Evelyn cut in to stop Gwyn. "Sweetie, Dad was just kidding. You can't call Uncle Gifford that." Then, she turned to Sheffield, "How could you be such a bad example to your daughter?"
Gifford echoed her, "Yes Gwyn, your mom is right. Come here, little cutie, give me a hug!"
For a short while, it seemed like Gwyn was hesitant, and then she stretched out her small arms to Gifford.
Holding the little girl in his arms, Gifford was very careful with his every move. He scolded Sheffield quietly, "Some friend! How could you not tell me that you have a daughter? And a cute one at that too! I didn't even prepare a red envelope for Gwyn!"
Sheffield rolled his eyes at him. "In my defense, I just recently found out that I'm Gwyn's father. So how could I have told you earlier?" If he were being honest, Sheffield still couldn't believe that Gwyn was his daughter. Every time he saw the little girl, he felt as if he were dreaming.
"Yeah, yeah! I damn believe you!" Gifford sarcastically said while he glared at Sheffield. He then turned his attention to Gwyn as he carried her to the sofa. With a big smile on his face, he said, "I'm sorry, Gwyn, I didn't prepare any gift. Next time, I will come and see you with a red envelope, okay?"
Gwyn didn't understand what he was talking about. Only when she heard the last word did she reply enthusiastically with one word—"Okay."
"My goddaughter is so sweet!"
Meanwhile, Carlos had been waiting for them to stop talking. Once Sheffield and Gifford were done, he waved at Sheffield without any expression on his face. "Come here."
Sheffield and Evelyn exchanged a look before walking towards Carlos together.
Sheffield then greeted the others formally, "Hello, Uncle Carlos, Aunt Debbie, Uncle Wesley, Aunt Blair, Matthew, and Erica. I'm Sheffield Tang, a good friend of Gifford's, Evelyn's fiance, and Gwyn's father." He made his identity clear for everybody.
When Gwyn heard him call her name, she called back, "Daddy!"
"Good girl!" Sheffield turned and winked at his daughter.
Debbie was thrilled to see her son-in-law-to-be. She warmly smiled at Sheffield and said, "Sheffield, have a seat."
Blair scrutinized Sheffield from head to toe before asking Debbie, "He seems like a good man. Why would Carlos stop Evelyn from being with him?"
"He just wants trouble!" Debbie exclaimed, annoyed at the thought of what Carlos had done to mess with Evelyn's relationship with Sheffield. Once Sheffield and Evelyn sat down, Debbie placed all of the food in front of them.
Meanwhile, Wesley didn't actually have a good impression of Sheffield since he had seen him flirting with another woman. While looking Sheffield in the eye, he provoked him. "Why don't we go outside and settle this?"
Sheffield looked in a panic. "No, no, I wouldn't dare! Uncle Wesley, your skills are incomparable to mine."
When Carlos heard what Sheffield said, he sneered to himself, 'Wouldn't dare?' Then, Carlos urged his friend, "Wesley, this boy is such a smooth talker. He's lying. Just drag him out and beat him!"
Carlos actually knew how good Sheffield was at martial arts, so he could tell that Sheffield was lying.
Debbie patted Carlos' back in order to calm him down. She then reproached him in a soft voice, "What are you doing? Can't we just have a nice and peaceful talk as a family?"
Blair thought that Debbie was right. She held Wesley's hand and said in dissatisfaction, "Seriously? You're much older than him. Is this how you treat people that are younger than you? Is using your fists the only way you know to solve a problem?"
Wesley immediately straightened up and remained silent.
When everyone had settled down, Sheffield announced, "Uncle Carlos, Aunt Debbie, I guess I'll go straight to the point on why we came here. I've proposed to Evelyn and she said yes. We have been preparing for our wedding and we even set up a date to take prenuptial pictures. In conclusion, we love each other. There's no doubt about that in our hearts. For our sake and for Gwyn's sake, Uncle Carlos, please don't make things difficult for Evelyn. If you have something that you're not satisfied with, please don't take it on her. Please take it out on me and we can sort it out."
"She is my daughter. Of course, I won't make things difficult for her! If you want to marry Evelyn, you can."
Evelyn was confused by Carlos' sudden amiable attitude. She couldn't help but wonder why her father suddenly changed his mind. Didn't he say that he would rather disown her than allow her to marry Sheffield?
