CHAPTER 65: CHAPTER 65: CADEN’S THOUGHTFUL COMFORT

Mother Hawthorne and Yvonne Hawthorne were both taken aback, they didn’t expect Tanya Sinclair not only to refuse to obediently roll over and give Mother Hawthorne a foot massage but also to dare to talk back!

"Tanya Sinclair! Who do you think you’re talking to?!" Mother Hawthorne shouted angrily as she got up from the sofa to scold her, but Tanya didn’t even turn her head. She walked straight into the study and closed the door behind her.

The study was divided into two rooms, and Caden was sitting in front of the computer in the inner room,

completely focused on debugging the code.

But after several modifications, the program still had bugs when it ran.

Caden furrowed his brows, a dialog box popped up on the screen, a message from a teammate.

[Can’t solve it.]

The messages on both sides were in sync, and since the teammate couldn’t solve it either, they suggested: [Caden, why don’t we ask the professor for help?]

But Caden was unwilling: [Let me try again.]

When Tanya entered the room, she stood quietly by his side, happy to see that Caden would not give up easily. Yet as Caden tried over and over, with red exclamations repeatedly popping up on the screen, his small brows furrowed even tighter.

Tanya bent down and asked softly, "Do you need Mom’s help?"

In fact, as soon as Tanya walked in, Caden noticed her.

He didn’t dislike her, so he didn’t shoo her away.

Hearing Tanya’s offer, he glanced back at her with evident doubt: "You?"

Tanya smiled slightly, "Mom knows a little about computers too, why don’t you let Mom give it a try?"

"..."

Caden hesitated for a few seconds before hopping down from the chair to make room for Tanya.

But what he thought was: try if you must, if it breaks, he can fix it.

If he refused, this woman would definitely smile and say it’s okay, but her eyes would look sad.

He didn’t like that.

Tanya sat down, her fingers tapping on the keyboard as she debugged Caden’s program. To make it clearer for him, Tanya intentionally slowed down and chose a moderately difficult method for the fix.

Caden stared at the screen, his eyes gradually lighting up with excitement.

"Amazing!"

...

Twenty minutes later, Joy came up with a small strawberry, calling her brother down to dinner.

"Brother, come eat. This strawberry is so, so sweet. I brought you one..." Joy ran in, and upon seeing Tanya in the room, her cheerful face immediately fell.

Seeing her brother looking happy and close to the bad woman, she was even more upset.

"Come on, brother!" Joy squeezed past Tanya, pulling on Caden, "Great-grandma is here!"

"Wait a moment." Normally indulging her and always going along, this time, her brother brushed off her hand.

Caden still had a crucial question to ask Tanya.

He told Joy, "Give me five more minutes, you go down first."

"..."

This bad woman chased away Cindy Mama and now she’s trying to take her brother too!

She even thought her made nutritional meals tasted good, but she won’t eat them again!

Joy stood there with her arms akimbo, glaring at Tanya.

"Your nutritional meals aren’t tasty at all!"

Then she turned around and stormed out, her twin pigtails bouncing angrily behind her head.

Noticing Tanya’s slight sadness, Caden brought the topic back to the program and asked Tanya for advice: "How do I handle this part?"

Tanya explained it to him in the simplest and most understandable way.

Caden was originally a genius, and though he was usually very polite and well-mannered, deep down he was proud and admired strength.

He looked at Tanya with some admiration.

His biological mom seemed to be...even more impressive than he had imagined.

"Let’s go, don’t keep great-grandma waiting." Tanya smiled.

Caden went downstairs with Tanya.

Halfway down, he suddenly said, "Don’t believe her."

"Hm?" Tanya didn’t understand.

Caden scratched his head, "Joy, last time, after eating, she secretly had another bowl. I saw it."

"..." Tanya was slightly stunned, then smiled warmly, her heart feeling a heat.

Caden was comforting her.

He was too young to fully understand the complexities of adult emotions. He thought she was upset because Joy said her meals weren’t tasty.

"Thank you, sweetheart. Mom isn’t upset at all," Tanya said seriously.

