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Chapter 340 Forgive Her

　　After they were done with dinner, Jade encouraged their father to unwrap the gifts they had gotten him. Lucy quietly excused herself and went upstairs to get him the gift she had gotten him.

　　When he was going about it too slowly, Evelyn, who was dying with curiosity to see what they had gotten him, reached over to help him tear off the wrap, but Desmond slapped her hand off, "No touching," he warned, and the others around the table laughed just as Lucy returned. 

　　Thankful that no one was looking her way, she subtly hid her gift behind her as she sat down beside Tom.

　　"It\'s a Patek Philippe watch," Desmond announced with an even broader smile as he looked from Tom to Bryan and then back to the wristwatch in awe. He was a lover and collector of wristwatches, but this was going to be the most expensive wristwatch in his collection.

　　"Thank you, boys," Desmond said, and Bryan shot Jade a smug smile since she had kept insisting that there was no need to get him such an outrageously expensive wristwatch when he would likely not even recognize its worth whether or not he was a collector. 

　　Jade rolled her eyes at Bryan, "Really, dad? Thank you, boys?" She asked with a scowl, and he chuckled.

　　"Give your brothers some credit, Jady. I know you don\'t have an eye for things like these, but they do, so they deserve some accolades. And thank you too, princess. I\'m sure you didn\'t leave it all entirely to them," he added with a grin as he gently lifted the wristwatch from its box and put it on.

　　"How much did that cost?" Lucy whispered to Tom in awe as she eyed the wristwatch. Working in the fashion line, she knew enough about brands to know that this wasn\'t cheap.

　　"Some thousands of dollars, I would say," Tom said, and Lucy winced as she threw her gift under the table, making Tom chuckle. 

　　"Don\'t do that. I\'m sure he will appreciate it," Tom chided as he reached for the gift, but Lucy held his arm.

　　"If you embarrass me, I won\'t ever forgive you," she warned, and Tom shook his head as he reached for the bag regardless of her warning and placed it on her lap.

　　"Dad, unwrap your other gift," Bryan urged him when he saw that Desmond was wasting so much time checking out the wristwatch.

　　Desmond carefully returned the wristwatch to its box before picking up the other wrapped box. He carefully unwrapped it while Evelyn watched impatiently.

　　Once Desmond exposed the content of the second box, he smiled happily once again, while Evelyn glared at her children, "I can\'t believe that instead of you encouraging your dad to quit this dangerous habit, you went ahead to buy him this as a gift. You do know that this isn\'t good for his health, right?" Evelyn asked with displeasure.

　　"Give us a break, mom. Every one of us is going to die someday, whether or not we are smokers. Allow the man to enjoy himself," Bryan said, and Evelyn angrily threw a piece of cake at him.

　　"Don\'t you dare spit out that nonsense to me!" 

　　"Calm down, Eve. You said one cigar a day. I\'m not going to smoke all of these in one day," Desmond reminded her softly since he understood that she was only concerned about his health.

　　"Still, they should have known better," Evelyn insisted, but with less anger this time.

　　"I love the gifts. Thank you," Desmond said with a happy smile just as a yawn escaped from Evelyn.

　　She picked up her phone and was surprised to see that it was almost midnight already, "It has been a long day. I need to retire for the night now, especially as we will be leaving in the morning," she said, and Bryan smiled happily, knowing that they were not going to be doing any silly singing or dancing as Jade had planned. 

　　"Yeah, you should do that. I will stay out here for a while before joining you," Desmond said with a grin as he held the cigar box to himself. 

　　"You are not smoking tonight!" She reminded him as she stood up and snatched the cigar box from him, "Join me in the bedroom when you are ready," she said before bidding the others goodnight and going inside. 

　　"We should head in too," Sonia said, giving Jade a pointed look, reminding her that they were supposed to continue their conversation from where they stopped. 

　　"Yeah, we should," Jade said with a grin.

　　"Tom, if you\'re not feeling too tired, let\'s continue our game from yesterday before we retire for the night," Bryan suggested, and Tom smirked at him before turning to Lucy.

　　He kissed the side of her head, "I will be in the bedroom after I\'m done with him," Tom said before standing up to leave with Bryan.

　　As the others stood up to leave, Lucy remained seated, "Are you not coming with us?" Sonia asked curiously.

　　"I will join you shortly," Lucy said, wanting them to leave before she would give the gift to Desmond.

　　"Alright. I will be in Jade\'s bedroom," Sonia said as she left with Jade.

　　Now left alone with Desmond, Lucy contemplated the best way to present her gift to him while Desmond watched her curiously. Perceiving that she wanted to speak with him, he decided to talk first.

