Chapter 973: Each One’s Life

Chapter 973: Each One’s Life

Because she was going home, Susan was excited from early in the morning, and her classmates were extra hyped up too — probably because it was Friday.

After school, Susan ran all the way through the crowd of students, out the school gate, and spotted her car right away among all the others.

She rushed over and pulled open the door: "Randall! I knew the cleanest, shiniest car out there had to be the one picking me up!"

The back seat had study materials and fruit. Randall picked up the fruit he'd bought specially at the supermarket and set it on his girlfriend's lap in the passenger seat: "I already washed it for you. It's a long drive — eat something to pass the time."

They set off. Once they got on the highway, Cindy called to check in and remind them to be careful, and Sadie called too, asking where her daughter was and what time she'd be home.

The afternoon sun hit the road and was almost blinding. Randall put on his sunglasses and pressed down on the gas, cruising along smoothly.

Susan sat beside him, taking her job of "eating" very seriously, occasionally feeding Randall a bite or two. "Randall, did you book a hotel?"

Randall: "Already done. Checking out Sunday."

Susan pouted: "I wanted you to stay at my place."

"Sooner or later, you won't have a choice — I'll be staying at your place whether you want me to or not." Randall said it in a roundabout way, but it gave Susan all the reassurance she needed.

Susan was so happy that even the sour tangerines tasted sweet.

"Randall, why are you so good to me?" Susan asked.

Randall answered his girlfriend's silly question while keeping his eyes on the road: "Because you're easy to fool."

Susan puffed up her cheeks: "No I'm not! It's because you love me. I heard what you said to your aunt that night — you said you love me the most."

Randall couldn't help the smile tugging at the corner of his mouth. He glanced out the window and reined himself in: "Who fell for who first? Who was it that grabbed onto me at four years old and wouldn't let go?"

"I thought you saved my life back then."

Randall pressed on: "And who was the eighteen-year-old girl who looked at me and said I was her Paul Martin?"

Susan started making excuses: "...I don't know."

Randall kept going: "Who followed me around all day calling my name over and over?"

Susan had no comeback, so she just went quiet.

Randall twisted the knife: "And who stuck to me like glue, had to see me every single day, and would show up at my place to wait for me if even one day went by without seeing me?"

Susan: "Randall, someone like you deserves to get scolded by your aunt and smacked by your sister — that's the only way to feel better!"

Randall glanced at her: "You want to go there? There's a rest stop up ahead. Let's pull over and really get into it."

Susan panicked: "No! Randall, I'm sorry, okay!"

Randall hit the gas and blew right past the rest stop.

Once they were past it, Susan got her nerve back and kept listing off evidence that Randall loved her.

The sun sank behind the mountain peaks, slowly going down.

Traffic on the highway started picking up. Susan chatted with Randall to keep him company and help him stay alert. She reached over and rubbed the back of his neck: "Randall, doesn't it get tiring holding the same position for so long? Let me work out the knots."

When they stopped at a rest stop to refuel, Randall went and bought her another pile of snacks and drinks.

Back at Cherry Villa, Vera was giving her husband a hard time. At the Chase family home, Molly was playing mind games with Sebastian.

Shawn felt the Olteran house was too quiet without the kids around, so he headed over to Cherry Villa: "Grandpa's here for his precious little grandchild!"

In the living room, Vera was working through problems, Shawn was watching the baby, and Patrick sat to the side cracking two walnuts in one hand, grinding them in his palm to shell them for Vera, who was still sulking.

Alfonso had entered the final cramming stretch, Nandi's foundation was shaky, but Vera was still keeping up. The stack of review materials beside her had quietly grown into a thick pile without her noticing.

It was just getting light where Noah was. He video-called his nephew while washing up in the morning.

Shawn held up the phone, and Teddy, drooling away, babbled and chatted with his uncle. He was taking a few steps on his own now. At one point when no one was watching, Teddy toddled all the way to the front door and nearly made a break for it. Patrick spotted him and quickly hauled his little troublemaker back, shutting the door behind him.

At the Chase house, when Molly went to take a bath, Sebastian insisted on going in with her, worried she might slip and fall.

But that was just his excuse. What should have taken ten minutes turned into an hour with Sebastian involved.

Molly's face was flushed. She gave her husband a little push: "Sebastian, I'm pregnant."

Sebastian held her close, his lips brushing the side of her neck, his breath warm and low: "I asked the doctor today. He said it's fine." He leaned close to her ear and murmured something else, and Molly's face went red instantly.

The bathroom was thick with steam, her whole body flushed pink, her eyes soft and dewy — she looked like a painting of a beauty fresh from the bath.

Sebastian caught her lips and pressed her back against the wall.

Molly could never understand how a man could bring himself to say such things out loud — she was the one dying of embarrassment.

Sounds drifted from the bathroom in fits and starts. When it was over, Molly's legs had given out completely, and she was carried out draped against Sebastian.

Vera finished studying too and stretched with a big yawn: "Where's my son?"

"Handed him off to my dad." Patrick said, going over her test paper.

In the grandparents' room, Shawn let out a yawn and looked at little Teddy, muttering to himself: "I brought this on myself." He had a perfectly good life to enjoy and chose to come here and suffer instead.

The couple went back to their room, shut the door, and didn't come out again until the next day.

With no son to interrupt them, it was Patrick's paradise — he made the most of every moment with his wife...

By nine o'clock at night, when Patrick and Sebastian had both already "gone to sleep," Randall was just getting off the highway.

Susan's back was stiff from sitting so long, and the two of them had stopped to stretch at a rest stop along the way. Ulysses and Sadie had been checking in constantly, asking where their daughter was and how much longer until she got home.

At nine-thirty, the car pulled up to the Morales house.

Susan jumped out and ran straight to her mother, throwing herself into her arms: "Mom, Dad, I missed you so much!"

Sadie's pregnancy had caused bad swelling. Ulysses took careful care of his pregnant wife, and the maternity nurses they'd hired at home — no exaggeration — numbered around ten, making every mealtime look like a committee meeting. But between her constitution and being an older mother, Sadie's swelling just wouldn't go down.

Dinner had been held until Susan and Randall arrived.

Now that Susan was home, Sadie didn't even want to sleep with her husband anymore. That night she lay in her daughter's room, and Ellie and Molly caught up over the phone.

Randall kept Ulysses company downstairs so he wouldn't be left alone, and the two of them talked until eleven at night — Randall only left when his future father-in-law finally got sleepy. He had no choice. Future father-in-law. Had to stay on his good side.

Back at the hotel, he collapsed onto the bed and was out cold.

The next day.

A rapid knock at the door woke him up. He opened it to find Susan standing outside. "You came all the way back home — why are you showing up at my door first thing in the morning?"

Susan: "I missed you."

Randall laughed and shook his head: "So who's the one who loves who more, exactly?" He caught her by the wrist, pulled her inside, and closed the door.