Faux Vows, True Desires
Chapter 339

"Janice is still vacationing on our island. She's really digging it."

Hayes looked a bit let down, but upon hearing that she was happy, he said with a relieved smile, "As long as she's sane and happy, we can rest easy."

In the twenty-something years that Lucy was missing, Janice's life was hell; she was like a walking dead.

Stefan shot his mom a text and in no time, she was on a video call with him.

"Stefan, you free today? Where's Lucy?"

Stefan chuckled, "Mom, I'm at work right now, Lucy's not with me. Are you guys having fun?"

"Absolutely! Why, missing your mom?"

Stefan didn't respond, just chuckled.

Jeannie Coleman knew her son well; she laughed and said, "I know you won't tell me you miss me; your sweet talk is probably saved for Lucy."

"Mom, is Lucy's mom there?"

"Lucy has two moms, who are you asking about? Both are here. One's over there chowing down on seafood, the other one is over there enjoying the sea breeze, watching the sea, pondering life." Jeannie turned the camera to aim at the two women.

Fiona was sitting under a sun umbrella, enjoying seafood and chatting with her husband, both laughing heartily.

Janice was standing not too far away from them, dressed in a plain long dress, her hair fluttering, her back to everyone, gazing into the distance.

That silhouette reminded Stefan of Lucinda.

Lucinda's figure was somewhat similar to her biological mother's, only their faces were different.

"Mom, Lucy's cousin is here, he wants to meet Lucy's mom."

Upon hearing Stefan's words, his mom knew that he was looking for Janice, so she laughed and said, "Alright, hang on, I'll fetch Janice."

Soon, Janice appeared in the video.

Stefan passed his phone to Hayes.

Taking the phone, Hayes looked at Janice in the video. She looked much better, her eyes were more lively, and not as dull as before.

"Auntie!" Hayes called with a smile, but he felt a pang in his heart.

"You're Hayes? You've grown so much. If you hadn't called me 'auntie', I wouldn't have recognized you."

Janice remembered that she had a nephew, but she had been insane for over twenty years, she didn't even remember her own son, let alone her nephew.

If Hayes hadn't called her auntie first, even if they met on the street, she wouldn't have recognized him.

"Keith and Lucy are both so big, and I'm even older than them."

Janice laughed, "True, I've been out of it for so long, I've neglected you. Thankfully, you're all doing well."

Even though Nathan had betrayed her in their marriage, he had still supported her nephew. At least her son and nephew hadn't been ruined by Nathan. For that, Janice was grateful to Nathan.

Despite her gratitude, her marriage with Nathan was already over.

People always said that one can mend a broken mirror, but in reality, once a mirror was broken, even if it was fixed, there would still be cracks. Since he had a new lover, he should let go of his old one. She was even willing to bless him and his new lover.

"Hayes, how come you're with Stefan? Are you in Pinehurst now? Did Keith come with you? How's he doing in Skywatch? Everything okay?" Janice would keep in touch with the kids, but her son always liked to share only the good news and not worry her about the disturbing ones.

Despite being away for over twenty years, Janice still knew what was going on in the Blue family.

In the past, those people wanted Nathan to replace Keith, to strip him of his inheritance in the Blue family, so he wouldn't be eligible to inherit anything from Nathan. They had at that time found Lucy.

That was good news for them, but definitely bad news for others.

Some people, for fame and fortune, could do just about anything.

Janice was very worried about her son, but she knew that was something he had to face.

And Lucy.

She knew that Lucy had started working at Ascend Global in preparation to take over the family business back in Skywatch.

If she could, she'd wish her daughter could stay in Pinehurst forever, continue running her coffee shop, writing her novels, and living a peaceful life. But Nathan's personal fortune was over 10 billion, if her own children didn't accept that inheritance, they'd be handing it to others.

Janice could never do that.

"Keith is still in Skywatch, he's very busy, so he didn't have time to come. Nathan's on a business trip again, and he has left the company to Keith. Don't worry. Keith may be busy, but he's doing great, and he's finally in a good mood."

With his real sister found, a kind brother-in-law, and a now sane mother, Keith was indeed in a good mood.

Of course, if he didn't have to see Madeleine again, he'd be in an even better mood.

"That's good. Hayes, since you're here, stay in Pinehurst for a few more days. I'll be back soon; we can meet up and catch up. I'll bring you fresh seafood, I caught a lot of fish at the beach yesterday." Janice was in a very good mood at that moment, always laughing when she spoke.

"Alright, I'll stay a few more days and wait for you to come back. Go have fun, I have to hang up now, Stefan has to work."

"Okay."

They ended the video call.

Hayes returned the phone to Stefan, and thanked him solemnly, "My aunt's doing really well now. Stefan, thank you."

The Anderson family was the top wealthy family in Pinehurst, but they were low-key and had good family values.

Lucy was extremely lucky to marry into such a family; he was happy for her.

Stefan casually said, "We're family, no need to be formal. I'll text Lucy, let's have lunch together." "Alright."

Hayes delightedly accepted his proposal.

Stefan shot a text to his wife first, telling her that her cousin was in town and they were gonna grab lunch together.

Then he dialed Eric Anderson to get the menu sorted out, and shot a message to his bros currently in Pinehurst that they were gathering for a lunch meet-up at Ascend Hotel, to welcome Hayes.

Upon receiving the text from her husband, Lucinda was about to reply when a co-worker called her name. She quickly shoved her phone back into her pocket and walked over to her colleague. The lady had been with the company longer than her, so Lucinda treated her with respect as she asked, "Jennifer, what's up?"

Jennifer handed her a stack of papers, saying, "These documents are useless now, get rid of them. And stop messing with your phone during work hours. Less talk, more work. Don't get too comfortable just because you're in Ascend Global, you're still on probation, you know."

"You're absolutely right, I'll deal with these useless documents right away,"

Lucinda didn't argue and took the papers from Jennifer, turning to leave.

"Hold on, make me a cup of coffee, will you? You saw that my cup was empty but didn't even bother to pour me some water. I'm parched!"

Jennifer chided Lucinda for being inattentive and handed her the cup.