Mrs Hale, I Surrender
Chapter 222 - 221 Mother and daughter reunion, someone loves you more than life (2 updates)

Chapter 222: 221 Mother and daughter reunion, someone loves you more than life (2 updates)

The four seasons of Summerland are mild, and on this day, it was yet another splendidly sunny day.

Early morning was tenderly new, sunlight casting a soft golden glow, scattering the night’s fog.

Dawn filled every tall glass with wine,

The sun proclaimed its presence to the world.

Telling everyone:

The darkness has scattered, and light has finally come.

Mario Payne hadn’t slept all night, so when his wife moved slightly, he immediately approached, "Julia, how are you feeling?"

Long-term malnutrition had made Julia Yates extremely weak, her lips devoid of color. She reached out with her uninjured hand to gently caress her husband’s face, her voice hoarse: "Why have you lost so much weight?"

"I told you, I would bring our daughter back. Why did you still do something so foolish!"

"Where is she?"

"She...," Mario Payne’s voice was heavy, "she’s been injured and hospitalized. She can’t come for now. I’ve sent you her photos and the DNA report Tim made. It’s all true!"

"This time, it’s real!"

Many years they had searched for their daughter, during which there had been hope...

But in the end, every verification only led to disappointment!

"Mario," Julia Yates coaxed a faint smile from her lips, "Did you guess that I’m not going to make it?"

"You and Tim don’t have to lie to me."

"Mom..." Tim Payne entered the hospital room carrying breakfast.

Seeing her son, a hint of a smile appeared on Julia Yates’s lips, motioning him to come closer.

"Mom, Dad’s right. We really found your sister. You just take care of yourself, and as soon as you’re a bit recovered, I’ll take you to Capital City to find her."

"That would be great."

Julia Yates’s pale face bore a light smile.

She agreed outwardly, but didn’t believe it in her heart.

After years of searching, they suddenly told her they had found her daughter.

Subconsciously she thought:

It can’t be true.

Tim Payne wanted to say more, but Julia Yates interrupted him, "I’m hungry, I’d like to eat something."

She had long suffered from an inability to eat, and would feel nauseous and vomit after just a few bites of food.

A physiological anorexia, leading to malnutrition. Doctors claimed it was psychological and incurable.

In front of her son, Julia Yates struggled to drink a few sips of porridge before looking at her husband: "Let’s leave the hospital, the smells here are too unpleasant."

Mario Payne furrowed his brows, "The doctor said you need to stay hospitalized for observation for two days. If you don’t like the smell here, I’ll take you for a walk outside, the air is good in the morning."

She nodded her agreement.

Julia Yates had slit her wrists. Her legs were fine, just weak and powerless. Wearing a coat, she walked slowly out of the hospital room with her husband’s support, Tim Payne following closely behind.

The three of them stopped under a ginkgo tree, where, in the autumn wind, the yellowing leaves teetered on the brink of falling.

The ground was covered in a carpet of golden yellow.

Very tired, Julia Yates sat on the bench under the tree, glanced at her husband and son standing guard, her smile faint: "You can go about your business if you have things to do. Don’t worry, I won’t try to kill myself again."

"Mom..."

Mario Payne didn’t speak, merely tugged at his son’s arm, signaling him to leave with him first.

Years of marriage had made it clear to him; his wife wanted some time alone.

The father and son didn’t go far, just stayed out of her sight, silently watching over her.

Julia Yates confirmed her husband and son had left, all her strength seeming to drain from her. She lowered her head to cover her face, her trembling shoulders betraying her sorrowful tears.

She missed her daughter so much, it had been too long since she had dreamed of her...

She longed for her.

Perhaps she also blamed herself for never finding her; that’s why, over the years, her daughter never came to her in dreams.

She had thought about letting go, searching for her daughter while living life heartily, but she couldn’t do it.

Every time she thought of her daughter possibly looking for them or enduring hardships, she couldn’t live life properly.

And yet she couldn’t find her,

Longing turned into disaster,

She chose weakness, compromising with fate.

Knowing this decision was unfair to her husband and son, but when longing struck, she couldn’t control herself.

In the hospital, people came and went, quite a few noticed the commotion on her side. But here, birth, aging, sickness, and death were common, everyone hurried past without a word.

Julia Yates’s hands covered her face until she heard the sound of something rolling over the ginkgo leaves on the ground, and she stopped crying.

She felt...

Someone had stopped in front of her.

"Mrs.," a pleasant and gentle female voice spoke.

Julia Yates was startled, quickly wiped her tears with her sleeve, and when she looked up, her pupils dilated, staring transfixed at the person before her.

Her blood seemed to freeze.

The young woman in front of her had eyes identical to her daughter’s lychee-shaped eyes.

Glittering with autumnal waters, as mild as the breath of spring.

She sat in a wheelchair, a slight smile on her lips, offering a soft bamboo cotton handkerchief to her.

This was...

Julia Yates had received photos from her husband before.

The person in the photo was indistinguishable from the one before her eyes.

Zoe Bell didn’t speak. She pulled out a red string from her pocket and handed it to her. Julia Yates paused for several seconds, trembling as she took it, recognizing at a glance that it was handwoven by her.

Tears streamed down her face uncontrollably.

She held the red string in her hand, shaking, her face pale as paper, her body as if it would fall at a puff of wind.

