Veronica left Bloomstead by train at eleven in the morning so that she could return to Cabot Town before four. She wanted to surprise her parents, so she didn’t tell them she was coming.
Now that she was back in Cabot Town, Veronica felt overjoyed to see all these familiar sights. Even the air here smelled nice.
With her backpack on her shoulders, she began to trek to the remote village where her family home was. In the distance, Veronica could see her adoptive mother standing by the pig pen, feeding the pigs with vegetables from a basket on her arm. Veronica had not seen this familiar scene in ages. She couldn't stop herself from jogging over to stand behind Daniella. "Mom!" she yelled.
Daniella ended up jumping in surprise from Veronica's shout. The basket she had just placed by the pig pen's fence toppled over into the pen. It wasn't until she turned around that she realized that Veronica was calling her. Instantly, she was delighted. "Oh, my darling girl, is it really you? Why are you back? Why didn't you tell me earlier? I could have gone to town to pick you up."
"Hahaha, it's only a short distance away, Mom. You don't have to do that." Veronica hugged Daniella. "I missed you so much. Did you and Dad miss me?"
Daniella smiled kindly and nodded. "Of course we did. Your father kept bemoaning your absence." Danielle let go of Veronica to take her hand and study her. "You've only been away for a few months; how are you so skinny now?" She poked Veronica's forehead. "Silly girl, you should have told me you were coming home. I would have made a nice roast for you. We don't even have any food in the house now." Then, Daniella turned to yell in the direction of the yard. "Tony? Tony?
Get over here; our girl is back."
"What? Veronica is back?" Upon hearing Daniella's voice, Tony immediately walked over from the yard, only to see that Veronica was truly back. A smile instantly bloomed on his weathered face. "Oh my, she really is back. I missed you dearly."
"Dad? Are you feeling better?" Veronica walked over to Tony and hugged him, asking about his health.
Meanwhile, Daniella remembered the basket of vegetables that had fallen into the pig pen. When she turned around, she found the pigs gnawing away at the basket.
"Hey, get away from that!" Daniella yelled at the pigs after she opened the gate to the pen. She picked up the basket and left the pig pen to walk over to Veronica. Waving the broken basket around, she chastised Veronica, "Look at what you did. I'll have you know that this is a new basket." Daniella reached out and smacked Veronica's bottom. "Bad girl."
"Hehehe, Mom, that hurts." Veronica pressed her hands to her butt, pretending that she was in pain.
However, that broke Daniella's heart. "Did it hurt a lot? I didn't even smack you that hard."
"Haha, just teasing you." A grin split Veronica's face. She was in good spirits as she held her adoptive parents’ hands and walked into the yard. As Veronica and Tony chatted in the yard, Daniella retrieved a chicken from the freezer and headed to the kitchen to cook it for Veronica.
After conversing for a while, Veronica eyed the chewed basket in the corner. "Dad, Crayson gave you guys this basket, right?"
"Yes, just two days ago."
"Great. I haven't seen Crayson in a while. I'll take the basket to him so he can fix it. That way, I can invite him to dinner as well." "That works too. You should hurry;
Crayson misses you a lot."
"Okay, I'll go now."
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