Mia turned around on her feet and found herself standing face-to-face with Senior Holman. With his silver hair combed with not even a single strand jutting out, the man stared at her and the rest with a stern gaze.
"Can anyone tell me just what is going on here?" Senior Holman asked as he lifted his cane and walked over to where they were standing. He looked from one guilty face to another and questioned, "Just what do you think you are doing, Henry?"
Henry lowered his head in front of his grandfather guiltily. Even though he could raise his voice and act as a goon in front of his father, he respected his grandfather and even feared him.
Now that he was standing in front of Senior Holman, he dared not utter a peep.
"Hello, Senior Mister Holman," Jamie stepped forward and greeted the man with a smile on her face. She even held her hand in front of him but Senior Holman only took a look at her hand and turned to look at Mia.
"Who is she? And why is she standing close to Henry in front of you?" Though Emmett Holman had been out of action for years, he still had charismatic authority that made it difficult for others to ignore him.
Mia pursed her lips in a thin line.
Grandpa Emmett left the city after her marriage ceremony with Henry was concluded. He was an old man who was riddled with two serious diseases, and he lived in the quiet city of Saltspire. Maybe that was the reason why Benjamin didn't break the news of her divorce with Henry to him.
After all, divorce was severely frowned upon in the Holman family.
Jamie's eyes flickered with annoyance, and before Henry or Mia could make an excuse, she rushed forward to clear her status in front of Grandpa Emmett. "I am his girlfriend, Grandpa Emmett. Henry and Miss Wills have been divorced for quite some time."
"What did you say?" Grandpa Emmett looked at Jamie with a furrow between his brows. "You are what to him?"
"I am Henry's girlfriend," Jamie repeated, her lips thinning with each second as she could not understand why the men in the Holman family liked Mia so much but felt reluctant when it came to her.
She batted her eyelashes and spoke demurely, "Henry and I have been dating for a few months, Grandpa Emmett."
When Grandpa Emmett heard her response, his entire face turned red as he raised the hand that was holding his cane and pointed its end at Henry. However, the man was so angry that he couldn't even breathe, much less scold Henry. He clutched his chest and stared at Henry with his eyeballs popping out of his sockets.
"Grandfather!"
"Grandpa Emmett!"
Mia and Lucas rushed to help the man just as his body fell backwards.
When Jamie realized that the old man had fallen unconscious, she was stunned. She stepped back and looked at Mia and Lucas, who were helping Grandpa Emmett up. She hurriedly cleared her stance. "I didn't do anything; he fell unconscious on his own."
"Shut up!" Mia snapped. She would have said something if the situation called for it, but she didn't have the time to do so. She turned and looked at Henry, who was standing in one spot like a statue and questioned, "Why are you standing there? Go and call Uncle Ben and help us take Grandpa Emmett inside the house."
While giving instructions to Henry, she dialled the number of the family doctor of the Holman family.
Henry jerked out of his daze and rushed inside the house to call Benjamin, who appeared in a matter of seconds. With him helping Lucas, the three men carefully carried Grandpa Emmett inside the house.
Slap!
Benjamin raised his hand and heavily slapped Henry on the face. He pointed at Jamie and scolded his son fiercely, "Are you even a man? You can't even control the mouth of this woman. You know that your grandpa cannot be agitated, and this is why I hid the good deeds you have done these past few months."
"Now, because of her, you have ruined all of my efforts."
Henry opened and closed his mouth; he wanted to defend himself but he couldn't. Not when his grandfather was lying in the bed.
"Alright, stop blaming Henry," Allegra finished reading the reports that the doctor had handed to her and raised her head to look at her husband. "You should be worrying about how to disclose the identity of this precious son that you have brought with you."
Benjamin looked contemptuous upon hearing her words. "Do you think that I am a fool like this son that you have raised, Allegra? I have twice the wits that he has, and for your kind information, I have disclosed this matter much more decently in front of my father."
Upon hearing those words, Mia noticed Allegra stiffening ever so slightly. Even though she did not like the woman, Mia felt a pang of sympathy for the woman. She must have thought that she could get some support from her father-in-law, but if Benjamin had already disclosed Lucas's identity, then it must mean that Grandpa Emmett knew and approved of Lucas.
"Then I guess I have nothing to say. Excuse me," Allegra placed the reports down with whatever dignity she could summon and turned around on high heels before walking out of the room.
Benjamin watched her leave, but he never made a move to stop her. Instead, he turned to look at his father and frowned. "The doctor said that it will take less than an hour for Dad to wake up; why is he not awake yet?"
"Don't worry too much, Dad," Lucas spoke in a steady voice from the corner. "Grandpa is old, and he received quite a shock when he was yet to recover completely. I think he was just not prepared to hear that the legacy of the family was broken."
He glanced at Henry as he finished speaking, his lips curled up in a smirk.