Chapter 53 She Loves Him So Much
He pulled out the photo of the pregnancy test from his phone. "Still not going to admit it? I already called the pharmacy—they confirmed you bought a pregnancy test that day. And the housekeeper saw you use it. Your dad even told me you're pregnant. Are all these people lying to me?"
Chris really didn't believe at first that Joanna would betray him.
After all, they'd been married for three years, and she loved him so much.
He never let the housekeeper handle his clothes—Joanna always put them away herself, one piece at a time. She said it made their home feel warmer, more like a real family.
She also took such good care of him. Every time he got sick, even just a little cold, she'd get so anxious she'd almost cry. Sometimes it was honestly annoying!
So many memories made Chris refuse to believe this love had changed, so he searched for evidence for a long time, until it all connected.
He had to admit that Joanna perhaps... really had changed.
No, maybe she was just angry.
Thinking of all those good times, Chris's anger faded a bit, and he tried to calm himself. "I know things have been tense lately because of Cynthia, and there have been a lot of misunderstandings. You've been upset, and it's caused some trouble for me. But Joanna, cheating was your fault. If you end this pregnancy, I can let it go, and we can move on. You'll still be my wife."
The real reason he was doing this was that he thought about what happened between him and Cynthia that night.
If Joanna had made a mistake, then his mistake wouldn't matter. That way, it would be fair to both of them.
Joanna looked at him in shock and said in a low voice, "Are you crazy? Abortion is illegal!"
Chris glared at her. "Do you want me to raise someone else's child? Joanna, you've already been dirty once—do you want to keep being dirty?"
His self-righteous attitude suddenly drained all of Joanna's energy.
She stopped talking and pulled up her last medical checkup report on her phone to show him.
It clearly stated: Joanna—not pregnant!
Chris looked at it for a while, then asked suspiciously, "Did you already get rid of the baby?"
The baby would have been so early that getting rid of it wouldn't have caused much physical damage. It seemed Joanna knew she'd done wrong and didn't dare make him angry.
After figuring this out, Chris's anger disappeared.
He said smugly, "Joanna, since you admitted your mistake so quickly, I won't be mad at you. But there can't be a next time, and you have to cut off contact with Angelo in front of me!"
Joanna was speechless. "'ll say this one last time—I'm not pregnant! That pregnancy test was just to fool Henry. After I bought it, I paid a pregnant woman to take the test for me. My medical report clearly says I'm not pregnant, so you can't use this to accuse me of cheating and try to stop the divorce. Chris, our divorce agreement still stands!"
Chris frowned. "I don't agree. I already tore up my divorce agreement, so let's drop this. Since there's no baby, just move back home, and we'll have our own kid. Grandpa's getting older—it's about time he had a great-grandchild!"
Chris still had things to do at the company. Today, he'd made time to handle David's discharge procedures. The caregiver had already packed everything up. After sending David home, Chris had a very important business partner to meet. He didn't want to waste time, so after speaking, he turned and left without giving Joanna a chance to respond.
Joanna was frustrated, but she simply couldn't communicate with Chris about the divorce.
It seemed Peter was right.
She couldn't count on a peaceful divorce anymore. It would be best to gather more evidence and file for a court-ordered divorce.
Even if Chris changed his mind, it wouldn't change the outcome!
Joanna readjusted her mood and went back to work. She stayed busy until the end of the workday, then took a taxi to the nursing home to see her mother.
She bought a bouquet of flowers and arranged them in a vase while saying, "You used to love flowers. The house always smelled nice and felt warm. Later, I tried putting flowers in my own home too, but I realized I was just comforting myself."
A home that wasn't harmonious to begin with wouldn't become warm just because of a bouquet of flowers.
But because she had her mother, at least she felt she wasn't alone.
Joanna brought the flowers close to her mother's nose to let her smell them, and suddenly noticed her mother's finger move.
She didn't care about anything else and quickly set the vase aside to call Dr. Bruce.
Soon, several doctors and nurses gathered in the room.
After checking with instruments and observing carefully for a while, Dr. Bruce told Joanna with certainty, "Your mother definitely shows signs of waking up. It should be soon."
Joanna didn't know how soon "soon" meant, and Dr. Bruce couldn't say exactly either.
But this surprising discovery made her reluctant to leave.
Joanna leaned against the bedside and, while waiting for her mother to wake up, fell asleep from exhaustion.
She was awakened by a touch on her head. Just as she was about to move, she sensed something and looked toward the head of the bed.
Her mother was looking at her with gentle eyes, feeling sorry for her exhaustion, and even seemed a bit guilty for waking her up.
"Mom! You're awake? Are you uncomfortable anywhere? I'll get the doctor!"
Before Sandra could say anything, Joanna called the doctor, and another round of examinations followed.
Fortunately, Sandra's conversion disorder symptoms had indeed improved.
Now that she was awake, it meant nothing was seriously wrong.
What needed attention was the cancer she already had. And that would require the nursing home to observe for a while longer to determine a new treatment plan.
Joanna saw the doctor out and prepared some warm water for her mother to drink. "You just woke up, you can't eat anything too harsh yet. Mom, I'm so happy you could wake up. I was so scared..."
Joanna held back tears. If she weren't worried about her mother's health, she really wanted to throw herself into her mother's arms and have a good cry.
Sandra had just woken up, so her voice was still hoarse and quiet. "You've lost weight. You look like you've been through a lot."
"If you can wake up, it's worth it!" Joanna wiped away her tears and smiled with relief.
Sandra turned to look out the window. The warm sunlight wasn't harsh, but looking at it made her feel good.
The mother and daughter talked for a while, and naturally couldn't avoid mentioning the Jones family.
"Where are your dad and your brother? Why didn't they come?"
Joanna's body stiffened a bit. She didn't know how to talk about the family troubles.
Before her mother got sick, Chad actually wasn't this bad—at least he was well-behaved in front of their mother.
When she didn't speak, Sandra seemed to guess, and her eyes dimmed a little.
A phone ringtone suddenly rang. Joanna glanced at it but didn't want to answer.
But under Sandra's questioning gaze, she had to take it out and walk to the window.
"Joanna! You lied to me? Where's your mom? Did you take her away? And when is the investment I asked for going to come through? You didn't actually talk to Chris about it, did you?"