Zoey froze. She wanted Marlene and the others to have a great impression of her. However, she’d unexpectedly offended Shannon instead. She’d never expected Shannon to protect Noah.
Zayden had a point. Noah had just returned to the Lane family, and they weren’t sure if he was really a descendant of their family yet. Besides, Noah had said that his father was Claude in front of everyone earlier. Marlen shot Zoey a friendly gaze and dragged Zayden and Malcolm away. “Let’s go and eat at home.”
Everyone had a lot on their minds during the dinner, and it ended on a strange note. When they were eating, Clifford even told the maid to prepare another plate of the dish Noah wanted for him.
Yvette thought it was weird because Noah hated that dish, which was an animal’s innards. After they returned to Xavier’s house, she asked Noah while putting him to bed, “Noah, tell me the truth. Did you target Malcolm on purpose today?”
A mother would always know her son best, and she had a feeling that Noah hated the Lane family. However, she didn’t understand why he liked staying there if that was the case.
After being asked directly, Noah just told her half of the truth. “Mom, I only targeted him because he called me a feral boy first.”
When Yvette heard that nickname, her heart ached a little. She reached out to hug him and said, “My dear Noah is no feral boy at all. You’re the most important baby in my life, understood?”
Noah nodded. Then, he couldn’t help asking, “Mom, who is my dad? Why did he abandon us?”
He’d only asked that out of the blue after seeing how Xavier had protected him earlier. He couldn’t understand why Xavier would help him if the latter truly was that bad.
Noah wondered why Xavier had never done anything evil despite getting angry at Noah for messing with him. Did he really not love Yvette? If so, why was he willing to accept someone else’s child? Noah had too many questions.
It was the first time Yvette had
heard Noah ask about Xavier. She didn’t know how to answer him at all when she saw the curious look in his eyes. Your dad… He didn’t abandon us. He just has his own problems to face.”
She didn’t want to drag Noah into the adults’ mess, so she patted his shoulders and said, “You’ll understand when you grow up.”
Noah looked down and couldn’t hide the disappointment in his eyes. “He’s not a bad person, right?”
Yvette shook her head. “Of course,
not. Why would your dad be a bad person? He’s a great guy, and I’m sure he’d like you and Zac a lot if he knew about you.”
She didn’t dare to tell the boys the truth because she was worried Xavier wouldn’t like them. She also didn’t want the Lane family to take them away.
After Noah heard what she said, he thought about how Xavier often called him a brat. He didn’t understand why Xavier would like him at all.
As they spoke, they didn’t notice Xavier was standing by the door at all. He’d heard everything they were saying.
“I’m sure he’d like you and Zac a lot if he knew about you.”
When he heard that, he tensed up. He wondered if Noah and Zachary weren’t Claude’s children at all.
If the kids really were Claude’s sons, why were they never with him? Xavier wondered if Yvette knew any other men besides Claude.
After Yvette had told Marlene about
Noah’s age, he’d done a simple calculation. He figured she’d gotten pregnan after she’d left him. He’d also done a DNA test previously and firmed Noah wasn’t his child. After all, they weren’t related by blood at all.