Chapter 286: The Wood Family's Past
By the time it got to Natalie's generation, the Wood family was clearly in decline.
The Wood family had started out in the textile business, but later when textiles became difficult, Natalie's father, Nolan Wood, switched to the lighting fixtures business.
However, because he failed to transition to energy-saving lamps in time, he lost a huge amount of money, which shook the Wood family's foundation.
And that year happened to be the year Natalie was born, so both Madeline and Nolan saw Natalie as bad luck.
Now, the Wood family had returned to the textile business, but the market had long been taken over by others. They were barely hanging on, with only asuperficial appearance of prestige.
"Your grandmother wanted me to marry for business, to marry a real estate tycoon. I refused. That man was already forty years old at the time, and had a son and daughter with his ex-wife."
"Your dad wasn't Goldenvale's richest man back then. To them, he was just some nobody with a small business and no future."
"I insisted on marrying your dad, so they cut ties with me, thinking I'd come back begging."
"Later, as you guessed, your dad's business grew bigger and bigger, while the Wood family got worse and worse."
"They wanted me to reconnect with the family, but were too proud to come to me first. I was also holding a grudge, and with my health issues over the years, I never dealt with it."
She was afraid her already poor health would get worse from dealing with the Wood family's anger.
But things were different now. The source of her health problems—Amelia—had returned and helped improve her health.
With free time on her hands, she finally thought about the Wood family again.
"Actually, with your brothers by my side all these years, I haven't felt lonely and don't really need the Wood family."
Amelia couldn't help but ask, "Then why did you suddenly think of it today?"
"It was your dad."
Amelia asked in surprise, "Dad urged you to go back?"
"No, he happened to see my older brother, your uncle Reid, at the airport. Right when you guys were getting luggage from the car. Reid even came up to greet him."
She paused, then continued, "I'm thinking, our family is in Goldenvale, but the Crawford family's real roots are here. If we reconnect with the Wood family, then if you ever face any difficulties with the Crawford family, you'll have people to back you up."
Amelia said, "Mom, if you don't want to keep in touch with them, you don't need to consider these things. I'm planning to have my wedding with Samuel on an island abroad. Besides, I trust his character—he won't let me suffer. And if I really do face difficulties, can't my brothers back me up?"
"That's true, but even if you have the wedding on an island, you still need to host relatives when you come back. It's tradition."
"Then I'll have one in Thornfield and another banquet in Goldenvale."
Natalie was silent for a moment, then said, "Let's not talk about the wedding for now. Since I rarely come to Thornfield and your dad saw Reid, they naturally know we're here. Either way, come with me to see my mom."
Since it was just a visit, Amelia had nothing to think about.
She nodded right away, "Okay, when do you want to go?"
Natalie thought for a moment and said, "The Wood family will be busy these days. Let's not join the chaos—we'll go in a couple of days."
"Okay." Amelia smiled and said, "Faith wants us to go to the snow mountain resort for a few days. Should we leave tomorrow?"
"That's fine, we don't have anything else to do anyway."
So the trip was set.
Amelia also sent a message to Samuel asking if he was free to go.
He replied, "I probably can't get away these couple of days—lots of messes to clean up. You go first, I'll come in three days, spend two days with you all, and bring you back."
"Okay."
The number of people going to the snow mountain resort was quickly decided.
Byron and Faith.
Natalie, Amelia, and Grant.
Lucas had already returned to Goldenvale—he had a variety show to appear on.
Later one more person joined: Yosef.
Finally, six people set out.
The six people took two cars.
The drivers were specifically chosen for their familiarity with the snow mountain resort area. Besides driving, they were also responsible for their safety.
Of course, another car followed at a distance, filled with Samuel's bodyguards.
The car tires all had anti-slip chains—very safe.
Before leaving, Samuel instructed Yosef, "If Amelia loses even half a hair, I'm holding you responsible."
Yosef snorted and said, "Do you know how many hairs a woman loses washing her hair once? Am I supposed to stop her from bathing?"
"Clearly you've never bathed with a woman. I'm leaving!"
Yosef handed his suitcase to a bodyguard and got into the front car, bending over.
"Take good care of them!" Samuel said seriously this time.
Yosef waved his hand to show he heard.
The three men all sat in the front car, the three women in the back one.
The driver pretended to be deaf, hearing nothing, just focused on driving.
