From Ashes of Scandal to His Embrace (Laurinda) novel Chapter 535

Jed saw that Adolphus was still worried about him, and suddenly he was overwhelmed by emotion. He hadn’t expected these two to care about his well-being instead of blaming him; their concern only deepened his guilt.

“Adolphus, the truth is my health is fine,” he admitted, the shame obvious in his tone. “The whole hospitalization was just a ruse. I pretended to be sick because I didn’t want to go to Cathleen’s wedding.”

Laurinda and Adolphus both froze, exchanging startled glances. It was unheard of for a grandfather to fake an illness just to skip his own granddaughter’s wedding.

Jed pressed on, “There’s no outsiders here, so I’ll put it plainly. I never agreed with marrying into the Carl family—right from the start. But I couldn't talk Cathleen out of it. She was determined to be with Earl.”

“I thought about it again later. Earl himself isn’t a bad sort; he just comes from the wrong family. If he could prove himself, maybe I could accept it.”

“But who would've expected all this trouble? Nelly’s really dragging the Main family’s name through the dirt. She’s up to something, too—trying to use our family’s clout to keep Laurinda down. I couldn’t possibly go along with that. So I used being ‘ill’ as an excuse to avoid the wedding.”

The more Jed spoke, the more agitated he became, until he finally dissolved into a hacking cough.

Adolphus stood, a silver acupuncture needle pinched between his fingers. He walked over to Jed and, with a practiced hand, pressed the needle into a pressure point on Jed’s hand. “It’s your call whether to attend Cathleen’s wedding,” he said, his voice calm and gentle. “But your health can’t take all this stress. Don’t let them get under your skin—it’s not worth it.”

As he spoke, Adolphus looked over at his own father, who sat nearby, his face etched with embarrassment—after all, Nelly and Earl were his own flesh and blood.

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