Billionaire Ex-husband's Baby

Chapter 21 - Mother and Son

During the car ride with Natalie, Ethan said nothing as he looked outside the window with only his mother's heart attack on his mind. He couldn't stop blaming himself and his goal was to return to the hospital as soon as possible and apologize to her over and over again.

It was only when Natalie said something first, that he looked over to the other side.

"Guilt is written all over your face," she said. "Are you thinking about what led up to the moment when my future mother-in-law ended up in the hospital? You need to know t-"

"Stop."

She scoffed. "You don't even know what I want to say."

"That should simply tell you I want your mouth shut."

Natalie scoffed again. "How could you possibly defend Olivia when she's been cheating on you?"

"Don't start with that."

"When my future mother-in-law called, she was so upset that I could barely hear some of the things she said and before she could get to the end of it, she groaned and I heard screaming. She had a heart attack in the middle of explaining how heartbroken and disappointed she was. You did this to her."

"I know. Now shut up. I don't want to hear anything about it."

She stayed silent for a while and focused on driving but couldn't hold it in.

"Is Pete really in the hospital because of Olivia? Would I be wrong if I thought she meant something to you?"

"I think I should use a cab." He sighed deeply.

Not wanting to see him leave, she held back whatever she had to say, especially when she saw him clench his jaw. She noticed how upset and worried he seemed. She thought he would only yell and not answer her questions in that state. She decided to give it a rest since they had all the time in the world to talk about her burning questions in detail. The fight with Pete was something she just wouldn't let slide.

~

When they got to Ethan's mansion and were in the driveway, the headlights of Natalie's car beamed on the gate and they noticed someone sitting there.

While still in his seat, Ethan inched forward for a closer look and narrowed his eyes. It didn't take long for him to make out the familiar filthy clothes and the walking cane. He then whispered to himself as he wondered why Martha was there in the middle of the night or even there at all.

He told Natalie to stop the car and the moment she did, he stepped out and shut the door loudly, not wanting any sort of distractions when his mother was in the hospital, especially not from someone like Martha.

"What are you doing here?" He approached her with clenched fists, her odor not stronger than his will to get rid of her so he could focus on returning to the hospital.

"Hey...it's... it's you!" said Martha with excitement but shivered from the cold weather.

Natalie stepped out of the car as well and scoffed. "Do you know this homeless person?"

"I know it's you," repeated Martha, holding on tighter to her cane to control her shivers as she grinned and breathed loudly. "You...you remember me, right? It's me, Martha!" she said to Ethan.

Natalie covered her nose and took a few steps back at the odor that wafted its way across her nose from Martha. "Ugh! That smell. How do you know this beggar?"

Ethan sighed, ready to throw Martha back on the street. "Martha, what do you want here?"

"She brought me here," said Martha.