The Revenge of the Mute Wife by Melanie Paulson

Extra 39: Deborah and James

After lunch, and taking advantage of when his father taking his little siblings to their extracurricular activities, James sought out his mom to talk with her.

"Mom," he called out when he saw her in her study, reading some papers.

"Hey, come in," she said, looking up and setting aside the documents for a moment.

"More work?"

"Not exactly. These are the reports of the current buildings for sale in the city."

"Huh... are you already looking into that?"

"Well, son, your sister graduates next year, and a year is not a lot of time to start a company from scratch."

"Will it already be furnished for her?" he asked, taking the documents to read them.

"Yes, that's why I want to buy a warehouse to remodel or a vacant lot so you and your dad can work your magic to build it and make it just like Elizabeth wants."

"It's a project I can't wait to start," James said excitedly.

"Your little siblings are also helping me, looking into sewing stores to buy industrial equipment for making and designing fabrics and clothing."

"Good thing I only have to inherit."

"Well, you'll have to take care of maintaining and upgrading the machinery at some point," Deborah said. as she stood up. "But enough work talk. Tell me, what did Roger say?" "Huh...? Oh... Dad already spilled the beans."

"More than that, he called because he was scared that Roger would steal his baby away."

James blushed at hearing that. "Tch... no one's going to steal me. You two are my parents."

"Aww my baby's all grown up," she said, hugging him,

James blushed again but hugged his mom back. "Anyway... back to the point, Roger wants me to set aside a day or some time to talk because he wants to get to know me." "Well, it sure took him long enough."

I just don't know if I should accept, since he treated you badly and.."

"James Cooper," his mother interrupted him. "Don't do that."

"Do what?"

"Don't carry around other people's grudges that won't do you any good. What I went through in the past has nothing to do with you, and in my own way, I've already forgiven Roger... because if I hadn't, I wouldn't be here with you and your siblings."

"That's true..."

"You

what you think is right, based on your own judgment," she said, taking his hands. "I'll support whatever decision you make, and I know you're curious and want to know him, to question him about everything he did."

"Uh... no..." James said, looking away, a slight blush appearing on his cheeks.

"You may be a handsome man, but you're still my baby who doesn't know how to lie," she said, kissing his cheek.

"Well, in that case, I'll tell him I do want to talk with him.."ConTEent bel0ngs to Nôv(e)lD/rama(.)Org .

"That's fine, son, but I just ask you not to do anything against your stepsister."

"I'm just going to agree to talk to him, not get involved with his family."

"I'm telling you, son, I'm sure he'll eventually invite you to dinner to introduce you to his wife."

James made a face at that but said nothing more, choosing to chat with his mom about his day and the plans he had for the company.

During their conversations, James was surprised to hear that he also had an account in his name with considerable amount of money in it. Money that he could use however he wanted or leave invested to continue generating interest and use it as an emergency fund. "I guess thanks to those accounts, you saved the company back when the twins were bables," James said.

"In part, yes. That's why I've tried to teach you to be cautious and divide your money into different savings accounts," she explained. "It's a lesson my grandfather and my mom taught me."

"Do you still miss Grandma?" James asked, knowing that as a teenager, he had learned about his mother's past and what those miserable people had done to her.

"I miss her every day, but you know she's always close to us, and I still go and talk to her."

"And Grandma and Grandpa aren't alone there, because Chip and Felix are there too," he said a bit sadly, still remembering the pain of the day his cat passed away from old age... she lived a long life of 14 years, and even though he was already an adult, he cried when she died because she had been his friend and companion.

"Hmm... they're both playing with her right now and jooking out for them," Deborah said, hugging her son.. Their pets had been an important part of the family, and they missed them a lot. That was why the twins didn't want to adopt any more pets; no one could replace their friends.

Feeling sentimental, they went to visit that special greenhouse where there were now two small obelisks commemorating the lives of two dear four-legged friends who had gone ahead to heaven but were still there to watch over the family that had welcomed and loved them.