The Daughter They Threw Away Came Back Wearing His Ring Chapter 05

The Daughter They Threw Away Came Back Wearing His Ring Chapter 05

My father was the first to recover.

He yanked Gina behind him, forced a smile back onto his face, and said, “Mr. Cooper, good to see you. Please, have a seat.”

When his gaze landed on me, his mouth opened and closed.

For once, he did not seem to know what to call me.

My mother hurried to pull out a chair.

“Addison, sit down.”

Spencer lifted his eyes.

“I would prefer if you used my fiancée’s new name. Eleanor Vale.”

He glanced at me, then back at them.

“It’s a good name. A name for someone who gets to decide her own future.”

“I never expected such a coincidence. Eleanor mentioned something today, and I finally realized

the medical supplier Cooper Group has worked with for years is actually connected to her biological

family.”

His voice stayed mild.

“I always thought Mr. Hetter only had one daughter.”

My mother’s smile went stiff.

She lowered her gaze and quickly called the waiter over to add more dishes.

“I never imagined Add… Eleanor would find such a good partner, or that we would meet again like

this.”

She pushed a plate toward me.

“Eleanor, these are all things you liked when you were little. Eat more. Look how thin

you

I looked at the liver, oysters, spinach, and rare steak that had just been set down.

Every dish was something they had called good for the blood.

They were not my childhood favorites.

They were what my mother had forced down my throat so my lab work would stay acceptable and I

would be healthy enough for procedures on schedule.

Spencer ordered a few new dishes.

“These are the ones Eleanor actually likes.”

Then he turned to my parents.

“She told me things with her birth parents were complicated. Still, I was surprised when I realized

the connection.”

“In my impression, Mr. and Mrs. Hetter have always doted on their daughter.”

“I just did not realize that meant only the older one.”

My father kept dabbing at his forehead with a handkerchief.

“Gina has always been frail. She took a lot of our attention.”

“Add… Eleanor was always the easy one. The sensible one.”

“We neglected her feelings. We wronged her.”

He sighed heavily, as if regret had just arrived after five convenient years.

“These years, we have thought about her often. We wondered how she was doing.”

“To meet like this today must be God’s way of giving us another chance.”

He turned to me and gripped my hand.

“Eleanor, I always knew you were capable. I never expected you to grow up so well.”

“Your mother and I made mistakes in the past, but from now on, we will make it up to you.”

“Since our families also work together, we will have more chances to see one another. Any resentment or misunderstanding can be cleared up.”

I pulled my hand back.

“You misunderstood.”

“I came tonight to finish something my younger self always wanted.”

Right on cue, a delivery guy walked in with a cake.

Candles shaped like the number eighteen stood in the frosting.

“That day, I thought that after our first family portrait, we would go to a restaurant like you always

did for Gina.”

“I thought we would have dinner together.”

“I thought I would get a birthday cake that was actually mine.”

I blew out the candles with one soft breath.

“The moment you shut that van door, the girl named Addison died.”

Pinned in place by my father’s grip, Gina finally exploded.

She grabbed her wineglass and flung the wine straight at my face.

“Stop acting, Addison.”

“You came here to laugh at me, didn’t you?”