Amelia and Natalie both asked Faith about the specific situation when Byron visited her home.
Faith had already recovered from the emotions about her parents' impending divorce.
She roughly described what happened that day.
"At first, the three of us chatted quite happily. Byron even played a game of chess with my grandfather. He knew my grandfather had recently started learning chess, so he specially learned it."
"But then, my parents suddenly came back."
"They had gone on separate business trips to different places, but somehow came back together."
"Later we found out that my dad had delayed a business deal because of a woman. The board members called my mom, and the two had a huge fight."
"The funny thing is, my mom wasn't angry about the mistress, but about my dad delaying the business deal because of her."
"After they finished their work, they arranged to meet at Thornfield airport. But they both lacked basic common sense—during the New Year holiday, the courts aren't open."
"So they argued all the way home. When they saw Byron, they inexplicably took their anger out on him."
At this point, Faith suddenly smiled slightly and said, "But the good news is, after they scolded him like that, my grandfather actually felt sorry for Byron and approved of him even more. When I left today, he was already picking dates for our wedding."
Amelia was a bit tongue-tied in this area and didn't know what to say.
Should she be happy for Byron when Faith's parents were getting divorced?
Should she comfort her when Byron and Faith were actually having good fortune?
Natalie was better at talking and quickly helped adjust Faith's mood.
When the sky darkened, they finally reached their destination.
They had left after lunch and drove for four and a half hours straight to get there.
The B&B they booked was run by an elderly couple. The whole house was theirs, and the couple lived in a small two-story house not far away.
Knowing they were coming, the couple had turned on the heating early and were waiting.
"If you need anything, just let us know. To call us on the landline, dial the number on this paper. If you need to find us in person, walk fifty yards south—the first red house is where we live."
"Thank you."
Everyone thanked them.
Faith went to choose rooms first.
Actually, there wasn't much to choose from. The house only had two bedrooms, both with extra-large beds that could sleep five people each.
"We'll take this one, you guys take that one!"
Byron had no objections and just turned to look at Yosef.
Yosef seemed hard to please but was actually easy to deal with.
He shrugged and asked, "Why are you looking at me? Do I look like someone who doesn't know how to be considerate of girls? I'm a gentleman."
Grant, afraid of being outdone, immediately said, "I'm a gentleman too."
Everyone laughed.
The rooms were decided.
Amelia and Faith were both sleeping in such a big bed for the first time and found it very novel.
Natalie had slept in one before. Seeing them crawling around, she laughed and said, "You're in your twenties and still acting like children."
"I'm your child to begin with. I'll still be your child when I'm eighty."
Amelia moved closer and rested her head on Natalie's knee.
Natalie stroked her smooth hair and smiled.
"You're getting more and more affectionate."
Faith saw this scene and her eyesstung a little.
But she didn't want to spoil the mood. She turned away and quickly wiped her tears, saying, "I'm going out for a bit—I'll give you a surprise!"
"Be careful, the road is slippery, and come back soon. We're going out to eat in a bit."
"Don't worry, just five minutes."
Faith grabbed a bag and quickly went out.
Amelia lay back down on Natalie's knee.
"Mom."
"Yes?"
"I'm thinking about whether to postpone the wedding."
She really was reluctant to leave Natalie.
"You silly child." Natalie smiled, but her meaning was firm—she and Samuel should get married when they were supposed to. It wouldn't be right to postpone after setting a date.
Soon, Faith came back.
Amelia and Natalie had already gotten off the bed and put on thick coats.
"I was just about to go look for you." Amelia handed Faith her scarf. "Put it on, let's go eat."
The B&B didn't provide dinner, only breakfast and lunch.
"No rush, I want to show you something!"
Faith pulled her outside.
Natalie smiled and shook her head, then went to the boys' room to tell them to get ready for dinner.
Outside.
Amelia was pulled by Faith all the way to a corner of the yard.
There was a pile of snow there, bulging like a package.
"Don't tell me this is a snowman you made."
"Of course not!"
Faith said as she squatted down and started digging in the snow pile.
Amelia squatted down with her.
Faith dug out two plastic bottles of Coke with the labels torn off.
She gave one bottle to Amelia and kept one for herself.
Amelia had already guessed what Faith was going to do, but she pretended not to know and looked at her with confusion.
Faith said proudly, "I'll show you a magic trick."
As she spoke, she opened the Coke bottle cap and tapped it on the ground.