Oliver's Substitute Bride (Oliver and Jessica)
Chapter 276

Lucas said, "Jessica, I'll hang the painting. Could you help me with it?"

"Sure." Jessica replid.

Since the living room on the first floor was quite capacious, there was much space available forhanging up the pictures.

Lucas then led Jessica to the portrait of Emily.

This was an oil painting bust created by the artist that Gavin had invited, which was drawn based ona photograph of Emily.

Jessica had already noticed this portrait of a woman at a distance. She once heard from Lucas thathis mother had passed away.

As for the portrait that could be hung in the living room, Jessica immediately realized that it mustbe for Lucas's mother, the mistress of the family.

She came closer to the portrait and then took a look.

For some reason, when she saw the portrait of this woman, she was suddenly shocked. And that'sbecause the woman in this picture looked quite familiar to her.

Jessica was so surprised that she almost dropped the painting in her hands on the ground.

She immediately handed the painting to Lucas and then took a closer look at the woman in theportrait.

"Is my mother beautiful?" Lucas stood behind Jessica and asked jokingly.

"She is one of the most beautiful women I have ever seen, and the other is my mother.”

Without exaggeration, Jessica had to admit that Lucas's mother was indeed the most beautifulwoman she had ever seen, except for her own mother.

For some reason, she felt that the woman in this portrait was somewhat similar to her mother inappearance.

However, she had never heard that her mother had a sister, let alone met her in person.

"Of course." Lucas said.

Jessica didn't understand what he meant and she also had no idea why he replied so affirmatively.Lucas had never seen her mother in person, not even the photos of her.

Only then did Jessica realize that she could take out some photos of her mom and show them toLucas that she was telling the truth.

"Is your mother from Birmingham, too?" She asked.

"Yes."

"What's her name then?"

After Jessica asked, she realized that it was a little impolite and impertinent to directly ask about thename of an elder.

Lucas smiled and said, "Her name is Emily."

Hearing his words, Jessica felt it was a pleasant name to hear. It seemed to be true that a beautifulperson also had a graceful name.

After they finished hanging up the painting, Jessica went back to her room and opened a small box.She took out a photo album with pictures of her mother.

There were also a few photos of her as a child in that album.

Then she took this photo album downstairs.

Lucas shared with Gavin in detail the progress of his conversation with Jessica.

Lucas asked Gavin to stay in the living room and wait for Jessica to bring the photo album so thatthey can view the photos together.

When Jessica came out and saw Gavin was also there, she was getting a little embarrassed. After all,she just casually mentioned her mother to Lucas, and she had no intention of comparing the beautybetween her mom and the mother of Lucas through their photos.

Lucas noticed that Jessica was feeling embarrassed. "Jessica, do you have any photos of you as achild? My father also wants to see how you looked when you were a child.”

"Yes." Jessica then handed her photo album to Lucas.

Gavin's hands trembled slightly while he was holding the album. Together with Lucas, they startedto view the photos of Jessica when she was a little girl.

From the photos of Jessica as a child, one could tell that she must be a beautiful girl when shegrows up.

When Jessica was a child, she resembled Gavin more, while Lucas was more like Emily.

Presumably their living environments differed greatly. Consequently, the temperament of them wascompletely different when they grew up, and their appearance had also changed greatly.

Lucas elbowed his father.

He was giving Gavin a hint for him to take out his childhood photos as well.

Gavin was originally focused on the photos of Jessica and attentively imagined her life inBirmingham when she was a child. After being prompted by Lucas, he stood up and went to thestudy, then brought back a thick photo album with him.

Gavin took a set of photos for Lucas every year since he knew that his son would grow up in theblink of an eye and leave him when he grew up. But these photos could permanently mark thespecial moments of his growth and could be kept as a souvenir.

Lucas didn't really care about those photos. He probably couldn't even remember his appearance asa child.

Jessica took the photo album and turned to the first page. Then she saw the photo of a baby inswaddling clothes.

However, she noticed that the date on this photo was the same as her birthday.

Then she took a closer look at the baby in this photo and realized that she looked exactly the sameas when she was a child.

Jessica had never asked Lucas about his birthday before.

Lucas used to call himself as her elder brother and muddled through

"Is it also your birthday on June 1st, Children’s day?" Jessica asked Lucas.

"Yes."

"You used to say that you were older than me. That may not be the truth.”

Gavin noticed this conversation between Jessica and Lucas and felt quite relieved since they seemedto be real brother and sister.

Lucas thought to himself, anyways I was the one who was born earlier than you.

He didn't say anything and just kept smiling

Jessica looked through many photos of Lucas, but did not see a single picture of him and hismother together.

But because of the presence of Gavin, although she had doubts, she decided not to ask any morequestions.

As for Gavin, he was holding the photo of Jessica in his hand, without any intention of putting itback to the photo album.

His eyes were filled with mixed emotions of regrets, joy, shame, and anticipation.

Jessica was so absorbed in viewing the photos of Lucas that she didn't notice anything unusualabout Gavin.

"Jessica, did you notice that we looked alike when we were kids?" Lucas stared at Jessica and asked,trying to see how she might react.

"We did. But I think all babies look similar to each other."

As soon as Jessica finished speaking, she thought of her child again. She didn't even get toremember the appearance of her baby clearly.

And after that, they were separated forever.

A while ago Jessica was still talking happily, and now her face darkened.

Barbara had told Gavin before that although Jessica sometimes acted like a normal person, it didn'tmean that she had fully recovered.

If Jessica had any emotional fluctuations after stimulation, Gavin must pay attention to any changesof her and inform Barbara of her situation.

Jessica suddenly felt low and she had no control over her moods.

She didn't want to be subject to changing moods in front of Gavin and Lucas, but there was nothingshe could do. As a result, she decided to leave first.

"I'll go upstairs first." After saying this, she left without taking back the photo album with her.

Lucas immediately called Barbara and told her about the behaviour of Jessica for timely treatment."Maybe you should go upstairs and see if she's okay.” Gavin said.

He was worried about Jessica.

Lucas patted Gavin on the shoulder. "The doctor is more professional than us and let's follow theadvice of Barbara. You need to relax a bit."