Sheffield could sense that there was a "but" coming at the end of Carlos' sentence. Despite this anxiety, he was still happy to hear those words. Even if Carlos was to add some terms to their arrangement, it would be fine because that meant there was hope. "Uncle Carlos, please let me know if you have some conditions. I'll try my best to satisfy them," Sheffield stated with the utmost sincerity.
"In fact, I do have one condition. It's about Gwyn. My granddaughter can have your family name, but you can't take her away. Since you'll be taking Evelyn away from us, you should let Gwyn stay in here. It only sounds fair, right?"
Everyone in the living room was astounded, filling the room with nothing but silence.
Despite their impressions or personal feelings towards Sheffield, they all thought it was too much to ask.
Instinctively, Debbie wanted to speak for Sheffield, but Carlos grabbed her hand to stop her.
Everyone wondered what Sheffield was going to say. But instead of becoming upset, he remained calm and even put on a smile. "You only have this one condition, right? I thought it would be something impossible. I can see how much Gwyn is loved here. So now that you're asking that, of course, it's no problem for me."
At that moment, it all made sense for Sheffield. He finally understood why Carlos had risked his father and daughter's relationship with Evelyn. Sheffield never believed that Carlos would have the heart to disown his beloved daughter. And as it turned out, the old man was just pretending! It was just Carlos' way of making them agree to his condition of allowing Gwyn to stay in the Huo family's manor.
The truth of the matter was, Sheffield had never thought about bringing Gwyn to the Tang family's house because he knew first hand that his own family was a mess. It wasn't a good place for a child to grow up.
Evelyn looked at Sheffield, who had a wide smile on his face. She got even more confused about the situation. She had a lot of questions on her mind. 'Wasn't he so protective of Gwyn just a while ago? He has always loved the child. Why is he giving up on Gwyn right now?'
"Uncle Carlos, I already agreed to your term. Do I have your permission to marry Evelyn now?" Sheffield asked.
"Sure, I will keep my promise!" Carlos exclaimed readily. He was genuinely happy.
Sheffield seized the opportunity and said, "Great! Thank you, Uncle Carlos. I'll ask Peterson Tang to come and talk about this with you very soon. When would be a good time for you?" As much as Sheffield hated Peterson, he was still his father, after all. He needed the old man to talk to Carlos about the matter.
"Any time is a good time for me. Ask Mr. Tang to come over anytime that it's convenient for him!" Carlos seemed in such a good mood that Sheffield couldn't believe this was all happening.
After a long time of being stressed out from her husband's disapproval of Sheffield, Debbie was extremely stunned. This was the first time that she had seen Carlos so gentle with Sheffield.
What confused her even more was that she was sure Carlos wasn't putting on an act. After all, the people present were very close to the Huo family. There was no need to pretend.
By then, Matthew had taken Gwyn from Gifford. So Gifford had the time to help Sheffield. With a serious tone, he said, "Uncle Carlos, Aunt Debbie, although at times Sheffield seems childish, he is a good man. Our years of friendship can attest to that. Ever since he fell in love with Evelyn, I've never heard him mention any other woman. He really loves her. Please let them be together. He'll make Evelyn very happy."
Carlos didn't respond.
Needless to say, Debbie had always been on Sheffield's side. With a content smile on her face, she said, "I know. I truly believe that Sheffield will treat Evelyn very well."
Sheffield thanked his future mother-in-law in his heart. He vowed that he would treat Debbie with filial love and respect, just like how he had treated his own mother.
Of course, he would be filial to Carlos as well. After all, Carlos would be his father-in-law very soon.
Being a cold and arrogant man like Carlos, Matthew never talked much. But at that moment, while holding Gwyn in his arms, he said, "Dad, you've been hard on me for the past twenty-one years of my life. Now that Sheffield is going to be part of the family, it's time for you to bully someone else. I need a break."
"Ha-ha." Gifford burst into laughter.
He realized that Matthew was even more miserable than him. Wesley was only strict with him in training, but he didn't belittle his son. Carlos, though, not only trained Matthew, but he was strict with him in every aspect. Nothing his son did was good enough for him.
Carlos gave a burning glare at Matthew and snapped, "You wish! I'll bully the two of you together!" In the days to come, he would have two men as his punching bags.
