Chapter 2266
Cecilia reached out and gently rubbed Elliot’s head.
After paying their respects to Regas, she took the children to bring flowers to Martha as well.
All these years, Martha had been like a mother to her.
“Mom… I miss you so much.”
She said it softly.
But no one would ever hold her and comfort her the way Martha once had.
Nathaniel took her hand.
“If Martha could see how well you’re doing now, she’d be happy for you too.”
Cecilia nodded firmly.
They had spent the entire day out, and by the time they returned, everyone was exhausted.
Since they still needed to take the two younger children to Rainsworth Manor, Cecilia and the others decided to stay the night there.
After Elena settled her two young grandsons to sleep, she turned to Cecilia. “They must’ve worn themselves out today. They fell asleep the moment they got back.”
Cecilia smiled. “Yeah. They played all day.”
“That’s good. Let them run around during the day so they can sleep well at night.”
As they talked, a servant approached Elena. “Madam Elena, Miranda is here.”
Elena looked up, puzzled. “What is she doing here?”
The servant shook her head. “I’m not sure.”
“Let her in.”
Elena didn’t like Miranda, but she couldn’t turn her away at the door.
It wasn’t long before Miranda walked in.
“Aunt Elena, Ceci.”
By the time she reached them, her face was already arranged into a polite smile.
Elena gave a small nod. “Miranda, what brings you here?”
“Nothing much. I heard Ceci was back, so I thought I’d come by and chat.”
She had already taken a seat as she spoke.
Cecilia didn’t think there was anything worth discussing with her.
“Ceci, would you mind talking with me alone for a minute?” Miranda asked.
With others around and servants nearby, Cecilia had to give her that courtesy.
She nodded. “Okay.”
After informing Elena, Cecilia got up and walked outside with Miranda.
Once they were alone, Cecilia got straight to the point.
“What did you want to say?”
The distant look on Cecilia’s face grated on Miranda, but she didn’t dare show it.
She forced a smile. “It’s nothing major. It’s just… a while back, my father-in-law made a bit of a fool of himself. You must’ve had quite a laugh over it.”
She had never expected her father-in-law—someone so shrewd, someone who had never taken a loss—to suffer such a crushing blow, let alone be outmaneuvered by Nathaniel.
“He came back the day before yesterday, and it hit him so hard he ended up in the hospital. He still hasn’t recovered,” Miranda continued.
“So?” Cecilia said flatly.
She had no patience for beating around the bush.
Miranda paused for a moment.
“Could you help my father-in-law this once?”
Cecilia didn’t answer right away. She simply looked at her. “How?”
Miranda said it without hesitation. “Can you return the money he paid you for that land? It’s not like you’re short on money. Besides, the land ended up back in your hands anyway, didn’t it?”
Cecilia had expected nothing good from this visit.
“Then how about this?” she said calmly. “Since we haven’t done anything with it yet, we can just give the land back to you.”
The color drained from Miranda’s face. “That won’t be necessary.”
There were illegal structures on that land.
Even if they took it back, someone would have to pay to tear them down.
She wasn’t foolish enough to accept that.
“So what you’re saying is, you want us to return the money and clean up your mess too?”
Cecilia laid it out plainly, leaving Miranda no room to dodge.
Miranda’s expression stiffened.
She avoided answering directly and pressed on instead.
“Aren’t we family? Is this what family does—set each other up? No matter how you look at it, what happened this time was because Nathaniel deceived my father-in-law.”