Chapter 64: Every man for his family

Hearing her ask that made him freeze. He felt bile build up in his throat at the sudden realization of his actual situation.

Despite the great moment with his son the night before, there was still a very real possibility that getting his family back together might never happen.

Clancy’s mother had not mentioned their mail to Selen up until then. They did not want to ruin their chances of being grandparents and also having Clancy in the family again.

But since they had not heard anything from Selen after all these while, everyone took that as her response- that she still did not want anything to do with them and for them to stay away from her kids. Even the trust fund their mother had set up had not been checked on.

But they were not going to just give up, especially not their Mom, she was determined to see her grandchildren and know them before she took her last breath one day. So, she asked Clancy.

"Eveything seems to be going well between you and Selen. So I believe you will be able to tell me if she ever got our envelope and what she thought of it. How did she react?" She asked.

Her question made Clancy realise that he may have given them answers that made them believe things were much better than how they really were. But he was glad, because he would probably not have known about the letter.

"What envelope mom?" He asked her. His tone had now changed to concern. Not concern for his family, but concern for how whatever they might have done could affect his chances with her.

His mother then went ahead to tell him everything that transpired to the point of sending the mail. Clancy did not know if he should be mad or sad. He would be lying if he said he did not see their intentions as pure, but as someone who had tried the letter and the financial approach, he knew how things would have gone in Selen’s head.

She never responded to his letters, and the hospital bill for Diana that he paid for is still hung over his neck by Selen almost everyday for the first month after Diana came back home, where she tried to make him give her a payment plan to return his money.

He had to begin to meticulously avoid her in her own home whenever he came to visit the kids, just so that she would not mention it. His plan seemed to have worked since after she stopped asking, he never mentioned money around her so she would not bring it up again.

So after the call with his mother, he knew that he would have to bring their message up with Selen and he hoped that she saw that he had not told them to do it and they did it on their own accord and in good conscience. And that the trust fund was not a bribe or a way of calling her incompetent to raise her kids by herself.

Meanwhile at Julian’s home, his wife was threatening to set the roof on fire when she found out how much was given to each of Selen’s kids in a trust fund while her baby got nothing yet.

"You do not understand and you are failing to try to understand. These children are seven years older than our daughter MARY! Seven frigging years. That means that they were born even before I met you. Listen, do you really think that my parents would not leave anything to our daughter?" He said to her,

"Yes, I do. I believe that just like you, our daughter might grow up to be the forgotten one, the back up child. And just like Clancy, his children will live their lives with everyone running to them and begging for their attention. I do not want my daughter to grow up around a family that will make her feel like second best" she said.

Julian was regretting telling his postpartum wife about the envelope that himself and his sister had mailed to Selen along with the documents his mother added.

Even before the child was born, Mary always felt that way about Clancy and her husband. And now that she found out about the trust fund, she had a good enough reason to shout it out loud.

"They have never even met the kids and yet they give them all this, what would happen when they eventually meet them, huh?" She asked Julian. He had given up on her and was now seated on the chair in their bedroom.

"Mary, get a hold of yourself. My mother is downstairs right now, using the guest room for the tenth time now, just so she can be around our daughter, something Clancy’s wife never got to experience.

Every time any of my family members come to visit, they come with loads of gifts for our baby girl. They even threw you a safe delivery party just because you had not decided on a date for the official celebrations.

All these things and so many more are the things that Clancy’s children never got to experience. So why would you even for one second think that our daughter would ever be second best to my brother’s kids?" He said finally. If this did not make her think, then he was done reasoning with her.

"You keep on mentioning Clancy’s kids in comparison like it was not his wife that ran away and deprived her kids of what I am enjoying now" she said. "Oh, so you do know that it is an enjoyment? And we caused her to leave. She had no choice. If she stayed, she would not have had those kids.

Listen here, Mary. When his family finally reunites and maybe come back here to England one day, I want you to remember this. They are our daughter’s cousins and you will not let hate for them grow in our child’s heart." He said.