She was very grateful to have been blessed with these two precious children. Even if Joy didn’t like her for now, at least she had Caden to offer some comfort.

In the dining room, Old Lady Hawthorne had already arrived, sitting in the main seat with a stern face, clearly angry about something earlier.

"Great-grandma," Caden called out sweetly.

"Ah, my dear sweet great-grandson,"

Old Lady Hawthorne smiled as soon as she saw her beloved great-grandson.

"Grandma," Tanya greeted respectfully and warmly.

Old Lady Hawthorne was even happier to see her.

"Come, Caden and Joy sit together. Tanya, you come over here." Old Lady Hawthorne gestured for Tanya to come over, then turned to glare at Vincent Hawthorne sitting at her right hand, "Hurry and pull out a chair for your wife, what are you just sitting there for?"

Vincent Hawthorne stood up and pulled out the chair beside him for Tanya.

Old Lady Hawthorne finally looked somewhat satisfied.

Sitting diagonally across from Tanya, Yvonne Hawthorne rolled her eyes and silently cursed Tanya for putting on an act in front of the old lady.

But she didn’t dare say this aloud.

Although Old Lady Hawthorne was elderly, she was still sharp and her hands controlled the company’s shares, even this estate was under her name.

The old lady had always favored Tanya, the granddaughter-in-law, over Yvonne, her actual granddaughter.

To provoke Tanya in front of the old lady would probably result in her being thrown out.

"Vincent, serve Tanya some soup." Old Lady Hawthorne instructed, and naturally, Vincent complied.

Tanya reached out to take it, but with the soup bowl being so small, she inevitably touched Vincent’s hand.

Vincent glanced at her and said softly, "It’s hot, let me."

"..."

Tanya withdrew her hand, allowing Vincent to place the soup bowl in front of her.

Old Lady Hawthorne watched this with great satisfaction.

"Tanya, once your health is better, you and Vincent give me another great-grandson or great-granddaughter! More children, more happiness, it’s not like we can’t afford it."

There was no appropriate response Tanya could give to this.

She mustered a small smile and obediently drank her soup.

Mrs. Hawthorne merely assumed she was shy, and nudged Vincent under the table.

Vincent looked over helplessly, "Grandma, these things should happen naturally."

"What do you mean naturally?" the old lady huffed, "If Tanya had let things happen naturally back then, could she have gotten you?"

Tanya’s hand paused slightly as she gripped her spoon.

Mother Hawthorne added with a fake smile, "Sure, Tanya was just a young girl in her teens or twenties back then; her tactics were really something. Our Vincent just visited The Sinclair Family for a check-up, who’d have thought he’d get entangled with the doctor’s granddaughter. What’s that word...?"

Yvonne chimed in, "Haunting!"

Old Lady Hawthorne’s face darkened immediately, "If you can’t say anything nice, keep your mouth shut. I didn’t want to come here for dinner only to have my appetite spoiled by you two!"

Mother Hawthorne had long learned to fear this strong-willed mother-in-law and dared not utter another word.

But she marked this incident against Tanya!

Joy, with her high emotional intelligence and keen sense of timing, immediately jumped off her small chair, throwing herself into Old Lady Hawthorne’s lap.

"Great-grandma, don’t be angry. When Daddy’s upset, Joy gives him a kiss, and he isn’t mad anymore. Joy will kiss great-grandma too."

With that, she leaned over and planted a kiss on the old lady’s cheek. The old lady’s heart melted, and she couldn’t possibly stay angry.

The meal finished in a warm and harmonious atmosphere.

After dinner, Tanya went to the kitchen, sliced some fruits, and had just set them on the table when her phone vibrated with a new message.

She took a look; it was from Vincent Hawthorne: [Tanya, come to the garden, let’s talk privately.]

Tanya turned and headed to the garden.

Vincent Hawthorne was waiting for her at the gazebo, a cigarette between his fingers, his handsome face obscured by swirling smoke, looking somber.

He watched Tanya approach.

As she entered the gazebo, Vincent got straight to the point, "Tanya, go explain things to Grandma. Tell her it was just a misunderstanding with the Sinclair family."