Prosperous Marriage: Married to My Brother-in-law

Chapter 402: It's Hard To Keep The Truth Hidden (3)_1

It was hard to say whether it was intuition or some other reason. In the six days following Marcel Horne's accident, however, the elderly grandmother often found herself mentioning Marcel. She complained about how he had not visited her even once in the last ten or fifteen days, despite being stationed closer to home.

Whenever the grandmother grumbled about Marcel, the three who knew the truth—Glades Horne and the others—would swiftly change the subject. They would say that Marcel must be very busy at the military base. He had, after all, only recently been reassigned there and still had many things to get used to. Besides, Marcel also had to make time for his romance with Ruby Bluen. The grandmother's greatest joy was to see all five of her grandchildren with their significant others, married, and ready to provide her with great-grandchildren.

So, one evening, after hearing talk of Marcel's romantic involvement with Ruby Bluen, the old lady took Julia's hand with a beaming smile and said, "Julia, being in love is wonderful, but you can't just ignore your home, right? Tell your sister that she and Marcel should come home for a meal tomorrow."

Upon hearing the old lady's request for her sister and Marcel to come home for a meal, Julia quickly gave an embarrassed smile and said, "Grandma, Brother Marcel can't just come home whenever he wants, but I'll make sure to pass on your message to my sister and Brother Marcel."

The old lady's mood soured at Julia's response. She glared at Julia and scolded, "The military still has a human side to it! Why can't Marcel come home if he wants to? Are his superiors preventing him from visiting his grandmother? Go get the phone. I'm going to call his superiors myself and ask if they're really preventing my grandson from visiting me, this old woman! Also, Julia, you're Marcel's sister-in-law now. Stop calling him Brother Marcel. It doesn't matter if you're four years younger than him; family hierarchy must be respected. Call him Marcel from now on. Go, get the phone!"

This was serious trouble—if the old lady called Marcel's superiors, their secret would be exposed.

Julia certainly didn't want the old lady to make the call, but she couldn't stop her either. What am I going to do?

"Julia, what's the matter? I asked you to get the phone for Grandma. Are you feeling unwell?" Noticing Julia's distressed expression, the old lady thought she might be unwell. She immediately voiced her concern, placing a hand gently on Julia's abdomen. "There's no problem with the baby, is there?" she inquired anxiously.

The baby? That's right! I can use the baby to distract Grandma!

Counting the weeks, I'm nearly six weeks pregnant. I should be experiencing morning sickness by now, but I haven't felt any symptoms yet. This is my chance! I should pretend to have morning sickness to distract Grandma and keep Marcel's injury a secret.

With that in mind, Julia imitated the behavior of pregnant women on TV, suddenly covering her mouth with one hand and her stomach with the other, pretending to vomit. Of course, it was just a dry heave.

Then she abruptly stood up and ran toward the restroom.

"Julia!" The old lady was briefly taken aback. Then, realizing Julia was probably experiencing morning sickness, she chuckled and followed her toward the restroom. She waved off Auntie Mei, the maid, who had stepped forward to offer support.

Once inside the restroom, Julia finally let out a sigh of relief. That was so close! Our secret was almost exposed! she thought.

When she heard footsteps approaching, she once again pretended to vomit.

After a couple more dry heaves, she stopped.

The act of dry heaving wasn't pleasant. I'm so glad I don't have real morning sickness yet, she thought, silently congratulating herself. I really hope I don't get it. I don't want to be nauseous every day!

"Julia, are you all right? Morning sickness is a normal pregnancy symptom—it can be unpleasant, but just bear with it, and it'll pass," the old lady said with a smile, standing at the restroom door.

Julia washed her hands and wiped her mouth. Turning to the old lady with a smile, she said, "Grandma, I'm fine." Then she walked out of the restroom, helping the old lady back to the couch. Once the two of them were seated, the grandmother held Julia's hand and showered her with advice, temporarily forgetting her intention to call Marcel's superior.

"During pregnancy, vomiting is common among many expectant mothers. But remember, no matter how hard it may be, you must eat. You can't lose your appetite just because you feel sick. The baby needs nutrition, and I've noticed you haven't been eating much these past few days," the grandmother said with the wisdom of someone who had been there before.

"Julia." As soon as the grandmother finished speaking, Mila Anderson emerged from the kitchen with a bowl of freshly made nourishing soup.

Julia had just returned home, and Mila had been busy in the kitchen. Now, with the soup ready, she brought it out.

In the entire household, the person most anxious about the baby in Julia's womb wasn't Glades Horne, the father-to-be, but Mila Anderson, her mother-in-law and the expectant grandmother. Every day, she made it her mission to prepare a variety of foods for Julia, ensuring that Julia wouldn't grow weary of any particular dish and could enjoy different flavors daily. These past six days had flown by for Mila, as she devoted all her energy to the well-being of Julia's unborn child.

Mila had come to dote on Julia as if she were her own precious gem, not only because Julia was pregnant but also in acknowledgment of Julia's kindness and care for Adele Horne, which she had observed. Adele Horne had fully accepted Julia as her sister-in-law. This delighted Mila, allowing her to set aside her previous disapproval of Julia, which had stemmed from issues concerning Ruby Bluen. Mila was now silently trying to make up for her past misgivings towards Julia.

"Julia, the nourishing soup is ready. Come on, drink it while it's hot," Mila said, placing the steaming bowl of soup on the coffee table in front of Julia. It wasn't quite mealtime yet, so she had brought the soup out directly.

Each day, when faced with a rotation of different nourishing soups, Julia felt like running away.

She had been so bombarded daily by her mother-in-law and her own mother with these soups that she'd entirely lost her appetite at the sight of them.

However, she couldn't disregard her mother-in-law's kindness, so she responded with a faint smile, "Mom, let's set it aside for a moment. I'll have some later."

Mila nodded.

She didn't press Julia to drink the soup immediately but asked, somewhat puzzled, "Where's Adele? Doesn't she work at your company? You and your sister-in-law left together this morning. Why didn't you return together in the afternoon? And Glades, has he been very busy lately? It's rare to see you two return home together."