Chapter 255: Quinton, Car Accident
Natalie held each of their hands.
"You'll be just like me."
Amelia nodded. She firmly believed that too.
Natalie and Quinton's love had given her a new understanding of romance.
Love wasn't just fleeting fireworks. If you found the right person, it would become an eternal flower, forever vibrant and beautiful.
Soon it was the day before Christmas Eve.
The Richardson family, including Samuel, were all busy cleaning the house.
For the first time ever, they had even hired two cleaning workers.
Everyone was preparing to welcome Quinton home tomorrow.
According to Natalie, they needed to sweep away the bad luck from the house. By cleaning thoroughly, the energy of the home would be renewed, and there wouldn’t be any more disasters in the future.
As for Samuel, he was simply there to help out.
He couldn't just do nothing just because Natalie liked him.
By lunchtime, the dining table was full.
Jeremy and York came over, so Amelia called Byron, Louis, and Lyndon.
When Lucas heard Quinton was coming home tomorrow, he took time off from the film crew.
Liam had gone back to Thornfield, but he sent a message saying he'd rush back home tomorrow.
Grant didn't even need to be mentioned. His new car sales were steadily climbing, the market couldn’t keep up with the demand, and even scalpers had started getting involved in the waiting list.
Needing scalpers just to buy a car was unprecedented.
But ironically, Grant had more free time now.
Although the family was cleaning, the atmosphere was warm and cheerful, like they were playing a group game together.
Everyone was happy.
After lunch, Amelia received a call from Maeve.
"Want to come out for afternoon tea?" Maeve said. "I need to talk to you about something."
Amelia didn't hesitate and agreed immediately. "Sure, what time?"
"Two o'clock? I'll send you the address."
"Okay."
After settling that, Amelia told Samuel about it.
Samuel said, "I didn't expect you two to become friends. The first time you met at The Sullivan Manor, she wanted to hit you."
Amelia shrugged.
"That's all in the past. Besides, it's better to have one more friend than one more enemy. Once you get to know her, you'll find Maeve doesn't have a mean bone in her body. She's just a little straightforward."
Back then, when Maeve competed with Amelia for the medicine, she hadn’t known they were both buying it for Roman.
And Maeve had been desperate to save Roman.
Later, when Maeve cursed her out, it was only because she thought Amelia was a fraud with no medical skills.
Once the misunderstanding was cleared up, the hostility naturally disappeared.
Friendships between girls could form suddenly anyway.
Sometimes it just took going to the bathroom together.
"Then I'll take you there at one-thirty. I need to stop by the office anyway,” Samuel said.
"Is something going on at the company?"
Samuel nodded. "A while back, York went to the neighboring city. There's a project manager there who's one of Zachary's people. He openly challenged me, so York fired him. It caused quite a stir, and things have been a bit unsettled at the company lately."
Amelia nodded. "What's Stanley's reaction to this?"
Samuel said, "He handled it diplomatically, but a couple days ago he hinted that if Zachary decides to undergo brain surgery, maybe he could come back too. He said he’s afraid he won’t get to see both his sons one last time.” But I think he's just worried I'll cause trouble. If Zachary comes back, there'll be someone to keep me in check."
Amelia's eyes darkened slightly.
A father being this guarded against his own son.
What a great dad.
Last week she'd asked Samuel if he wanted to expose that fake Miracle Physician's true identity.
Now it seemed the question had been unnecessary.
Stanley’s current predicament was the result of his own suspicion.
Soon it was one-thirty in the afternoon.
Most of the house cleaning was done, and Natalie and Faith were busy making desserts for everyone.
Amelia said she was heading out, so she and Samuel said goodbye to everyone and left in the car.
Soon Amelia met up with Maeve.
Maeve was wearing a fox-fur coat, looking every bit like a wealthy socialite.
When Amelia walked into the café, she saw a man hitting on Maeve. Maeve looked annoyed and said something to him, and the man left with a displeased, gloomy expression.
"What happened?" Amelia asked as she walked over.
"Nothing, just some guy bothering me."
“I thought he looked decent. Why not give him a chance?”
"He's wearing a ring."
Amelia glanced over and indeed noticed the ring on the man’s finger.
Her face immediately showed contempt.
The man noticed her expression and awkwardly left the café.
Amelia's face returned to a smile. "Haven't you thought about finding someone? You're at the perfect age for dating. Those last two guys were just bad luck. Don't lose heart."
Maeve shrugged.
"I'm not interested in men right now."
"You're not interested in women, are you?"
Maeve gave her a meaningful look.
"If you don't mind, I could be interested in women."
"Let's not go there!"
After joking around for a while, Amelia asked about the real reason Maeve had called her out.
"You said you had something to tell me. What is it?"
