The Ultimate Chance-Chapter 109

Like Gabriel had assured her, Sophie’s residence wasn’t far away and they had arrived in half an hour. However, the last thing she expected was for him to take her to a shelter for the elderly.

"Is this where grandmother lives?" She asked for confirmation.

"I had that exact reaction when she said she wanted to come here." He got out of the car and opened the door on her side.

"Gabe!" A holler resounded from nearby before, in a flash, Gabriel was attacked with a hug. Avery’s heart nearly skipped out through her throat at the attack and was relieved, seeing it was an elderly man.

"You finally came. It’s been so long that we thought you had forgotten all about us." He lamented like a child complaining about his parents getting home too late.

"I’m sorry. I got caught up for a bit but guess what? I brought your favorite muffins." He returned to the car and took out the muffins she had thought were for Sophie. The elderly man was on the verge of tears in happiness.

He took out one of the muffins and took a big bite before finally taking notice of Avery as she got out of the car. "Is this Avery?"

She was taken aback. "You know me?"

"We all know you. Gabe won’t shut up about his baby sister that he adores very much. We all thought you would make an angelic arrival with white wings and a halo on your head."

"Shut up." Gabriel rubbed his forehead with a laugh. The old man meant no harm. He pulled Avery over to introduce them. "Pedro finds it fun to make everyone else the butt of his jokes. I’ve fallen for his antics before."

"Oh..." She chuckled when the elderly man joked about her being an angel sent to earth to secretly find out who was good or evil.

It would have been ordinary if only one person was close to Gabriel around here but the longer they walked, the stranger it seemed. Gabriel had a million friends in the neighborhood and they were all elderly, and he knew what present to give all of them so they would stop whining about his absence. He must have known them for years.

"The four missing years from your files..." she asked suggestively.

"I was here, taking care of Grandma and the others. They are like family."

He brushed it off like something ordinary but she knew it wasn’t. He didn’t only take care of them. They treated him as a friend they held dear, and Harriet, one of the oldest women around, believed he was her son.

"Son, is this really your sister? I don’t remember having a daughter." Harriet carefully eyed her as though she was scared.

"She is not your daughter but she is my sister." He explained to her, confusing the woman even more.

"Gabe and I are not biological siblings." She tried to help him explain and gave up when she looked like her world view had collapsed.

Harriet nodded along anyway. "What happened to your wife? I wanted to see her again." 𝕗𝕣𝐞𝐞𝘄𝐞𝚋𝚗𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹.𝚌𝕠𝚖

"Wife?" Avery was curious. If that was Mina...

"Mina is not my wife, mother." He shook his head helplessly.

"Why not? You should make her your wife before she slips right through your fingers like all good women do. You will never get a woman like her." She went on to lecture him about letting his chances slip. By the time she went to rest, his ears were probably full and Avery laughed at him.

"Harriet can be quite nagging sometimes but she’s wonderful." He explained to her, finally leading her to the last house in the neighborhood, Sophie’s house.

"I think they are all awesome." She agreed with him.

The door opened before they got to it, and the elderly woman Avery guessed must be Sophie, stopped in her tracks when she saw her.

"Avery?"

She nodded in confirmation and was yet to explain why she was here when she got pulled into a tight hug.

"I didn’t think I’d ever see you again." Sophie emotionally tightened her arms around her. "You were so young when I last saw you."

"Grandma," she pulled away and blinked away the tears threatening to form. "I didn’t know where you were."

"Didn’t this dork ever tell you? He should have let you make the decision." She shot a glare at Gabriel.

"Hey, how did I become the dork? Am I not your favorite grandchild?" Gabriel was speechless.

"Not when Vivi is here." Sophie didn’t let go of her hand as she let them in. Gabriel laughed, knowing his grandmother was only excited to see Avery.

"If you missed me so much, why didn’t you ever reach out?" She asked out of curiosity. It had been decades after all, and she had stayed away thinking Sophie wanted nothing to do with them. If she had known her grandmother had always hoped to meet her, she would have looked for her ages ago.

Sophie sighed at the question and adjusted her glasses. "How could I? I was always under the impression that your parents raised you to hate Gabe. I didn’t want to meet you, only for you to say something that would make me despise you as much as I despised Bryce and Amelia."

"Why would I be raised to hate Gabe? Wait, you knew." She remembered Gabriel’s explanation for Sophie’s departure.

"I despise both of them, especially Amelia. Although Bryce should have treated Gabe better, Amelia used him for her conveniece. She played with an innocent life to secure hers. How could I ever want to be near someone this evil?" She sat Avery on the couch and pulled a throw pillow to sit on it facing her. "I’m sorry I lumped you together with them. I’m also sorry to speak this way of your parents but they are a pair of hypocrites and if you have the same opinion as them, we should save each other’s time."

This was unexpected but not as much as the fact that Sophie hated Bryce so much. "But Bryce is...was your son." She subtly questioned the sides Sophie had taken.

"I did my best to raise him into a reasonable man. He lost all his senses as soon as Amelia came into the picture. But can we not talk about this unhappy topic? It’s been ages since I last saw my granddaughter and there’s so much to catch up. I heard I’m a great grandmother now."

Just like that, the topic morphed into the women talking all about Angel while Gabriel baked cookies.

"My brother can bake?" She expressed her shock when he brought some of the freshly baked cookies on a platter when they were done.

"You have no idea how many things he can do now. These are some of the perks of spending time with me." Sophie bragged.

Avery had to taste a cookie to make her final judgement and was skeptical until she chewed it. "This is surprisingly tasty, considering Gabe baked it."

"What’s wrong with me baking?" He huffed at her subtle jab disguised as a compliment. "I’ll share the cookies with the others." He announced and took off with cookies he had packed in small boxes.

Sophie waited until he had left before cautiously scooting next to Avery. "Did something happen in his life recently? He has become less robot-like."

"Does meeting a woman he loves count?" She whispered, afraid Gabriel would ditch her if he heard her. It turned out Sophie had already heard about Mina.

"If this woman is your friend, I believe she is a great person." She concluded.

For a second, Avery thought Sophie must be lamenting about the loss of her son, all thanks to Amelia. That reminded her.

"I have your ring with me. I found it among mother’s valuables and thought I’d return it to you." She took it out and gave it to her.

"What are you talking about?" Sophie took it from her with slightly trembling hands. "Oh, my father’s ring."

"How did it end up with mother?" She asked just to be certain it was not the twisted tale Gabriel had made her dread.

"I gave it to Gabe when he was little. But I should never have expected a mother who hated her son to let him have anything valuable." She shoved it into her pocket.

The sky was starting to darken by the time Gabriel returned from sharing the cookies, so she stood to leave. "Grandma, I should get going. My son gets quite upset if I stay out late."

"Go ahead. Bring your son to see me sometime, okay?" She asked.

"He has school holiday tomorrow. If he agrees to come, I’ll bring him." She promised and led the way back to Gabriel’s car.

"Avery!" Sophie called out with a cough before she could leave. She turned back to her, only for her to take the ring and place it in her hands.

"When father and his best friend crafted this ring, they wanted to use the two rings to join the two families in marriage. No one knows where the twin is, so it can no longer serve the purpose."

She didn’t have the chance to reveal that it was in Damon’s possession before Sophie continued, "Angel just happens to be the only link between us and the D’Abovilles now. Give this to him as a present from me."

She nodded, but immediately tried to return the ring. "You can give it to him tomorrow when you meet him. Grandma?" Her face paled when Sophie coughed out blood.