Chapter 304: Stanley's Invitation
Samuel walked a few steps away before answering the phone.
Amelia couldn't understand what he was saying, but she saw his brow furrow.
She had a bad feeling about this.
Because the last time something happened to Stella, when she first saw Samuel, he had the same expression.
Amelia was worried inside but didn't show it on her face. She pulled Natalie aside and asked if she wanted to stay a few more days.
Natalie's attention was diverted and she didn't notice what was happening with Samuel.
She said, "I've been away too long, I should head back. Your dad said a lot of guests have been coming by with gifts lately, and I need to visit them all in return."
Things were different now. The Richardson Group was starting over, so they had to be extra careful about maintaining relationships.
Amelia nodded and said, "Then I'll come back in a couple of days too, before Hunter gets back."
"That's good. When Felix comes back, our whole family will finally be reunited."
Thinking of Felix made Amelia think of Uma.
Now that everything had pretty much settled down, they could call Uma back.
She never really planned to make Uma stay abroad forever and never come back.
Although Uma had betrayed them, she hadn't caused any major damage, and she had made up for it afterward.
Some times, you have to look forward.
Being a bit lenient with your people is better than being strict all the time.
Besides, Natalie really missed Uma.
Before, she had Faith for company, but now Faith was about to get married and couldn't live in her house like before.
But she didn't mention this to Natalie.
Till this day, Natalie still thought Uma had only left the Richardson family to travel because her son's eyesight had recovered and she wanted to show him the world.
"Felix probably won't be back until mid-year."
"I know, I'm just saying. His work comes first. He used to be so reckless—going out to gain some experience isn't a bad thing. I'm not hoping he'll come back early, I'm hoping he'll change."
Natalie always knew where to draw the line and never forced her children to do anything.
Especially with Felix—she strongly agreed with Amelia's decision to send him out to gain experience.
Natalie and Amelia were talking when Samuel walked over.
"Amelia, I gave you that brooch I wore out to put away. Where did you put it?"
Amelia glanced at him and said, "In the car. I'll take you to get it."
"Okay."
The two of them left the villa one after the other.
Once they got to the car, Amelia immediately asked, "What's wrong?"
Samuel never gave her the brooch at all.
Sure enough, Samuel opened his palm—the brooch Amelia had designed was right there in his hand.
"It was that phone call just now."
Samuel explained the situation.
"That was my dad calling. He knows we registered our marriage today and wants to take your parents out to dinner."
Amelia felt inexplicably nervous.
She knew that even now, Stanley still didn't like her.
Even though he agreed to their marriage.
She could accept that Stanley didn't like her—it didn't matter—but she worried that Natalie and Quinton might be treated poorly because of her.
So Amelia asked seriously, "What was your dad's tone like?"
Samuel said, "He's not looking for trouble, he just wants to have a meal with them. If you're worried, I'll call back now and say Mom and Dad already took a flight back."
"That kind of lie is easy to expose."
"So what if it's exposed?"
Amelia said, "Since we're already married, we're family now. He's my father too now."
But Samuel didn't dare take that risk.
He had worked so hard to win over Natalie and Quinton—he didn't want to offend them because of Stanley.
"How about I find something to keep him busy, like Evelyn's situation. He's extremely proud—if word got out that he was fooled by Evelyn, he definitely wouldn't be in the mood to eat."
"Don't."
Amelia quickly grabbed his sleeve and said, "That's not a solution. Even if we can avoid it now, we can't avoid it forever. Besides, your dad is a respectable person—he probably won't deliberately make things difficult for my parents."
Samuel understood.
A "respectable person" wouldn't let himself appear aggressive in any way.
Even if he had to fake it, Stanley would have to act gracious and kind.
Otherwise, if word got out, it would look bad.
With Amelia's reminder, Samuel relaxed a bit.
"Then I'll call back and have him arrange where to eat."
"Okay, I'll go tell my parents."
Amelia opened the car door and got out.
Before getting married, she hadn't really noticed, but now that they were married, she deeply realized what it meant that marriage isn't just about two people—it's about two families.
Getting your family's blessing and support plays a very important role in a marriage.
Fairy tales are fairy tales because their happy endings stop at "the prince and princess lived happily ever after."
They don't continue writing about all the things that come after living together.
After all, nobody likes watching the mundane details of life.
...
After Amelia told Quinton and Natalie that Stanley wanted to take them to dinner, both of them looked a bit flustered.
"This is so sudden—we didn't have time to prepare a gift for the visit. Is there still time to go buy something now?"
"It's 11:30 now, and we should eat by 12:30 at the latest. If we go buy something now, we definitely won't make it in time."
The two of them discussed it seriously.
Amelia felt a bit of a lump in her throat.
Just as she didn't know what to say to ease their tension, she heard Samuel's voice.
"Dad, Mom, you don't need to prepare any gifts. You giving Amelia to me is already the best gift for our family. Besides, according to custom, my dad should be the one preparing gifts for you."
"Is it really okay to go empty-handed?" Natalie asked.
Samuel said, "It's just a meal, you really don't need to bring gifts. My dad is the one with the problem—if you're inviting people to dinner, you should say so at least a day in advance."
That was true in principle, but this was Stanley they were talking about.
If it were just an ordinary family, they would be the ones saying the other side had no manners.
Quinton spoke up, "A gift chosen in such a hurry wouldn't be anything good anyway. Since that's the case, we'll just go empty-handed."
"My dad should be the one feeling embarrassed, you don't need to feel bad."
Samuel's position was clear.
Only then did their nervousness ease a bit.
Samuel also called Grant.
Grant's first reaction was also whether they needed to prepare a gift.
This made Samuel feel very uncomfortable.
Stanley claimed to be respectable, but calling them to dinner at the last minute—was that respectable?
This was clearly a power move.
He regretted not refusing this dinner on behalf of the Richardson family.
But Amelia said they couldn't keep avoiding it.
But why should they avoid it?
What had Amelia or anyone in the Richardson family done wrong?
Samuel's face was dark, and his mind was already calculating how to help the Richardson family get back at Stanley.
Soon he had an idea.