Even though Leia had locked herself in her room, she might not be able to stay completely silent.
Moreover, Tommy was a curious child. If he realized that something was amiss, he would tell Luke about it.
When Queenie thought about that, she smiled gently to mask the unease in her heart. “The playroom was sterilized earlier this morning, and the smell of disinfectant is still quite strong. I don’t think you should go in there. What do you want to play? I’ll go and get it for you.”
Tommy shook his head when he heard that. “It’s okay, Grandma. I’ll watch cartoons instead.”
“Alright. I’ll turn the TV on for you.” Queenie breathed a sigh of relief. The child was well-behaved.
Luke looked at her, then at the stairs. He guessed that Leia was hiding upstairs.
Otherwise, Queenie would not stop Tommy from going up.
Luca also knew what was going on, and she did not say anything, including the fact that she had been to the Norman household earlier in the day.
Queenie turned on the television. The three children sat on the couch and bothered no one. She breathed a sigh of relief again, stood up, and said, ”I’ll go and get some dessert for you.”
At the same time, Luke stood up and said, “Mom, I’ve heard from Dad that he acquired an antique inkwell lately. Is it in the study?”
Queenie stopped walking. The study was upstairs.
“I think so? I’ve heard him mention it, but I’m not too familiar with antiques. Why don’t you wait for him before going upstairs?” She suggested, trying to stall Luke for as long as possible.
“Alright.” Luke was not planning on entering Jack’s study without his permission anyway. There might be top-secret documents inside.
However, Luke did not sit down, which made Queenie worried. She asked, “Luke, do you want to go anywhere?”
Luke looked at her. “The bathroom.”
Queenie nodded. “Alright.”
After Luke went into the bathroom, Queenie looked at Luca, who was accompanying the children on the couch. “Luca, can you help me with the fruits in the kitchen?”
It was not very polite to ask a guest to help out, but Queenie had more pressing things to be concerned about.
She could not tell Luca about Leia’s matters in front of the children. That was why she asked her to go to the kitchen.
Luca knew what Queenie wanted to tell her. She nodded, stood up, and went to the kitchen with Queenie.
The maid was cutting the fruits. Queenie did not ask her to go out. After all, the maid knew about the fact that Leia was back.
“Luca, I need to ask for your help with something,” she said. Luca could hear the helplessness in her tone.
“I’ll help wherever I can, Mrs. Norman,” she said. Even though Leia was not related to Queenie by blood, she had been Queenie’s adoptive daughter for more than twenty years, and there was a shared bond between them.
Luca could not fault Queenie for trying to help Leia.
“Can you not tell Luke about what happened earlier in the day?” Queenie pleaded.
“Did something happen earlier?” Luca asked. Even though she did not agree with what Queenie did, she had to place herself as an outsider with no say in the matter.
Queenie was taken aback. When she realized what Luca meant, she smiled and said gratefully, “Thank you.”
The maid arranged the cut fruits on a plate. Luca took the plate and said, “I’ll bring it outside.”
Queenie nodded. She took out the children’s favorite cookies from the cabinet, placed them on another plate, and brought the plate outside.
When Luke came out of the bathroom, he saw the two women come out of the kitchen together. He guessed that they had talked about something in the kitchen.
Luca thought of leaving after bringing the fruit plate out. However, Queenie and Tommy asked her to stay, so she decided to have dinner with them.
Half an hour later, Jack came home from work. A warm smile appeared on his stern face when he saw the children.
“My dear grandchildren! How are you?” He put the briefcase down and picked up Tommy.
“Grandpa! Lanie found an answer to your riddle!” Tommy said excitedly. Earlier, Jack had promised the children that each of them would receive a set of toys if any of them could answer his riddle correctly.
Jack looked surprised. “Really? Then tell me the answer, Lanie!”
Lanie told him the answer.
Jack gestured a thumbs-up at the children. “That’s correct! As expected of my grandchildren! I’ll bring you all to the mall to buy toys this weekend.”
“You’re the best, Grandpa!” Tommy was the one who cheered first.
Jack looked at Luca. Queenie had sent him a message telling him about what happened earlier in the day, so Jack was not too surprised to see Luca there. He nodded at her and greeted her, “Luca, you’re here too.”
“Yes, I was taking Mrs. Norman’s pulse earlier. Her pulse is stable, and she is healthy,” Luca said. She did not mention what else happened in the morning.
Jack did not mention it too.
Luke observed the conversation. Suddenly, he said, “Dad, I’ve heard that you’ve acquired an antique inkwell lately.”
“Yes. Are you interested in seeing it? It’s in my study,” Jack said candidly. He realized immediately after that Leia was upstairs.
Queenie’s heart skipped a beat.
“I’d like to take a look. My grandfather’s birthday is next month. He’s an avid collector of antique inkwells, and I’m interested in getting him one,” Luke said.
Jack put Tommy on the floor and glanced at Queenie. Queenie was smiling, but Jack could see the unease in her eyes.
“Let’s go and take a look. I got it from a collector. If you like it, the collector has better inkwells,” Jack said as he brought Luke upstairs.
He knew that Queenie had informed Leia that there were visitors in the house, so he was not too worried about bringing Luke upstairs.
If Leia made some noise and was discovered, she could not blame other people.
Luke followed behind Jack, and they went up the stairs.
Queenie picked up her phone, thinking of sending a message to Leia, telling her to keep quiet, but she was worried that Leia’s phone was not on silent mode. She put the phone down again.
“Why are you sweating, Grandma?” Rainie was very observant. She noticed that Queenie was acting strangely. copyrighted © content.
Queenie came to her senses and wiped away the sweat on her forehead. “It’s nothing. The room is quite stuffy. Don’t worry.”
Rainie nodded. She could sense that her grandmother was worried about something.
Luca became pensive as she watched Luke go up the stairs.
Indeed, Old Master Crawford’s birthday was coming in a month.
Luke’s excuse to view the antique inkwell was perfect, but Luca felt he somehow knew that Leia was back.
He might have even found out that Luca visited them earlier in the day…
If that were the case, why did Luke not expose Leia? Luca thought that Luke hated her.
What was Luke planning?