The Substitute Bride

As he heard the conversation between Leila and his mother, Charles's face darkened. Yet he tried to keep his hands steady on the steering wheel. As he stopped at the red light, his mind clouded with the thought of Sheryl's reaction when she came to know about Leila coming to Dream Garden.

It was unnerving for him to even think how much this would aggrieve Sheryl. However, he had no other choice than to take Leila along with him and Melissa. He knew what his mother was capable of and he didn't want to make things worse. He could only hope that Sheryl wouldn't make a scene out of it.

The hospital wasn't very far from Dream Garden, and they arrived home in no time at all.

Sheryl learned about Melissa's discharge from the hospital in the morning and wanted to prepare a big welcome meal for her. Right after the kids left for school, she went to the market with Nancy and handpicked groceries to make a really special meal for Melissa.

Sheryl didn't mean to play up to Melissa. She just didn't want to put Charles in a dilemma.

Whenever Sheryl ran into any conflict like this, she would always think about Charles. She could go to any length to see Charles happy and peaceful even though she thought that he didn't love her as much as she did.

Back home from the market, Sheryl had been busying helping Nancy in the kitchen for the whole morning. The heat in the kitchen made her sweat profusely. Yet she insisted on helping Nancy.

"Sher, why don't you go out and rest for a while? I will get this done." Nancy saw sweat streaming down Sheryl's face and suggested out of concern.

"I'm fine, Nancy. Let me help you. I want to cook for Melissa as well," Sheryl said with a gentle smile. She wiped the sweat off her face and focused back to the food that was being prepared.

Nancy looked at Sheryl with mixed feelings and refrained from asking her to stop cooking. She was amazed to see what a kindhearted woman Sheryl was.

It made her wonder why Melissa preferred Leila over Sheryl even though Sheryl treated her in such a nice manner.

The more Nancy thought of it, the more confused she became. Hence, she shook her head in dismay and went back to chopping the vegetables.

After two hours of continuous cooking, they finally finished preparing a table full of delectable dishes. Only then did Sheryl hurry to take a shower and got changed.

It felt as if the entire morning had gone by in a jiffy. Right after Sheryl walked out of her bedroom after taking a shower, she could hear voices coming behind the front doo

e other hand, Melissa and Leila were getting along so well that Sheryl began to think that Leila was more like their family member than her. She found the food tasteless as she thought more about it.

Undoubtedly, Sheryl was Charles' legally married wife. However, at that moment, she felt that she was an outsider in that room.

Halfway through dinner, Melissa stopped all of a sudden. She covered her mouth with her hand and cleared her throat to draw everyone's attention.

"I want to announce something. I want to have Leila stay here for a while to keep me company. It's not a big deal. Sheryl, get the guest room ready for Leila after dinner," Melissa commanded.

Sheryl didn't say a word as she thought she might have misheard.

'Leila is going to stay here for a while?' she wondered. It took a while for Sheryl to understand what Melissa was saying. She felt really upset when she realized what Melissa meant. She couldn't help turning to Charles. She wanted to know his reaction, hoping that he would say something about it.

She hoped with all her heart that Charles would refuse Melissa's unjustified demand.

Charles had expected that Melissa would throw out such a suggestion. However, he had never expected that Melissa would declare the news in such a solemn manner during dinner. He also knew that Sheryl was waiting for his reply with her eager eyes fixed on him, but since he had already agreed to such arrangement, he couldn't say no.

Charles felt as if he had been driven to a corner. He didn't want Leila to stay at their house, but he knew well that his mother would never let him say no. If he rejected her now, he believed that she would make a scene at once.