Erica walked away, leaving behind a silence that stretched on and on until Tam took a deep breath. With a casual air, he turned to his daughter. "Julianna, would you mind going too? I need to speak with Tessie about something."
Julianna didn't move, looking with suspicion at her father and her friend. "Dad, you… What do you two need to talk about?" Privately she wondered, 'Did my father know Tessie before? If so, why didn't I know about it?'
While Tessie's eyes stayed on the ground, Tam made the best excuse he could think of. "It seems there's a big problem between her and Erica. Since I just happened to stumble across it, I can't sit by and do nothing. If I'm able to have a talk with your friend, maybe I can help her resolve the conflict."
Julianna had her doubts, but she nodded and left in the opposite direction Erica had taken.
When only the two of them were left, Tessie finally raised her head and looked at Tam, her eyes deep with longing and love.
It was impossible not to see her feelings; they were present in every gesture. For his part, Tam would be lying if he said he had no feelings for this woman. Nonetheless, he kept his calm. "I have only two choices now," he explained. "One is to take our son home and raise him with my wife. The second is to divorce my wife and marry you, and then we raise our son together."
Tam had seen baby Ethan before and liked him very much. It was hard to say why; maybe the Li family had raised him too well, or perhaps it was just the fact that they were bonded by blood. Whatever the case, Tam couldn't simply forget the baby. He really wanted to take him back home.
His love for that child even exceeded his love for his daughter, who had accompanied him for more than twenty years.
Tessie flashed a lonely, bitter smile. "You think clearly enough about your own future, but what about mine?"
"You have two choices, too," he said. "One is to apologize to Erica and marry me. The second is…" He paused, and for that brief instant looked just a little pained. "…is to give me your son and devote yourself to your studies."
"Don't you want to know what happened?"
Tam shook his head. "It doesn't matter. Whether you're alive or dead, you were not lying to me, but to Erica." In fact, that was the reason he wanted her to apologize to Erica. "I admit that I flinched when I knew you were pregnant with the baby. But I regret it now." Indeed, he had found that no matter how busy he was at work, he couldn't help thinking of Tessie's child.
So he'd hired some people to monitor everything that happened with the Li family. As soon as he'd heard of Erica taking the child out of the Li family house, he had contacted her and gotten the chance to meet Ethan.
Tessie's eyes turned red. She looked at Erica, who was rather obviously watching them from the distance. She said, "I'm afraid… it'll be very hard to get Erica's forgiveness." Tessie was sorry for what she had done to Erica, but the way she saw it, she'd had no choice. The pregnancy had been an accident, but she hadn't wanted to abort the baby. She could only use Erica's kindness to rearrange her life.
Tam knew that it was indeed hard to get Erica's forgiveness for anything. It was clearly the biggest problem for Tessie at the moment. Erica had essentially been her scapegoat. Neither the Li nor the Huo families would go easy on them if they learned the truth.
"You should have thought of it back then," Tam pointed out. Truth be told, he was a little disappointed in Tessie. After all, she had gotten a good deal out of all that had happened; she'd been able to transfer to a new school and begin a new life. But her good friend had been left behind to deal with this whole mess despite being totally innocent.
Because of the baby, Erica's life had been totally changed. She had been forced to marry a man she didn't love. Fortunately, Matthew loved Erica so much that he didn't seem to care whether she had a child or not.
However, it was exactly Matthew's love for Erica that made Tam worried. From what he knew of the man, there was no chance he would let Tessie—or Tam himself—off the hook for anything…
Tears streamed down Tessie's face, and she repeatedly wiped them off with the heel of her hand. "I should've thought of it?" she repeated. "Don't you remember how you treated me back then? You asked me to have an abortion. Have you ever thought of what's good for me?"
This was an ordeal for Tessie. In spite of everything, she really did love this man, who was much older than her. After all, she'd been willing to have a child with him.
"I don't want to talk about this," Tam said carefully. "If we really can get married in the end, I'll make it up to you. The problem now is patching things up with Erica. Avoiding her is not an option. If you don't give her an explanation today, she's sure to be back tomorrow." He knew Erica wouldn't give up until she found out the truth!
Likewise, Tessie was Erica's old friend; she and Rhea knew her the best. They were well aware of how stubborn she could be.
Tessie took a deep breath. "Erica is from a rich family. She's kind and simple, and her parents have always doted on her. If she had a child out of wedlock, or if anything else happened to her, her father could always just solve the problem for her. But what about me? If my parents found the truth, they might kill me! I'd at least be driven out of the Su family. I thought I could rely on you. After all, you have more power and status in Y City than the Su family does… But of course, I couldn't get in touch with you after I was pregnant. You should take some responsibility for all that's happened. I'm not at fault for everything, and I do feel bad for Erica. But so should you, Tam Wu!"
She had taken advantage of Erica's kindness and successfully tricked her into believing that she had died of difficult labor.
However, she had never expected that Erica would end up marrying Matthew. After all, Erica and Matthew only knew each other because of their parents, and prior to their marriage, they had barely spoken or spent any time together.
Tam was willing to agree with Tessie, but only to a point. He knew that she hadn't seen Ethan since giving birth to him. "You're right. I do feel sorry. I'm sorry for letting the Li family raise our son. But Tessie, you let that happen too—and you're his mother! How could you be so cruel as to just give him away to someone else? If the Su family had disowned you, do you really think I would just sit by and do nothing?"
"It's useless to talk about it now," Tessie retorted. "I have no choice but to move on. I'll apologize to Erica, but you have to play along with me now!" If she didn't continue the deception, she would be doomed.
She wasn't ready to die.
Tam frowned. "What do you mean? Erica is right over there, seeing that you're alive and well. How can you still want to keep lying to her?"
Tessie crossed her arms and said, "I told everyone that Erica was vicious to me at school—that she bullied me, so I was forced to transfer somewhere else. It was the best story I could come up with. Everyone knows she's always been a troublemaker anyway, so they all believed it. You have to pretend you believe it too. It's the only way we can get through this."
Despite himself, Tam cast a worried glance Erica's way. "Tessie, you're kidding yourself. Who do you think the Li family will believe—you or Erica? Then there's Matthew Huo. Even if you had evidence on your side, I'm afraid that wouldn't make a difference. He'd still take Erica's side. What will happen then?"
"There's nothing to worry about. Erica is softhearted. I will beg her and ask her to give the child back to me. We can still be on good terms, like we were before. As for Matthew Huo, he has a good relationship with my sister. Phoebe always wanted to marry him. She must hate Erica's guts now, since she suddenly stepped in and married him instead. Phoebe's sure to take our side, which means so will Matthew."
This struck Tam as naive. "Oh, come on. Who do you think is more important in Matthew's heart—Erica or your sister?"
"My sister! Matthew and Erica were like strangers before they got married. Phoebe may be married to Nathan, but Matthew still cares about her. As long as we work together, we can turn this situation around quickly!" It was unfortunate, but now that things had gotten this far, Erica would have to continue to bear everything.
Tam was uneasy about this plan, but he couldn't think of a better one, so it seemed best to do as Tessie said. Still, there were more problems he could see. "Then how are you going to explain to Erica why you're not dead?" he asked.
