Chapter 22
Seven months later, Stella gave birth to a pair of daughters.
She and Eric agreed that their oldest daughter, Aisling Chilton, would take over the Chilton business while their youngest daughter, Aurora Judd, would inherit the Judd business.
He stayed by her side during her pregnancy and completed all his work six months in
advance.
When the children were born, he had a lot of spare time to help Stella take care of them. Stella’s mom also helped out with the babies, and Stella was happy to enjoy her free time.
Once she had recovered from the birth, the happy couple returned to the old mansion with their daughters.
Old Mr. Chilton was overjoyed. He divided his late wife’s jewelry into two and gave them all to his two granddaughters.
The other older members of the Chiltons also prepared expensive gifts. Noel’s parents transferred a private theme park to them and told them it was a gift for their nieces.
Stella remembered the theme park was under Noel’s name.
She glanced at him and noticed he looked more haggard than a few months ago.
Noel must have sensed her looking at him and looked up. There was a glint in his reddened eyes. He quickly looked away.
Eric followed her gaze and frowned slightly.
He seldom asked about Noel during the time he was married to Stella, but he would occasionally find out news about him.
Even though he did not like Noel’s loitering attitude, he was still Eric’s eldest brother’s son.
Eric was the head of the Chiltons, and he could not watch Noel degrading himself that way.
He called Noel into his study after the family dinner.
No one knew what they talked about. When Noel walked out the door, he looked much better, and there was light in his eyes.
Old Mr. Chilton and Noel’s parents felt relieved to see Noel on his feet again.
On their way home, Stella could not hold back her curiosity.
“What did you talk about in the study, Hubby?”
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Eric covered the children with their little blankets and held Stella’s hand in his.
“I gave him the Trove River project.”
“That’s it?”
“Yup. That’s it.”
Eric patiently explained things to her when he saw her puzzled look.
“He got drunk every day because he was used to living a comfortable life. He got sucked into love troubles and could not get himself out of the rut. I just gave him something to get busy with. Once he gets busy, he won’t have time to overthink things. His parents are worried that he will drink himself to death.”
Winter passed, and spring came. Years passed by.
The children slowly grew up and learned to say ‘Mommy‘ and ‘Daddy‘.
Since getting married, Eric, the famous workaholic, began to leave the office at 5 PM sharp.
The first thing he did every time he left the office was to follow Stella’s orders to buy various desserts, toys, and a bouquet to bring home.
Before he entered the door, his daughters came running up to him at the sound of his footsteps. They would yell, “Daddy, Daddy!” endlessly.
The efficient and decisive CEO who swept the business world off its feet was never a match for his daughters when they surrounded him.
He would play with Aisling on the swing and Aurora with her toy trains. There was no rest for him at all.
Stella would be enjoying fruits while laying on the sofa leisurely and laugh when she saw how busy he was with their daughters.
Eric could no longer take it after being ‘tortured‘ for five years. He planned to send them to kindergarten once they were old enough.
On the first day of kindergarten, Eric waved them goodbye until they disappeared inside the door. That was when he gave a long sigh of relief and grabbed Stella’s hand to leave.
Stella tsked at him when she saw how he could not wait to leave and teased him.
“Weren’t you the one who said how great it was to have two daughters and claimed you wanted to stay by their side forever and watch them grow up? You even wanted to open a kindergarten at home. Are you surrendering after just a few years?”
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Chapter 21
Eric pressed his fingers between his eyes as he felt deep regret for his innocent thoughts back then.
“We don’t have lively personalities. How did our children end up with so much energy?”
Stella had something to say about this. She looked at him and answered him seriously.
“It’s because you keep giving in to them. You always make up excuses for them when I’m about to lecture them. How can they quiet down? I think you brought this on yourself.”
Eric did not dare say a word after getting lectured by Stella.
Lowry, the driver, laughed happily when he saw Eric being taught a lesson.
“Madam Stella, Mr. Chilton’s place at home has been taken over since you married him. Who would have known that someone stoic as him would end up becoming a slave to his daughters?”
Eric did not retort. All he did was shake his head in exasperation.
Stella covered her mouth to sneak a laugh. She was all smiles.
“Don’t get tricked by his troubled face, Lowry. He’s really enjoying it.”
“You’re right, Madam Stella. You have no idea how grateful the company’s employees are to you. Since Mr. Chilton got married and experienced the importance of having a family, no one needs to work overtime and everyone goes home on the dot with Mr. Chilton.”
“Since you brought this up, park the car by the side of the road, Lowry. You can go home too.”
Lowry did not waste any time since his boss had given the order. He quickly parked the car and handed over the keys.
Eric got into the driver’s seat and punched an address into the GPS.
Stella had no idea what he was planning and asked about it.
“Why are we going to Wild Goose Mountain?”
“For a date. The weather is great, and I heard a hot spring villa had just opened there. It would be nice to enjoy the fall scenery.”
