Chapter 511

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“ Is Irene inside ? ” said Teresa .
Edward nodded . Teresa then said , “ I’d better not go in . Please bring this in for me . ” Then she left .
Edward hurried inside , made his way to Jonathan , who was speaking with the guests , and whispered in his ear , “ Teresa is here . ”
Jonathan glanced at the flowers Edward handed him , raised an eyebrow , and said , “ What ? ”
Edward replied , “ Yeah , you heard me . Teresa is here . ”
Jonathan was stunned . Then he asked , “ Where is she ? ”
Edward said , “ She’s at the door . She came to pay her respects . I invited her to come in , but she refused . ”
“ Stay here . I’ll go talk to her .” Jonathan walked out of the room quickly .
Teresa had just walked out of the alley when she heard footsteps behind her . Turning around , she saw Jonathan striding toward her , grabbing her arm .
Jonathan couldn’t believe that she’d come here . He said , “ Why didn’t you tell me you were coming ? ”
Teresa pulled her arm back . “ I figured you must be very busy , so I didn’t want to bother you . I just happened to be passing by . ”
“ Just passing by ? ” Jonathan fixed his gaze on her . “ It’s Halloween today , and I remembered that you should come home with Jennifer . ”
Teresa replied , “ I did . ”
“ Then how could this be ‘ passing by ‘ ? Did you come from Chesburg or Nareigh ? How did you get here ? ” Jonathan pressed .
Teresa couldn’t take his grilling anymore and finally admitted , “ I drove here from Chesburg . I took the highway all the way . ”
“ Seriously ? From Chesburg to Jaxmere ? ” Jonathan was surprised .
Teresa said , “ Yeah . Anyway , it’s just in the opposite direction from Nareigh . The highway wasn’t busy , and 120 miles really isn’t that far . ”
Jonathan paused , doing the math . He thought that she had probably been driving for close to three hours .
The weariness in Jonathan’s eyes hit Teresa hard . She finally softened her voice and said , “ You said you were not okay . I can tell it’s been rough for you . ”
Teresa continued , “ It was so sudden . I couldn’t believe it when Miriam told me . Gordon looked fine just a few days ago , and he just reunited with Fiona . I thought they would have more time . ”
As Teresa spoke , her eyes softened with concern . “ Anyway , I’m sorry for your loss . Make sure you get some rest and don’t push yourself too hard . ”
With that , she turned to leave .
“ Don’t go . ” Jonathan put an arm around her shoulder , pulling her back gently . As Teresa tilted her head slightly , Jonathan couldn’t stop himself from placing a kiss on her cheek . “ Thank you for coming . It means a lot to me . ”
Teresa became tearful , and it took a while for her to snap back . She pushed him off gently and said , “ You should head back . The funeral isn’t over . You’ve got a lot of things to do . ”
Jonathan said , “ It’s okay . It’s getting late . Are you sure you want to go back ? Let me book a hotel room for you . Just stay over . ”
Teresa shook her head , “ I can get one myself . You don’t need to worry about me . ”
Jonathan , however , remained firm . He held Teresa’s hand and said , “ Come on , let’s go . Where’s your car ? I’ll drive . ”
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Teresa followed without protest . His hand was firm , comforting , and strangely hard to let go of
“ Hop in the front . ” Jonathan said as he got into her car and started the engine , “ I’ll take you to the best hotel in town , get you settled , and then ‘ t head back . ”
It was already eight o’clock at night . Once they arrived at a hotel 12 miles away , Teresa urged Jonathan to head back to focus on the funeral and get
some rest .
Jonathan walked Teresa to her room . He stood at the door , reached out , and pulled her into a silent embrace . Her head rested on his shoulder , and the perfume on him filled her senses .
Jonathan kissed her hair softly before reluctantly letting go . “ If you need anything , call me . And if I’m not picking up , call Edward .”
“ I know , ” Teresa said quietly , not pulling away this time . She could tell he was going through a lot.
Jonathan said , “ Do you have to go back so quickly ? I’ll come to you after everything is done tomorrow , I can drive you back to Nareigh
“ We’ll see , ” Teresa said .
Jonathan said no more . Teresa walked him out and watched his car disappear before heading upstairs .
Teresa spent the night alone . When she woke up the next morning , she thought maybe she should go back to Nareigh herself ..
When she got downstairs , however , she couldn’t find her car . Only then did she remember that Jonathan had taken her car yesterday .
Without a car , Teresa couldn’t go back to Nareigh . Since she couldn’t leave for now , she turned back toward the hotel , thinking . Thankfully , I haven’t checked out yet ! ‘
The next day , Gordon’s funeral drew a crowd of at least a hundred people . A quarter of them were security guards , and Irene and Heidi stayed at Fiona’s side the entire time , supporting her .
Outside , neighbors stood around gossiping about this .
“ Look . That woman in the middle is Gordon’s wife . She looks pretty tough for her age . ”
“ The ones on the sides are his daughters , right ? Look at their sons . They’re so tall and handsome . It seemed that Gordon had a big family . ”
“ Come on , let’s go home . It’s about to rain . ”
Rain and tears blended together as they streamed down Fiona’s face . Since Gordon’s death , she had only cried twice – once when she went back to the old place and saw the things she used to use , and once today , when she saw him in the coffin .
She knew she had completely lost him .
She hated him . After all , he had done things in the past that she could never forgive . He lied to her , framed her , and broke her . However , knowing that he had spent all these years searching for her even with his Alzheimer’s , she felt touched .
“ Rest in peace , Gordon , ” Fiona murmured , her fingers brushing across his photo .
Around five in the afternoon , guests started to leave . Irene and Heidi’s hair was damp with rain . They went into the room and changed their clothes . Irene said to Jonathan and Edward , “ I might need you to take care of the remaining matters tomorrow morning . I’ll stay and talk with Fiona . ” Edward nodded , Jonathan glanced at his watch and turned to leave . “ No problem . I’ll talk to the priest tomorrow . If you need anything, just call me . ”
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“ Okay . Where are you going how ? ” Irene called out , but Jonathan had already dashed off and quickly disappeared .
Irene turned to Edward and asked , “ Where is Jonathan going ? ”
Edward shook his head , playing dumb . “ I don’t know . ”
Irene didn’t press further , her attention drawn back by Heidi’s words as they turned to Fiona’s next plan .
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