Maeve’s expression turned serious.
"I'm planning to go to Vesperia."
Amelia's eyes widened.
"Vesperia? Why would you go there out of the blue? It's hot and underdeveloped."
Maeve spread her hands. "Can't help it. I'm a woman, and people at the company don't really respect me. This was my grandfather's idea—he wants me to gain experience at the Vesperia branch. Once I prove myself, no one will question me anymore."
Roman wouldn't harm Maeve.
Amelia knew this matter was settled.
Still, she felt a bit disappointed.
With her personality, it was hard for her to make friends. When she wasn’t smiling, she looked somewhat aloof, which made people keep their distance.
She'd finally made a friend in Maeve, but now she was leaving.
"How long will you be gone?"
"Three months at most."
Hearing it was only three months made Amelia feel much better.
Suddenly she thought of something.
"Hunter is also in Vesperia. If you don't have anyone to talk to over there, go find him. I'll let him know. He's been there for so long, he definitely knows the place better than you. If you run into any problems, you can go to him."
Although Amelia had never met Hunter, Natalie often video-called him, and sometimes Amelia would chat with him as well.
Hunter and Lucas were twins and looked almost identical, except Hunter’s skin was tanner from living in Vesperia.
But with Lucas as a reference, Amelia felt very close to him even though they hadn’t met.
Besides, anyone who volunteered for medical aid in Vesperia must be a kind person.
He would definitely be willing to help Maeve.
Maeve agreed immediately.
"Sure. Your brother is my brother. If he runs into any problems, he can come to me too."
After agreeing, Amelia immediately gave Maeve Hunter's contact information.
When she got home, she even video-called Hunter to explain the situation.
Hunter said, "When she's ready to leave, send me her arrival time and I'll pick her up."
"Okay, thanks Hunter."
"No need to thank me, Amelia." Hunter smiled, showing his white teeth.
After settling everything,, Amelia finally felt at ease and could peacefully wait for Quinton to come home tomorrow.
With everyone's anticipation, Christmas Eve finally arrived.
Everyone gathered at a restaurant 2 miles from the detention center.
According to Goldenvale custom, family members couldn’t personally pick someone up from detention. They also couldn’t wait at home. Instead, they had to meet them outside and eat something spicy so the returning person wouldn’t bring bad luck home, ensuring smooth sailing afterward.
Natalie didn't want to bother with these things, but Holden said the same, so she went along with it.
So she arranged to meet Quinton at the restaurant.
But they waited and waited, and after half an hour, Quinton still hadn't arrived.
Logically, the detention center people wouldn't dare give him a hard time and would release him as quickly as possible.
Quinton was eager to come home and missed Natalie, so he wouldn't delay on the road either.
Amelia had a bad feeling.
Samuel stood up and said, "I'll go pick him up."
Natalie stopped him.
"Don't. According to custom, family members can't go pick him up."
Samuel replied calmly, "I'm not part of the Richardson family yet, so it's fine for me to pick up Mr. Richardson."
Amelia's eyelid twitched.
Her bad feeling grew stronger.
So she added, "Mom, I haven't married him yet, so he can go."
Only then did Natalie nod.
But before Samuel could leave, Natalie's phone rang.
She answered, and moments later, her face suddenly changed drastically.
Everyone looked at her.
Natalie opened her mouth but couldn't say anything. She'd just said the word "he" when she suddenly coughed up blood.
Amelia quickly supported Natalie pulled Samuel and took the phone from Natalie. After listening, he asked. "Which hospital? Okay, we'll come right away."
He hung up and told everyone,
"It's a car accident. A large truck lost control and crashed into Mr. Richardson's car. He's being rushed to the hospital for emergency treatment."
Amelia's face went pale.
She quickly finished treating Natalie, then instructed Faith.
"Help me watch my mom. I'm going to the hospital."
Faith had learned medicine from her and immediately nodded.
"Leave this to me. You go."
Samuel drove while Amelia sat in the passenger seat, her fingers fidgeting nervously.
What was supposed to be a joyous day had turned into this nightmare.
Her eyes reddened.
"Mr. Richardson will be fine," Samuel said. "God will protect him."
Amelia nodded, but felt completely unsettled.
The car sped down the road and soon arrived at the hospital.
The hospital Quinton was taken to happened to be the one where Amelia worked as a visiting physician.
When they arrived, Clifton was already waiting.
"Mr. Richardson's condition is a critical. He suffered a head injury and has been sent to the operating room. Ms. Richardson, will you be performing the surgery yourself?"
In that instant, Amelia felt her legs go weak.
If even Clifton described the situation as critical, then it must be extremely serious.
Especially since the injury was to the head.
Samuel supported her and said gently,
"Let them handle it. You're not in the right state to enter the operating room."