Stella was planning to go home to nap and immediately objected to his sudden decision to detour.
Eric’s voice softened as he negotiated with her.
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“How long has it been since we spent time alone? This is a rare opportunity, Wifey.”
Stella could only agree because he was too convincing.
After comfortably soaking in the hot spring, Eric and Stella leaned against each other as they sat in front of the French window to admire the green pines and red leaves that covered the mountains.
Eric helped tie up her messy hair with great patience and care.
Stella looked at his gentle eyes right before her and suddenly felt like everything did not seem real.
Could she really have a loving marriage and a quiet life?
Eric brushed her nose after being stared at for a while.
“What’s wrong? What are you daydreaming about again?”
Stella was silent for a long time before asking him a question.
“If I hadn’t married you back then… No, wait. If I didn’t marry into the Chiltons, would you have married someone else?”
“No.”
Stella was a little surprised by how fast he replied.
“Why?”
Why?
Eric put his hand over her shoulders and leaned against the chair. His deep eyes stared into the distance.
“I wouldn’t even consider marriage if it wasn’t for the marriage alliance.”
Stella knew he was telling the truth, but he was not being completely honest either.
For example, he had left out the fact that he accepted the marriage alliance because of her.
He would never marry anyone else besides her.
Stella discovered the truth in her past life, which was why she was sure about this.
However, they had been married for so many years in this life, and their children had grown. However, he continued keeping his crush on her a tight secret.
Stella was impressed by his commitment to this.
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Chapter 22
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Old Mr. Chilton decided to organize a birthday party for the children’s sixth birthday.
Stella requested the kindergarten to give the children two days off, and the entire family went to the old mansion a day in advance.
As the party was about to start, the cake they had pre–ordered had yet to arrive.
Eric wanted to drive to the bakery to ask about it, but Stella refused to let him leave the house. She would rather get the domestic helpers to bake two cakes for them.
However, Eric knew that his daughters had been looking forward to the castle cake for a long time, and he did not want to disappoint them.
Old Mr. Chilton doted on his grandchildren and told Eric to hurry up so he could come back faster. However, Stella still refused to let him go.
Eric wanted to talk sense into her but relented when he saw the worry in her eyes and her slightly trembling hands. He put his keys down.
“What’s wrong? It’s their birthday celebration. I won’t go if you don’t want me to. Cheer up, okay?”
Stella slowly calmed down but still refused to let go of his hand.
She remembered very clearly that Eric died in a car accident in their last life during her daughter’s sixth birthday.
Even though life had changed this time, she did not dare to take any chances.
Stella had experienced the pain of losing a loved one before.
This time, she had to make sure he stayed by her side no matter what.
Both girls pouted unhappily when they found out the castle cake had not arrived. They held hands and went to the swing in the garden while sighing.
Noel happened to come home and saw them. A gentle smile appeared on his face.
He approached them with the present he prepared specially for their birthday. He was about to surprise them when he heard the girls muttering to each other.
“Why would Mommy stop Daddy from getting our castle cake?”
“I have no idea, but Daddy will listen to Mommy if she won’t let him go.”
“It’s fine. We’ll just get Daddy to get us a new cake next year. We’ll be a year older next year,
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so our castle must be even bigger and prettier!”
Noel had a thought when he heard their conversation.
“What cake?“.
Both girls turned to look at him. They jumped into his arms as they kept calling out his name. After that, they told him about the cake in their adorable voices.
Noel nodded and gave them their presents. He rubbed their heads.
“Be good and stay at home. I’ll go get your cake back.”
The girls did not agree immediately. They held his hand on each side.
“It’s okay, Noel. Mommy says we’ll just have ordinary cakes today. She’ll be angry if she finds out about this.”
“Yeah, Noel. You won’t be able to come back in time to blow out the candles if you go. There won’t be enough cake then.”
Noel thought he was looking at two Stellas for a moment when he saw how quirky and playful they were.
She used to run behind him and call out his name when she was younger. Noel never forgot
about it.
Too bad there was no turning back time.
He closed his eyes to hide his emotions and forced a smile on his face.
“It’s fine. Just don’t tell your Mommy about it. I’ll go get your cake, but remember to secretly save a piece of your birthday cake for me.”
They made a pinky promise, and Noel grabbed his keys and left.
Before he walked out the door, he suddenly turned back to look. He saw Stella holding the children’s hands and taking them back to the living room.
She still looked like she was twenty. Time did not seem to leave any marks on her.
However, Noel knew that everything was different now.
She no longer belonged to him.
Noel went into his car dejectedly after Stella disappeared behind the door.
It was a moody day. He stared at the GPS as the distance gradually shortened while at the
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traffic light.
When he looked up again, a broken–down car suddenly stopped next to him on the right. The person inside rolled down the window.
Noel turned to look and was stunned when he saw the sallow and haggard face in the car.
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