Flash Marriage: Shrewd Wife, Devious Husband
Chapter 236: Five Boys

Chapter 236: Five Boys

Tony tried his best. He tried his best a few more times too. In the ten years that followed, his "tries" resulted in three more boys.

They had five boys! Five!

Marcella didn’t want to stop yet. She wanted to have a daughter at any cost. It was not like they didn’t have the means to support many kids. They were rich. Tony only became richer and the investments she made gave great returns too. They had become wealthier than they were when she got her father’s inheritance. Her wealth had doubled while Tony’s had tripled over the years.

Joey grew up to look more and more like her father. His smile was the same as her father’s. Although a parent was supposed to not have favorites, Joey was her favorite. He was an angel walking on earth. She counted her blessings to have such an obedient and smart boy.

Victor although had Tony’s eyes, grew up more to resemble her. He didn’t cause much trouble for her. He was a little naughty but he looked up to his big brother and was considerably tame.

Compared to the...horrid one—the middle child—Raphael.

He came out like a little carbon copy of her. Caramel eyes, brown hair, olive skin...and an incomparable attitude at the age of eight. He caused constant headaches to her.

Maybe because he was the youngest child for a long time, he was pampered too much by his father. Or it was because he couldn’t raise his voice against that boy who was the mini-me of Marcella.

Raphael would blink his pretty eyes and act all innocent in front of Tony. His father thought of him as an angel, while everyone in the town knew him as the angel of confusion. He and his band of rogues caused havoc around the town, poking their noses in other people’s affairs and picking fights with boys older than them.

They never let their fight escalate to physical violence though, knowing they would lose. They found innovative ways to make the older boys lose to them, and in the process gain enemies.

They called themselves "The Guardians" and tried to enact "justice". He was like a local mafia lord. He would give "judgments" and solve fights and disagreements. Some elders too asked for his advice.

He also was the messenger between the people and Marcella as he wanted to stay out with people for most of the time.

Marcella wouldn’t lie. That boy was smarter than the average kid. He didn’t have the capacity to sit for hours in the classroom. The school he attended with his brothers was too "boring" for him and so Marcella transferred him to a private school for gifted students.

She wished it was a boarding school. It was not. So, she had to listen to his questions. She didn’t even know who Newton was. How would she know what laws he made and how it was useful?

She would let him go out mainly because she couldn’t handle his questioning and he would act like a king riding his bike with his band of "friends". They were more like his lackeys as he used them like that.

Seriously, she couldn’t understand that boy of hers. Tony was very proud of him though. The teachers were fawning over him calling him "genius". They said he would be able to finish high school before he was twelve. Marcella was proud of him too, only secretly.

She was already the dumbest person in the family. And with a genius in the house, she could see the contrast between her intelligence and his.

As he grew, his resemblance with her appearance got more pronounced. Otherwise, she would have thought that they switched her baby with someone else’s child.

How did they get a genius in the family? And that too a quirky one?

While his father was a charming person, everyone avoided talking to Raphael. The only person he respected to some extent next to his father was his eldest brother. Joey was Marcella’s hope when it came to Raphael.

She was ashamed of it, but she truly couldn’t understand how to handle him. At times, he would sit quietly beside her and lean on her shoulder. When she sang his favorite Jazz songs, he would curl up on her lap and fall asleep.

That was all she could do for him. He did look like an angel when he was sleeping though.

’I might not repeat this ever, but I love you the most, Ma...’ He once said while he was half-asleep.

That was enough for her. She didn’t feel guilty about not raising him right after she heard him say that. He was not easy, but she loved him the same. He will be okay.

The next one was Louis, now three years old. He came out like a carbon copy of his father. The youngest was a two-year-old who looked like Louis’s twin—Antonio.

Antonio was an unexpected pregnancy. Having two kids in two years took a toll on Marcella’s body. Marcella didn’t mind. The doctors however scared Tony by saying that getting pregnant when she was nearing forty wouldn’t be good for her health.

Tony listened to the doctors. He even apologized to her for not being careful and causing her suffering. Marcella was mad. How could he apologize for having a baby?

She wanted to try one last time. She thought this time would be the charm. She loved her sons but she wanted just one daughter.

Tony was not budging. He threatened to get a vasectomy. Marcella had to give in to his wishes.

Career-wise, Tony was only getting more important. Harley was long gone and his sons who tried to get into politics failed. Tony had become an important person in the party—the indispensable one.

Some openly stated that Tony was the party. Others knew it in their heart.

There was no one who could replace him. They learned it the hard way.

Marcella was his greatest support. She raised five boys in their home and yet, she could find time for her husband. She made sure Tony was her priority.

She was his biggest strength. He believed it and that encouraged her to be his strength.

Once, the nasty people at the party threw Tony into the metaphorical bear’s cave with the bear.

There was an international issue and talks needed to be conducted with a dictator. Everyone in the country knew the talks wouldn’t be productive and no one was willing to take on such a sure-to-lose task.

So, they chose Tony to represent the country and meet with the dictator.

As he always did, Tony took it as a challenge. Marcella always loved him soaring high in the storm like an eagle.

Both of them visited that country.