My Great Escape Led Me to You (Emily Blair) novel Chapter 1187

Days had gone by and Andrew still hadn’t come home. He barely sent a single message, just the nightly video call with Dennis before bed. No one else in the Lane family bothered to reach out unless it was absolutely necessary.

Amelia waited for a reply from Andrew, but when nothing came, she frowned and tucked her phone away. Seriously, what kind of magic had Emily Blair worked on him? He seemed completely bewitched, ignoring his own family like they didn’t exist. If it weren’t for those video calls every night, Amelia would have thought he’d forgotten he even had a son.

She gave Dennis some time to cry it out. When he finally quieted down, Amelia grabbed a fistful of tissues and started dabbing at his face. Tears and snot were everywhere. She felt bad for him, but honestly, the mess made her cringe. After wiping him down as best she could, she shoved the tissues into his hand, letting him finish the job himself.

Amelia glanced down and spotted a mysterious wet stain on the front of her shirt. It gave her goosebumps just looking at it. She quickly pulled out more tissues and tried to clean it up, but the patch stayed damp and sticky. In the end, she just took off her jacket. Luckily, the heat was turned up in Dennis's room so she didn’t freeze.

Sitting at the edge of the bed, she motioned for Dennis to pull up a chair and sit in front of her.

His eyes, nose, and cheeks were all red and puffy from crying. His eyelids were swollen, and his long lashes clumped together with tears. He looked completely pitiful.

Seeing him like this, Amelia’s heart softened, and she almost forgot what she’d wanted to say.

She reached out and gently patted his head. “Come on, don’t cry. Auntie’s here.”

Tears welled up in Dennis’s eyes again, his lips quivering as if he was about to break down all over.

“Enough, okay? That’s it for now,” Amelia said, trying to sound as firm as possible. “You’re going to lose your voice if you keep crying.”

He sniffled and choked out, “Grandpa wouldn’t help me. He even hit me. What am I supposed to do? Mom still isn’t back…”

Amelia sighed and kept gently rubbing the ointment in. “It’s okay, you still have me. I’ll figure something out, I promise.”

Dennis looked completely lost, a hopelessness written across his face that was even worse than when Grandpa had banned him from eating spicy snacks. “But what can we do? Even Grandpa won’t help Mom anymore, so who’s left…”

He stopped short, eyes suddenly wide, excitement flickering across his face. “Auntie, what about Dad? Would Dad help Mom? Everyone says Dad is amazing. He could definitely save her, right?”

It was like he’d discovered a secret shortcut. His whole face lit up. “Auntie, let’s go find Dad, okay? He’ll know what to do!”