She instinctively stood up, but her legs could barely support her.

Zoe Bell looked at the person before her...

So frail it seemed a gust of wind could snap her.

Frail and pale,

She shook all over, eyes fixed on her, paying no heed to the wound on her wrist from the suicide attempt, tenderly touching her face, and as she continued, tears blurred her vision.

Bit by bit, they fell onto Zoe Bell,

The warm liquid seemed to carry a scalding heat.

"Are you my daughter?" Julia Yates received a photo from her husband and felt it looked like her, yet she also suspected that he had deliberately found someone similar to deceive her.

Zoe Bell nodded earnestly.

Julia Yates’s tears ran down her face, but a smile still forced its way through her lips as her gaze landed on her daughter’s plastered leg, "I should have been the one to find you..."

"You have suffered these years."

Julia didn’t believe the photo, but now Zoe was truly before her.

Perhaps it was a mother-daughter connection, as she was almost immediately certain:

The person before her,

was her daughter.

So overwhelmed by emotion, a mix of deep sorrow and joy, her body couldn’t take it and she felt dizzy and fainted.

Zoe couldn’t support her mother’s staggering body, but her hand suddenly clutched tightly onto her wrist, unwilling to let go even in unconsciousness, until Mario Payne forcefully separated them.

The doctor examined her and found she was just overly emotional. However, the stitched wound on her wrist had opened and needed to be resewn.

Zoe sat in the wheelchair, quietly watching over her.

At this moment,

she finally seemed to feel:

She wasn’t unwanted.

There really were people in this world who loved her, more than life itself.

"Why did you bring her here?" Outside the hospital room, Junior President Payne looked at William Hale, "Are her legs alright?"

"A professional medical team accompanied her, and I also talked to Grandpa Lewis, who agreed to let her come," William Hale took a deep breath, "because..."

"When my mother died, I wasn’t able to see her one last time."

"I don’t want Zoe to have any regrets."

Tim Payne then remembered that William’s biological mother had committed suicide.

Perhaps he could empathize the most in this situation.

"Actually, my mother was diagnosed with depression years ago and relied on medication to manage it, but it was a heart illness. She used to think about finding her sister and endured the hardship, but over the years, for some reason, her will to live was very weak, and her suicide... wasn’t the first attempt."

William Hale didn’t say anything.

He guessed:

Probably... her heart had died.

There is no greater sorrow than a dead heart.

To heal her dead heart, there was only Zoe Bell.

——

About two hours later, Julia Yates slowly opened her eyes and immediately sat up in bed, instinctively looking for someone. Upon seeing Zoe by her bedside, she finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Her movements were too abrupt, causing the IV needle in the back of her hand to shift...

Blood backflowed.

"Don’t move," Zoe frowned, pressing down on her hand.

Having become medically knowledgeable due to long-term illness, she knew some nursing skills, helped to adjust the needle, and fixed it again with medical tape.

Julia stared intently at her, afraid that if she blinked, she might turn into a butterfly and fly away.

Mario Payne stood aside, watching the mother and daughter, the redness in his eyes never fading.

"All right, don’t move around anymore," Zoe looked up and saw Julia’s tears falling in torrents again, unable to control herself.

Her heart trembled violently, so exhilarated it felt like she could hardly breathe.

"The doctor said you can’t be agitated any further."

Zoe was deeply moved, her eyes reddening too, but she held back the tears, took a tissue, and wiped Julia’s tears.

However, Julia suddenly grasped her hand, holding it tightly.

"Mrs. Payne..."

Zoe blurted out instinctively.

And this address, Mrs. Payne, triggered Julia’s tears to collapse once more.

To them, Zoe was the child they had been searching for over twenty years. Deceived by Director Hall into believing she was an orphan, it was only a few months ago she learned she had been kidnapped.

Therefore, facing her parents, she always felt a bit out of place, hence she did not verbally call them mom and dad.

But Julia was too emotionally distraught.

Zoe felt a sourness at the tip of her heart, reached out her other hand, and gently patted her mother’s back, soothing the woman crying like a child in front of her and said softly,

"Is it okay if I call you mom..."

"Don’t cry."

Julia’s body tensed, then she suddenly reached out and embraced her.

The IV needle completely came out from the back of her hand, trailing a string of blood droplets.

Her daughter...

Had always been tender-hearted.

Just like when she was a child, after she finished working, too exhausted, Zoe would lie in her arms, accompanying her quietly.

Zoe was worried about her mother’s resewn wound bursting open again, patted her back, and said, "Mom... don’t cry."

"Rest assured, I won’t leave."

"Would you also stay, please?"

Zoe’s words carried another layer of meaning.

Julia held her, crying, "I won’t go... I won’t go anywhere! I want to be with you, to really be with you, I want to see you get married and have children. I want to watch my daughter be happy for her whole life."

Zoe seemed to finally have a more real sense of reunion with her family at this moment.

All of it,

was actually true!

She hugged her mother tightly, feeling the warmth of her body, and the tears she had been holding back finally embarrassingly started to flow.

Mario Payne’s eyes were already red.

Upon hearing these words, he couldn’t help coughing twice.

Get married?

Their little girl was already married.

And the pig that had snatched up their cabbage, was right outside at that moment.