The Officer's Runaway Wife and Secret Son novel Chapter 499

Felix, who was usually a ball of energy, had never stayed up this late. His eyelids were already drooping, and he fell asleep almost instantly.

Clara and Rhys sat on the edge of the bed. Rhys hugged her from behind, resting his chin on her shoulder, his breathing deep and steady.

“Go to sleep,” Clara said, patting the hand resting on her waist. “Aren’t you tired?”

“I am, but I don’t want to waste the time sleeping.”

Clara understood the unspoken meaning behind his words.

“There will be many more days to live. Go to sleep. If the man of the house greets our guests tomorrow with puffy eyes, I’m not covering for you.”

The words “man of the house” made Rhys’s throat tighten. He pressed a soft kiss to the side of her neck.

On New Year’s Day, Clara was awakened by the sound of deliberately muffled laughter.

She reached out. To her left, there were no flailing legs belonging to Felix. To her right, Rhys’s warm arm was gone.

She lay there for a moment, confused, until she heard the sound of her father’s voice from the living room, followed by Felix’s high-pitched replies and Rhys’s agreeable murmurs.

Clara glanced at the time, then quickly got up to wash. When she emerged, the scene in the living room made her pause.

The coffee table had been pushed aside to make room for a disposable tablecloth on the floor. On it sat a plastic bowl piled high with snow peas.

Her father was on the sofa, Rhys sat on a low stool beside him peeling garlic, and Felix was squatting at Rhys’s feet, ineptly trying to help by stringing a snow pea.

Lined up like that, from tallest to shortest, they looked like the signal bars on a phone.

Clara’s mom was the first to see her.

“When are you going to stop sleeping in? These three have been busy all morning.”

Rhys looked up at the sound of her voice, not even bothering to put down the garlic in his hands. “She was tired yesterday. It’s fine for her to sleep in a little. Besides, there’s nothing for Clara to do.”

Clara's dad shot him a sidelong glance but said nothing.

Clara settled into a spot on the edge of the sofa and casually started picking up some snow peas to string.

After a moment, she remembered something.

“Felix, Aunt Mia and her family are coming over today. Can you find the jade pendant Aunt Mia gave you and put it on?”

The jade pendant was a heartfelt gift from Mia, and today was the perfect occasion to wear it.

“Okay!” Felix dropped the snow pea, stood up, and grabbed Rhys’s hand. “Daddy, come with me.”

Rhys obediently let his son lead him into the bedroom.

In Felix’s room, there was a small blue cabinet. The top drawer was filled with all his “treasures.”

Inside were two red jewelry boxes.

Felix picked up a small, square one and opened it. “Not this one.”

“Daddy?” Felix tugged on his sleeve when he saw Rhys staring down without a word. “What are you looking at?”

Rhys swallowed the bittersweet feeling and closed the box, handing it back to Felix.

“Daddy Noah’s carving is very beautiful,” Rhys said, stroking his son’s cheek. “This is his blessing for you. You must take good care of it. Even though Daddy Noah isn’t here right now, you have to remember how good he was to you, okay?”

Telling his own son to remember another man’s kindness was perhaps one of the most counterintuitive things Rhys had ever done.

But he had to say it.

Because it was the truth, and because the child Clara raised deserved to be a grateful, compassionate person.

He couldn’t hold him back on that front.

Felix tilted his head, thought for a moment, and said in a matter-of-fact tone, “Of course! You don’t have to tell me that. Daddy Noah is super important to me.”

Rhys was speechless.

He probably shouldn’t have brought it up.

Gritting his teeth, he grabbed the other small box, helped Felix put on the jade pendant, and tapped him lightly on the head. “Come on. Let’s go help Grandpa.”

Just after ten, Mia and her family of six arrived.

Today, Mia’s face was wreathed in smiles. Mason and Liam followed, their hands full of gift boxes of all sizes. From behind Wendy’s legs, two small heads peeked out.