Chapter 147

Chapter 147

Guilt gnawed at her. Coupled with how pitiful her little guy had seemed today, she had planned to take Nate to the amusement park by herself. But as things stood, that was off the table.

Benjamin administered a fever–reducing shot to Nate, saying, “I’ll swing by around this time. tomorrow. He should be okay by then, but remember to give him a dose of the fever syrup every three hours until his temperature drops.”

“Will do.”

As Natalie stood up to show Benjamin out, Nate stirred awake and called out, “Sis…”

Benjamin did a double–take upon hearing Nate call Natalle ‘sister‘, visibly surprised.

He glanced back and asked, “Your dad is cool with you calling her sister‘?”

That would muddle the family hierarchy.

At the door. Sadie quickly gave Benjamin a meaningful look, urging him to step outside.

Once Nate’s door was closed, Sadie whispered to Benjamin, “Mr. Howard and Natalie are all twisted up inside. Directly calling her ‘mom‘ is out of the question, ‘miss‘ even less so, but ‘sister‘ is somewhat acceptable.”

Benjamin mulled it over and had to agree. Initially, it was Natalle who had lost the child, leading Brian to cut her off for three years, leaving her to fend for herself abroad, not caring whether she lived or died.

Mending a broken relationship wasn’t something that could be achieved overnight.

The key to their reconciliation lay with Nate.

Natalie tended to Nate until the wee hours, finally getting his temperature stable below 37.8 before she allowed herself to lie down beside him and drift off to sleep.

The next morning, Rosie buzzed her early.

Natalie felt like her head was about to explode from exhaustion and aches. She fumbled for her phone and answered groggily.

“Girl, did you forget you only booked a week off? You’re due back on set today,” Rosie reminded her kindly from the other end.

Natalie paused, then it hit her. It was Monday already.

She reached out and lightly touched Nate’s hand, not as hot, no clammy sweat. She checked his forehead, and it wasn’t burning up anymore.

With that, she mustered the strength to sit up and replied in a low voice, “I’ll be there by nine.”

Glancing at the clock, it was almost eight. Without dawdling, Natalie quickly got ready and headed downstairs.

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Chapter 147

Sadie was setting up breakfast and was surprised to see Natalie up so early. “Natalie, why are you up at the crack of dawn?”

“There’s a shoot today.” Natalie couldn’t afford to explain further, grabbing a piece of toast and eating it as she headed for the door.

Seeing Natalie hadn’t eaten much, Sadie packed some more food in a Tupperware and chased. after her, “Eat a bit more, will you?”

Natalie had already started the car, and Sadie managed only a glimpse of the vehicle’s tail lights as it pulled away.

A full breakfast table remained, with only Nate to eat.

Sadie went upstairs and saw that Nate was still asleep, likely still feeling under the weather, so she called the preschool to excuse him for the day.

As she hung up, she turned to see Brian had already come downstairs, back from his business.

Sadie noted Brian’s grim expression as she took his coat, asking tentatively, “Any news on the Smith family case?”

Brian remained silent, heading towards the staircase.

“Natalie awake?” he asked after a moment, his voice low.

“She just left for the set, not even a few minutes ago,” Sadie replied immediately.

Brian was already at Nate’s door. Hearing Sadie’s words, his hand on the doorknob hesitated.

Then, he pushed the door open to check inside and saw Nate still sleeping. He couldn’t help but frown, “Why is Nate still in bed? It’s Tuesday.”

“He had a fever again,” Sadie replied softly. “We tried to make up for his birthday the night before last. We thought you’d be home for dinner, and he waited by the door for a while, caught a chill in the breeze.”