Chapter 74 Joshua Is an Incompetent Husband
Ever since the incident when Finn and Cleo broke into the Thomas Villa, causing Ava to misunderstand Joshua, and then apologizing to Joshua to clear things up, something subtle had shifted in how they got along.
She trusted Joshua a bit more now.
Joshua had no intention of taking the children away—he just wanted to see them as their father. Ava accepted this reason, so she wasn't as resistant to Joshua seeing Finn and Cleo anymore and didn't try to stop it.
Ava raised her eyebrows slightly, looking at the black car parked not far away. Her heart was calm at this moment. She gently ruffled Finn's hair. "Go ahead."
Finn's little legs carried him as he ran toward Joshua's car.
Joshua was about to leave when he saw Finn running toward him, a glimmer flashing in his eyes.
Finn stood in front of Joshua's car looking at him. Joshua opened the car door and got out.
"Wait for me," Finn said, then turned his little body around and ran back into the house, as if to get something.
Ava didn't know what Finn was up to either. Cleo's round eyes followed Finn's movements back and forth.
Soon Finn came out holding a card, standing in front of Joshua with a very serious expression and handing it to him.
Joshua raised an eyebrow, a hint of confusion flashing in his deep eyes.
Finn said calmly, "Getting Buddy to cause trouble was my idea. I'm apologizing. For the things that got broken, I'll pay for them. I admit I acted impulsively on this, but who told you guys to bully my mommy? Mommy went to save your family member out of kindness, and instead of thanking her, you drove her away. Doesn't my mommy have feelings? Doesn't she get hurt? My mommy, who I love most—why should you get to bully her?"
Finn held up his little hand and pressed the card into Joshua's hand, his serious face showing no other emotion. "Here, take it. Mommy says when you do something wrong, you need to take responsibility. This is the allowance Mommy gave me, it's all in there. Take it."
The card Finn held had quite a bit of money on it—not just the allowance from Ava, but all the money he'd won over the years in Astoria when Ryan took him around gambling. At least several hundred thousand dollars. Ava didn't know about this.
The look in Joshua's eyes was complicated as he gazed tenderly at Finn in front of him. His tall figure crouched down before Finn. "Your mommy taught you well about admitting mistakes, but let's forget about this."
Joshua handed the card back to Finn. "Those things aren't worth much money, and they needed replacing anyway."
"You should take it, otherwise I'll really feel bad about it."
Even though he knew Joshua wasn't short of money and this amount meant nothing to him, if something was broken, it should be paid for. That had nothing to do with whether he had money or not.
"You're my son. Even if you tore down the house, there's no reason for you to pay for it, understand?" Joshua calmly withdrew his hand, looking at Finn with a warm smile.
Finn paused slightly. "Well... okay then. But don't worry, as long as you don't bully Mommy, I won't go tearing down your house."
Meaning if he did bully Ava, tearing down the house was definitely a possibility. Joshua's lips curved slightly. "You really protect your mommy, don't you?"
"Of course. Mommy's a girl and I'm a boy, so naturally I have to protect Mommy. Nobody's allowed to bully her, including you. Even though you're my daddy, if you bully Mommy, I definitely won't go easy on you."
Joshua watched Finn's fierce protectiveness of Ava, like a little knight.
Joshua smiled, a hint of appreciation in his eyes, along with some helplessness.
In the two children's eyes, compared to Ava, he probably wasn't worth even one of her fingers.
Joshua felt a bit jealous, but more than that, he felt heartache and regret.
All these years she'd raised two children alone—it must have been hard, but clearly she'd raised them both extremely well.
These two children took after her—when they did something, they either didn't do it at all, or they went all the way, hitting people where it hurt most, leaving no room for mercy.
Joshua's warm hand reached up and gently ruffled Finn's hair. His low voice spoke calmly, "Don't worry, I can't bear to bully her either."
"Mommy always says if you say something but can't do it, that's lying," Finn said very seriously.
"...Yes, your mommy's right."
"You better not lie."
"...Okay."
"Oh, right." Finn suddenly thought of something. "Can you give Buddy back to me?"
"That mechanical puppy?"
"Yeah, I made it myself to give to Mommy as a birthday present." It was also his most perfect work so far, so of course it had to go to his beloved mommy.
"Birthday? Her birthday's coming up?" Joshua's gaze looked toward the distance, where Ava was bending her head talking to Cleo about something, her beautiful, perfect face wearing a charming smile. His gaze flickered, softening a few degrees without him even noticing.
"You don't even know that?" Finn frowned slightly, his serious little eyes looking like a boss evaluating an employee. He was clearly very dissatisfied and deducted points from Joshua in his mind. "Mommy said you guys were married for three years, right? And you don't even know Mommy's birthday?"
Finn was really speechless.
"..."
"That's really not doing your job. No wonder Mommy left you."
"..."
Joshua paused, unclear emotions flashing in his deep eyes. He couldn't argue back. There was no denying he had indeed neglected Ava before.
"You're... right to criticize me."
He really had been a terrible husband.
"I'm not talking to you anymore."
Finn was a bit angry and huffed as he walked forward a few steps. Suddenly his little steps paused. After a few seconds, he lowered his head and sighed helplessly.
As if he'd changed his mind, he turned back to look at Joshua. "Mommy's birthday is next Sunday."
"Even Gilbert knows, and you still don't. You're really way behind Gilbert—not just by a little bit."
Joshua's gaze instantly turned cold at being told he was worse than Gilbert.
Finn talked with Joshua for quite a while, and Ava didn't rush him. When Finn came back, Ava gently took his hand, looked up at Joshua, nodded politely, and took Finn and Cleo home.