Chapter 510

“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.”

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 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.”

“Okay. Where are you going now?” 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.