Chapter 12

After buying food at a dessert shop, Carl hurriedly delivered it to Madeleine. "Miss, there's some cake and bread in this bag. You can have it," he offered. Seeing this, Madeleine hurriedly stepped back, too scared to reach out and take it. Having experienced too many terrible things in the past, she now hesitated to trust anyone blindly. Carl saw her apprehension and reassured her with a smile, "Don't worry, all this food has the freshest expiry dates, unopened. If you don't trust me, you can check it yourself." Madeleine remained silent, her head low and eyes incessantly fixed on the ground, her nervous hands clenched around the corners of her clothes. She was famished and desperately wanted the food, yet she preferred earning it herself rather than depending on charity and begging. "If you feel bad about accepting the food for free, you can pay us back when you have money in the future," he suggested. "Mr. Beach ordered me to buy you food. Altogether, it cost more than a hundred dollars," Carl explained as he pointed to the car parked at the side of the road. Following his finger, Madeleine looked up to find the Beach family's car parked there. She couldn't help but wonder if 'Mr. Beach' he was referring to was Beckett. Looking away, she took the bag from Carl's hand and promised, "I will pay it back." Subsequently, she picked up the bottles she'd collected and limped toward the direction of the Beach family's house. Her ankle, previously swollen due to being stepped on by Charlotte, was in severe pain. Each step was an agonizing ordeal. She endured the pain and took step by step until she reached the gate. By the time the pain had numbed her, she made her way back to the storage room. She set down the plastic bottles, washed her hands meticulously, and then she came over to Chris, speaking in a gentle voice, "Baby, wake up. I brought you something to eat." Chris was awakened and drowsily called out, "Mommy..." When Madeleine presented the cupcake in front of Chris, his eyes instantly lit up. With a desire to have a taste, he licked his underlip in anticipation and excitedly said, "Wow... How did you get the cupcake? You're so amazing, mommy!" His innocence and cuteness caused Madeleine to laugh. Immediately, she placed the cupcake in Chris's hand and coaxed him, "I can do magic, and this cupcake was conjured up with my magic." "Wow... Mommy, you're so powerful. You're a magician!" Chris was so excited that he tried to give her a kiss on her face. Instinctively, Madeleine dodged and said, "Don't kiss me, baby. Mommy... is dirty." "You will never be dirty. You're an angel, the most beautiful angel in the world." Chris held Madeleine's face and imprinted a kiss. Overwhelmed, Madeleine was unable to stop the tears from running down. With a smile on her face, she choked up as she said, "Good boy, I'm sorry for letting you go hungry. Please eat up." "I'm not hungry, you eat first, mommy." Understanding beyond his years, Chris - even when feeling hungry, didn't want Madeleine to worry. He always gave her the first bite of any delicious treats. "No, you should eat, I've already eaten." Madeleine was very hungry indeed, yet she didn't want to eat, hoping to reserve the food for Chris. "You haven't, and you have to eat first." Holding onto the cupcake, Chris kept pushing it closer to her mouth. He insisted her take a bite first before he would eat. Madeleine, unable to dissuade him, gave in and took a small bite. All she could think of was how sweet it tasted. Being in prison for so many years, she had almost forgotten what sweetness was. "Mommy, is Daddy a superhero? Will he come to save us? Where is he now?" During the night, Madeleine cuddled Chris and slept on the floor. Chris asked many questions about his biological father. Madeleine didn't know who Chris's father was, so she could only create a fictitious image of a father for him, hoping he would grow up in a happy and healthy environment. "Baby, your dad is a superhero who has to go to outer space to save kind aliens; that's why he left us," she explained. "Outer space is very, very far from Earth, so it will be a very, very long time before your dad can come back. "Baby, I might have to go look for your dad soon, and it would also take a very, very long time for me to come back..." Madeleine's voice notably faltered at this point. To her surprise, Chris suddenly fell silent. Seeing this, Madeleine, worriedly looked at him whose eyes were reddened. She felt a sudden tightness in her heart and gently asked, "Baby, what's wrong?" Chris instantly burst into tears, "I don't want you to leave me. I don't want you to be away from me." Madeleine held Chris tighter, her eyes welling with tears as she was filled with a lot of complicated feelings. She wouldn't survive much longer, as she was fated to die on the operating table soon. ... The next morning, Madeleine was abruptly awakened by a kick from the maid, "What are you sleeping for? Get up already!" Despite being extremely tired, she instinctively held Chris close to protect him and sat up. "Eat quickly, lest you accuse me of starving you." The maid, seeing this, didn't bother to pay attention and just left a plate of rotten food before turning around and leaving the storage room. Once the maid was gone, Chris picked up the plate of food and smelled it, immediately feeling queasy. He placed the food on the ground, obediently telling Madeleine, "Mommy, this food has gone bad, we can't eat it. Eating it will cause a stomach ache." Madeleine nodded, then picked up the plate of spoiled food, limping out of the storage room. Coming into the kitchen, she dumped the food into the trash can, washed the plate, and then began to wash up. After that, she fetched some cold water for Chris to wash up. Later, she led Chris toward the entrance. "Mommy, where are we going?" Chris curiously asked. Upon hearing this, Madeleine gestured for Chris to be quiet, whispering, "We're going home, to find Uncle." However, as soon as the two of them walked to the door, they saw Clinton's car returning to the Beach family. As soon as Clinton's car stopped outside the door and the car door opened, a little boy got out of the car. He was about the same age as Chris, held an oversized car toy in his hand. Madeleine recognized this child, he was the son of Clinton's sister, Danna Beach. The Beach family had three siblings. The eldest was Beckett, and Danna and Clinton were twins. When Madeleine was pregnant, it happened that Danna was also pregnant. Like her, Danna was unmarried and pregnant. "Uncle, who is he?" Terrell Schroeder pointed at Chris, who stood at the entrance, and asked cautiously. Upon seeing Chris, Clinton's eyes immediately darkened, and he said coldly, "He is dirty, you should stay away from him." After hearing this, Chris lowered his head in grievance. Looking at his washed-out clothes, he thought, 'I'm not dirty at all. Uncle has washed my clothes very cleanly. I'm not a dirty boy.'