacinth, laughed as Aunt Jean chuckled. Max scowled and went to get his baby. “No kissing until you’re fifty years old.”
Andrei laughed at that. “They’re adorable, Bismarck. Let them be. They’re babies.”
Oh, no. Absolutely not.
“Ray-ray!” Her Aunt Jean called the baby. He hardly looked like a baby with his height and plumpness. They’re toddlers, technically, but only the baby version of Ray gave justice to the word.
Her father searched for something around the lawn and his eyes landed on hers.
“Where’s Maine?” He mouthed that question.
Should she tell her father that Aunt Maine probably went somewhere with Uncle Philip? She shuddered. Erin had recalled from her Aunt Maine’s stories in the future that her father was against the relationship between the couple. It took him a long time to accept the idea that his baby sister is bound to have a scandalous relationship with Philip before marriage.
The two were the contents of gossip columns. They were found making out here and there. Erin blushed at the internet articles she had read in the future with her married Aunt Maine.
Oh yes, she should lie to her father and tell him that Aunt Maine has an upset stomach. She nodded decisively and went to her parents.
“Aunt Maine said she consumed a bad salad.” Erin tried to sound empathetic with that sentence.
Max frowned at her. “But we never had a salad.”
“Oh no, Dad. Aunt Maine ate our leftovers from last, last night.”
Max searched his pocket and fished the phone out of it. He called someone and asked if Maine had left the house.
Hyacinth smiled at Erin. “Honey, your father knows you’re lying. Your upper lip sweats when you lie.”
Oh, yeah. It does. Erin wiped the moisture off her upper lip.
Then, she heard her father curse over and over. “Philip took her with him.”
Hyacinth went to her husband’s side and massaged his shoulder. “Hey, it’s okay. You already know the future of those two. They’ll end up together, anyway.”
Max massaged his temples while Jean’s eyes widened in shock. Andrei took the baby boy with him and gave them privacy.
“Maine and Philip ended up together in the future?!” Jean’s eyes were about to pop out of its socket.
Erin nodded at her Aunt Jean. “They got married. They even have two kids, their firstborn is a girl named Lilian, which is named after Mom, and their second boy is named Maverick, which is addressed as Viscount Lurthon because that was Uncle Philip's courtesy title before he became the Earl of Warren. Aunt Maine, the Countess of Warren, is pregnant when I left the future...”
Max’s thunderous glare was set on the patch of grass on the ground. He looked like he was about to kill someone but at the same time, he looks like he was doing a great job containing that thought.
.
.
When the guests left that afternoon, Max locked himself in the room with Hyacinth while Erin played with the baby version of her in the nursery while her mother tried to calm her father’s temper.
“Maine is still so young for marriage, Haya. I can’t believe I allowed it all to happen in the future.”
Hyacinth sat on his lap and leaned her back against his chest. “It happened, Max. Don’t ever deprive Maine the chance to be free to pursue what she wanted.”
He sighed with dread as if someone had died. “But she’s still a kid—”
“No,” Hyacinth corrected him. “She’s a woman. If we’re in the medieval ages, she’ll be considered an old maid.”
“I don’t care. I want her safe. I can’t entrust her safety to someone I barely know.”
“Well,” Hyacinth looked up to kiss his chin. “Philip took care of me for years until I met you. He deserved more credit than you give him.”
Max nuzzled her forehead with the tip of his nose. To those who cared to notice, Maximillian Bismarck is in his best mood when his wife is near. That is why most of his employees tend to relay bad news whenever Max’s wife is in the office. He’s more amenable to a stressful discussion that way.
.
.
MAINE hated to be the bearer of bad news, but she had to do it.
She had to tell Hyacinth that Erin needed to go back to the future with her to not risk altering fate. They won’t want the teenager Erin Bismarck to permanently disappear, would they?
Maine rested her back against the comfortable backrest of the passenger seat, her eyes searching her thoughts so deeply that she didn’t notice the detective’s stolen glances from her face.
Max’s fate is sealed, then. He’ll endure a decade alone and waiting for his wife to return.
Maine mourns for Max, especially for Hyacinth. For sure, the two will never want to part with each other. They love each other to death. She witnessed the boundless love that the two shared every day.
Hyacinth had to travel in time and bring her daughter back to the future. It might feel like minutes for Hyacinth since she’ll be traveling in time, but Max will suffer the agony of waiting for her arrival.
He needed to learn that tampering with fate comes with consequences. Hyacinth had warned him about this back when he insisted to make Erin’s existence permanent. He insisted on making Erin exist. Now, to make certain that Erin will be safe from the chaos, Hyacinth will have to send her daughter back.
Her sister-in-law told her the full story of their whole situation only two years ago when Erin persuaded her parents to confide in Maine and to Jean, Andrei, and Philip, too. Everyone had been so curious about how the fight between the married couple started that ended up with Hyacinth getting involved in a car crash. Hyacinth was in a comatose state for six months and Max suddenly showed his vulnerable side for the first time. Of course, it is only natural for everyone to ask questions especially if they saw how it reformed Max to the core.
Should Maine relay the information she had gathered from Ben Sinclair to her brother? She’ll have to warn them that Erin might vanish into nonexistence if she stayed too long in the past.
“Everything will be fine, Maine.” Philip couldn’t help but interrupt the woman’s thoughts with his bland assurance. He had heard the complexity of Hyacinth’s situation through a device in the interrogation room that allowed him to hear the conversation earlier between Maine and Ben Sinclair. Everything is definitely not gonna be fine.
But he can’t seem to bear to hear the hiccups from Maine’s sobs. She looked so shaken and perturbed as if somebody just stole her livelihood or something. The woman’s alluring beauty is now swollen and reddened by her tears.
Philip would be lying if he didn’t feel any sympathy for Maximillian Bismarck and Hyacinth. After all, he had been present in every milestone of the couple’s life. He was always invited to every party: birthdays, Christmas, New Year, and the like. For some reason, that made Philip feel wanted and significant. The Bismarcks included him not because he’s the godfather of Erin but because Hyacinth considered him as a part of their family. The idea is somewhat impertinent, though, considering that Philip and the Bismarcks aren’t that close.
“Do you think that everything will be fine after Hyacinth disappears?”
He can’t answer that. Philip cannot risk adding salt to Maine’s wound by commenting about Hyacinth’s departure soon.
Philip kept his mouth shut, his full attention on the road ahead of him.
“Of course, you don’t.” Maine guessed, then she let out a trembling chuckle that sounded so fake that the cheap product replicas from the Orient Continent would hide in shame.
“Please be grateful that I consider your feelings. I don’t usually care about those. So, if I kept my mouth shut, don’t try to dig up some answers.”
Maine gasped, irritated. Her cheeks burned with rage. “You know what? I’m not fragile and spoiled and unsheltered! I may be open about my feelings but that doesn’t mean I’m weak! You have to know that some people prefer to show their emotions than to hide them!”
Philip’s jaw tightened as his hands moved on the steering wheel to park the car on the graveled side of the long road to Sutton City. He faced Maine with a clear annoyance that is capable of scaring children away.
It seemed like the woman got startled by her sudden outburst and her eyes started to gleam with unshed tears. Maine sobbed, regretful of her rudeness. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to offend you. I’m just upset about not being able to help my brother when he spent most of his life looking after me—”
The word vomit was abruptly stopped by the warmth of his lips on hers.
Maine’s eyes widened in shock, yet her lips gaped open to welcome his intrusion.
His lips devoured hers like a starving man enjoying a meal for the first time. Her throat released a groan when her chest moved upwards to seek more closeness, more warmth, more of... him.
What the hell?