“I’m Daddy. Do you recognize me?”
The little guy stared at him, curiously examining him, then reached out his tiny hand to grab his chin. Noah gently held his little hand.
She found it really strange why such a strong man had such a gentle side. He didn’t find the baby troublesome; every time he came back, he would hold him, and sometimes even help change his diaper.
She thought he was really gentle, and his gentleness made her feel he had a charming allure.
Thelma hurriedly averted her gaze, suddenly feeling a bit uncomfortable.
“By the way, I have to go abroad tomorrow and might not be back for a couple of days.”
He suddenly spoke, pulling Thelma back to reality. She nodded, “Okay, I understand.”
She would discuss not getting a divorce with him when he returned.
Noah left the next day.
Thelma was still in her confinement period and didn’t dare to go out for fear of catching a cold, so she stayed home almost every day.
One afternoon, while she was napping with the baby, she suddenly heard arguing outside. Just as she was about to check what was happening, the door was suddenly pushed open, and several people stormed in.
The leader was someone Thelma recognized—Noah’s mother. During her pregnancy, Noah’s mother had visited a few times. Although it was clear she didn’t like Thelma, they had been polite to each other during those visits. But this time, Ruth’s expression was cold and unfriendly.
“Mom, why are you here?” Thelma asked, confused.
Ruth ignored her and scanned the sleeping child beside her, instructing the people behind her, “Take the child away.”
Several burly middle-aged women followed her and immediately stepped forward to take the baby. Seeing this, Thelma instinctively hugged the baby tightly.
At this moment, she sensed something was off and became less polite, asking, “What do you mean? Why do you want to take away Tyler?!”
Ruth didn’t answer, and the women moved forward without hesitation to snatch the baby. In the struggle, the sleeping Tyler cried out, and Thelma, fearing he would get hurt, loosened her grip.
“Mom, what do you mean?! Why do you want to take my baby away?!” Thelma asked again.
Ruth snorted coldly, “Why? I don’t want my grandson to be raised by an arsonist.”
“Arsonist?”
“Don’t think I don’t know what you did a year ago. If I had known from the start that you were the kind of person who would set fire to things over a disagreement, I would never have agreed to Noah marrying you.”
“I’m not an arsonist! That family admitted they wronged me at the time; they just wanted to extort money from me!”
“Wronged? It was Noah who bribed the major newspapers to clear your name. Under immense public pressure, that family changed their story to say they slandered you.”
Thelma was stunned by her words. Noah bribed the media to clear her name? They hadn’t even met at that time.
Tyler was still crying, and Thelma felt heartbroken. Tears streamed down her face, and she hurriedly said, “I didn’t start that fire! I even ruined my voice to save people! Mom, my baby is crying; please give him back to me, okay?”
Ruth said, “Tyler won’t learn anything good being raised by you. I will take him to Maplewick to raise him. As for you, I will persuade Noah to divorce you. We can’t afford to provoke someone with your violent and obsessive personality.”
After saying this, Ruth turned to leave. Thelma panicked and cried out, “Mom, please give Tyler back to me! Please, don’t take him away, I’m begging you!”
However, Ruth ignored her and ordered the others to take the child away. Each cry from Tyler twisted Thelma’s heart. She absolutely wouldn’t allow them to take her child away.
Seeing this, Thelma, in a moment of desperation, shouted, “Stop right there!”
As she stepped forward, several people rushed to grab her. Thelma had practiced combat sports before, and her body was agile, so dodging their attacks wasn’t difficult. She evaded two of them, took a few big steps forward, and, without hesitation, grabbed Ruth’s hair. Ruth cried out in pain and stumbled back two steps. Thelma seized the opportunity to step in front of her and grabbed her neck.
The middle-aged woman holding the baby was startled by Thelma’s actions, hesitating whether to move forward or back.
Thelma’s gaze was cold as she tightened her grip on Ruth’s neck and said to the others, “Give me back my child, or I’ll choke her to death.”
For Tyler, she disregarded everything else.
Ruth winced in pain but still waved her hand at the others, “Take the child and hurry up!” Then she turned to the two who were hesitating and said, “What are you waiting for? Hurry up and pull her away!”
