America 1982-Chapter 673 - 11: this is America!_3
Julian laughed and nodded, and Tommy step by step elevated his ordinary rich girl to the seat of America’s Chief Justice. He knew well the blood and darkness hidden beneath his daughter’s glamorous rise, all of which Tommy chose to bear alone.
Or rather, the word "care" was inadequate to describe what Tommy had given.
"So, father-in-law, can you finally call off the Pinkerton detective from my tail?" Tommy joked.
Julian wittily replied, "Of course, he was called off a while ago. Now, it’s my daughter’s turn to supervise you personally."
"I’ve made many promises to Mr. Julian Farrell, and now I want to say, I’ve kept them all, including the last one, family above everything."
"So, you can rest assured, take Odelia by the arm again, and hand her over to me, and this time, I won’t let go."
Julian, with Odelia on his arm, slowly walked toward Tommy. Watching Odelia draw nearer, Tommy said:
"I want to say, when you know who you want to spend the rest of your life with, you hope the rest of your life can start as soon as possible. And me, from the day I turned eighteen, I have been looking forward to it. Now, having handled all my work, it’s time to return to my family, to become a real man."
When Julian handed Odelia’s hand to Tommy, a round of enthusiastic applause erupted from below, most fervently from the Hawk Family, old Colin, Tony, Ashley, and Tommy’s mother-in-law. After all, the Hawk family’s so-called shame had finally grown up, come into his own, and understood a man’s responsibility.
Odelia turned her face, allowing Tommy to kiss her cheek before she looked at the guests:
"Many people think I must have been very sad to leave Tommy over a decade ago. I know that, right after we parted, Colin, as soon as he knew, booked a flight to California to give Tommy a good scolding, while Tony and Ashley rushed back from overseas just to comfort me. In truth, I wasn’t that heartbroken; instead, I came to a clear realization that year."
"My Tommy, from the time I met him, had always been a man far beyond his peers. He knew more, thought more, and saw more. He deserved all the praise given to him, and in fact, many people thought the same."
"But having lived with him for so long, I realized he was an ambitious, energetic big boy who never learned to stop, didn’t understand the value of things, and didn’t know how to love. So, after reading a plethora of parenting books, I decisively left him."
"He needed to realize this issue on his own. 99% of men in this world are not smarter than my Tommy; he was truly, truly smart. But when it came to emotions, he acted like an irresponsible child. To make him grow up, he needed to lose something."
"Yet for a smart kid like Tommy to grow up again, it would be very difficult because he was already excellent. And we all know that young, single, wealthy men will never have moments of loneliness; they have countless ways to vent it just as loneliness appears, whether through dating, working, spending, traveling, and so on. All I could do was grow myself and wait patiently."
"By growing myself to the point where he realizes I have the qualifications to discuss and debate certain events with him as an equal, waiting for him to mature."
"That way, when he discovers that dating, traveling, and other methods no longer console him, he would realize that his life needs a formal, responsible relationship. That is what we often refer to as ’the prodigal comes home.’"
Odelia gently looked at Tommy beside her: "I think my Tommy is now ready to accept that relationship, right, Tommy?"
"How did you know?" Tommy asked curiously.
Odelia gently kissed Tommy: "Don’t forget, I’m your teacher. This is your final lesson in growing up. Now the class is over. Say ’take care’ to your teacher, and then say hello to your wife."
Amidst everyone’s blessings, the simple wedding ceremony came to a perfect end. After the ceremony, most of the guests went on a tour of the estate led by Julian, while Tommy and Odelia were chatting with Susan, Sophia, Diane Lynn, Ginny Brock, and a few other women. Just then, their son Hilbert came over and whispered to Tommy:
"I want to leave for a while, father."
Tommy looked at his son: "What’s happened?"
Odelia and the other women also looked concerned.
"Uh... my girlfriend Connie’s mom got pregnant, she’s been feeling unwell ever since she arrived here, I guess the flowers and plants at the wedding might have caused her allergies, so Connie and I want to take her to the hotel to rest," Hilbert said awkwardly.
Tommy nodded in understanding, "Connie and her mom also came to attend the wedding between me and your mom? I’m very sorry, I didn’t notice them, where are they? I’ll go and greet them right now with your mom, or I can arrange for someone to accompany her to the hospital for a check-up."
He thought the other party felt uncomfortable because he had not greeted them, which was indeed a lapse in hospitality on his part, so he explained earnestly to his son.
Odelia and Sophia then spoke up in confusion, "Connie’s mom is pregnant? Didn’t she get divorced?"
At that moment, Tommy stood up and looked around for his son’s girlfriend Connie, intending to see them clearly and then go and apologize for the oversight, but as soon as he saw them and the mother next to them, Tommy immediately sat back down, "No wonder she feels unwell... Shit... Son, I’m feeling unwell too, you take them to the hotel, I’ll visit them after I’m done with my work, Page, take Hilbert to the hotel."
After Hilbert left, Odelia stared at Tommy’s face, "What happened?"
"It was an accident, I didn’t know she was Connie’s mom, that day at the Hawk Nest, I thought she was just a neighbor from Germany... and she wasn’t wearing a wedding ring, I wasn’t back with the family then, so..." Tommy buried his head in the table, morosely saying.
Odelia, holding her forehead, spoke without words, "First it was Ursula, now it’s Hilbert’s mother-in-law... To marry into the Hawk family, why must the sacrifices be so great that even the other party’s mother ends up with your child?"
"It really was an accident, I swear, I don’t need to do it deliberately, I don’t need Hilbert to go abroad either..." Tommy said weakly in his defense.
Odelia got up and walked towards Colin in the distance, "I’m going to have Colin talk seriously with you."
"I can’t believe it, you’ve driven Odelia, such an intellectual and elegant woman, to the verge of losing her composure," Diane Lynn said from nearby.
"Never mind Odelia now, Ms. Lynn, if I were you, I’d start worrying about Archie’s wedding," Sophia reminded her.
Diane Lynn shrugged, "It doesn’t matter, Archie’s Canadian girlfriend comes from a single-parent family, her mother passed away, and now there’s only her father."
In the distance, Colin, who had learned that his son had helped branch out the family tree again, ignored the guests still present and shouted loudly for assistance, "Martin! Martin! Roll over here, help me subdue that bastard Tommy, I’m going to castrate him!"
The mill owner Martin, who was smartly dressed and mingling with people in the distance, heard Colin’s roar, tore off his suit, and pulled out a large taser from his waistband, moving towards Tommy with agility that belied his age:
"Boss, don’t blame me, the godfather wants me to subdue you, I’ve been looking forward to this day, this thing that old Page left me, I’m using it for the first time today..."
Crackling with taser sounds, Martin fell in front of Tommy, who picked up the taser that had been modified by Page to emit electricity from the handle, "Yeah, Page must be happy, after all these years since his death, he can still zap you once more."
Dennis, Pam, Stephen, Jason, Jim, and other friends who had not yet left the venue all turned to look at Tommy, curious about what had happened. Tommy took a deep breath and said loudly to them:
"It’s nothing major, just a minor incident unworthy of mention for great America, I accidentally knocked up my son’s mother-in-law."
The group was stunned, Pam spoke in shock, "Marrying off one’s daughter to the Hawk family, and having to let the mother sleep with the father of the other party? This custom is too lascivious..."
"Which state still has this kind of tradition? I’d like to try it too," Stephen asked curiously.
"You’ll get your chance," Tommy assured his buddies:
"After all, this is America."
(End of story)