　　"How are you feeling, Lucy?" Desmond asked as he looked at her.

　　Lucy cleared her throat and smiled at him, "I\'m okay. I saw this while shopping earlier, and I thought you might like it," Lucy said in a rush as she placed the bag on the table and pushed it across to him.

　　"You got me a gift?" Desmond asked in pleasant surprise as he picked up the bag and looked into it. 

　　"It\'s a memory foam slippers. It helps to keep your feet warm and comfortable..."

　　"I know what it is," Desmond cut in with a wide appreciative smile.

　　"My dad liked it when I got it for him, and since I\'ve not seen you on it before, I decided to get it. I don\'t know if it will fit though," she said, still feeling somewhat nervous.

　　"I\'m sure it will fit. Thank you very much, Lucy. I love it," Desmond said, and as though to prove it to her, he took off the sneakers he had been wearing before and put them on.

　　"I\'m glad you do. Happy birthday once again," Lucy said with a relieved smile as she stood up, ready to return inside. 

　　"If you are not in a hurry to get back inside, do you mind keeping this old man company?" Desmond asked before she could leave, and she sat back down.

　　"You are not exactly old. Sixty is not old," Lucy pointed out.

　　"Tell that to my wife. Ever since she clocked sixty last year, she has been going on and on about how old we are getting," Desmond said, and Lucy looked at him in surprise.

　　"She is older than you are?"

　　Desmond smiled when he heard the surprise in her tone, "Why do you sound so surprised?"

　　"I don\'t know. Maybe it\'s because she just doesn\'t seem like the type who would marry someone younger than she is, even if it\'s just by a month," Lucy said, and Desmond chuckled.

　　"You seem to understand her personality quite well. I can assure you that she has changed a lot now, compared to how she was when we first started. Apart from the age issue, I had a difficult time convincing her to be with me since she didn\'t even want to get married back then. You can\'t imagine my amusement whenever I hear her bugging our kids about getting married now," Desmond said in amusement, and from the way he talked about his wife, Lucy could hear his affection for her in his tone.

　　"She didn\'t want to get married? Why?" Lucy asked since she couldn\'t understand how Evelyn, who looked so homely and motherly, could have ever considered not getting married.

　　"Her background. She had a rough time growing up. Her family was dysfunctional in every sense of the word, and she was scared that she would end up becoming like her mother or marrying someone like her father," Desmond explained.

　　"That must have been tough," Lucy said with a sigh, trying to reconcile this part of Evelyn she was hearing about to the woman she knew. 

　　"It was. It took me four years to convince her," Desmond said, and Lucy blinked at him in surprise.

　　Four years? That was the same time it would take to get most college degrees. Patience must run in their family line, Lucy mused. 

　　"I think you are like my wife in many ways," Desmond said, making Lucy wonder if Tom had told him about her decision not to get married.

　　"Why do you think so?" Lucy asked curiously, and Desmond shrugged.

　　"Because I see her younger self in you most times when I look at you. And I think maybe she sees it too," Desmond said, and Lucy sighed. 

　　"Are you still mad at your mother?" Desmond asked, changing the subject so abruptly that Lucy blinked at him in surprise since her brain was yet to finish processing what he had been saying.

　　"I don\'t know what your mother said to you, but I hope you can forgive her for it," Desmond continued without waiting for a response.

　　"Did she tell you what she said?" Lucy asked, and Desmond shook his head. 

　　"I didn\'t ask. There was no need to ask since she was sad and regretted it. I\'m certain that all of this is not easy on you right now. We don\'t expect it to be. But you will feel better if you don\'t add anger at your mother to the list of things already weighing on you," Desmond said, and Lucy\'s eyes teared up.

　　"Being a parent is difficult. We have to be responsible for both ourselves and our children. Often times as parents, we set unrealistic standards for ourselves. We want to be everything and do everything for our children without understanding that there is a limit to the things we can do for them. We are scared too. We get scared of making mistakes because we know they won\'t only affect us but our kids too. Your mother might be older than you, but inside she is still just a person like you, saddled with the responsibility of being responsible for herself and you too. So forgive her for not being perfect and not being able to say the right things or be there for you as you would want her to," Desmond said, and Lucy felt tears roll down her cheeks. 

　　Desmond stood up and went to sit on the bench beside her as he draped a hand across her shoulders to console her, "Let it out, dear. Cry it out as much as you want, and resolve whatever it is you need to resolve within you. And when you are done, forgive your mother. Forgive her for being human."