Chapter 9 #2
I watched Jennifer leave and then turned to Charlotte. “Well. That I didn’t see coming.”
“Me neither,” my sister agreed, standing to watch her through the window. “Uh, should we notify the police?”
“Jennifer works at a law firm. I’ll bet you she’s got the police involved already. I’ll let her handle it.”
“Good point.” Charlotte flicked hair over her shoulder, lips pursed in thought. Her expression was pure Judgey McJudgey pants. “I’m inclined to believe Jennifer over Luna.”
My sister and I were kindred spirits in this regard. We judged the hell out of people sometimes. Came with the territory of learning to read the room from an early age. “Yeah, same.”
Boss shuffled closer, both hands resting on her cane. “I, too, believe her over Luna, but it’s only right of us to let Yan Yichen confirm who speaks truth. And perhaps speaking with him one last time will let Miss Luna let go of her obsession. Closure helps many.”
It was a nice thought. Really hoped it worked out that way. “Did you convince Jennifer of what’s going on?”
“I believe she’s reserving judgment, but she’s willing to come and speak with our dead groom, which is all I really need from her.
I did tell her the family will be present tomorrow as well and are eager to meet her.
She’s willing to do that much, at least. I think she’s found it challenging to raise a child on her own.
She told me her parents are also both deceased and she’s an only child. ”
Oh, yeah, being a single mother with no village had to be hard, for sure. I could see why she’d be willing to connect with her former boyfriend’s family.
But I also had questions. “She didn’t try to reach out to his family before now?”
“They weren’t living in the States at the time of their eldest’s passing and only immigrated from China three years ago.
” Boss shrugged. “Based on the information I gathered from both the family and Miss Jennifer, it was a matter of poor timing. Miss Jennifer said Yan Yichen had intended to tell his family about their relationship and daughter after Yan Mei Ling’s birth but didn’t have the chance since he died so suddenly right after.
The family came to the U.S. briefly for the funeral.
Miss Jennifer said she’d been unable to attend the funeral due to a postpartum infection and was hospitalized for two weeks after, missing her chance to speak with the family.
She had no way of reaching out to them, especially with such a huge language barrier. ”
Woah, bad timing indeed. My heart ached at the thought of her alone in the hospital with her newborn, suffering from an infection while grieving the loss of her partner. Fate was too cruel sometimes.
I wondered, though. Zhen would never have left me in that situation.
He’d have made damn sure his parents knew who I was, even if he’d been on the outs with them, in case something happened.
I think planning for worst case was part and parcel of his dangerous line of work, but it didn’t change how he’d put safeguards in place if I was pregnant with his child.
He might be the type to charge ahead, but he was responsible enough not to leave me picking up the pieces. I wished Jennifer had been looked out for in the same way.
As for the current situation, so long as she was willing to come and speak with everyone, that meant our part of this bizarre story was done. The drama llama in me wanted more details about the Luna ordeal, though.
Muchen used a shadow to pop back into the office. Charlotte, not being able to see him, didn’t notice. I gave him a good scratch and offered, “Peanut butter?”
“I did good,” he reminded me, already drooling.
I’d definitely created addicts. Oops. Still, I fetched a peanut butter-filled bone from the upper cabinet—leaving them in the bottom drawer of the desk had proven to be a mistake, one I didn’t repeat—and held it out for him.
He took it happily, razor-sharp teeth bare centimeters from my fingers, and curled up under the desk to gnaw on it.
“Muchen, we’re doing another meeting with the family. Want to sit in on part two?”
He let out an excited ruff around a mouthful of peanut butter.
I’d take that as a yes.
Charlotte watched me hand off the bone and guessed, “He’s back?”
“A-yup.”
She sighed. “I really wish I could see them.”
“Well, get accidentally bonded to a guy and you’ll get the sight.” I shot her a wink.
Charlotte rolled her eyes. “Not that much.”
“It’s really nice being able to see things, don’t mistake me, but be careful what you wish for.”
“Yeah, yeah.” She waved a dismissive hand.
Easy for her to dismiss, but it was true.
If I’d been bound to anyone aside from Zhen, it would have been an unmitigated disaster.
We did have bad days, mostly when a hunting trip went sideways on us and left us tense and unhappy.
But even on those days, we never really fought.
In those situations, we recognized the situation was beyond our control and we needed to work as a team.
Thankfully, the good days far outnumbered the bad, and with each experience, we got better at handling the wild and weird.
I let it go, as it wasn’t worth commenting on or arguing about, and instead regained my seat in front of the computer.
Thinking of what would happen tomorrow, though, I made a mental note to ask Zhen if he and Jo Jo could pop in just in case a fight broke out.
I didn’t think my spray bottle trick would work on everyone.
Besides, that way he’d have a ringside seat to the show. It promised to be quite the doozy.
I’d ask him later, once I caught him up over dinner.
For now, back to work.