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However, their method turned out to involve paying with their lives as well.
Natalie couldn't bring herself to tell Joyce's parents to go through with that method, so it seemed that the grudge
between the two families would never be resolved.
Natalie took a deep breath and patted Caitlin on the hand as she said, “I understand what you and Mr. Rivers plan
on doing, but I hope that you two will not go through with that plan. Joyce tried to kill herself in order to settle the
grudge between both families, and look how much pain her action has caused the two of you. Had you two killed
yourselves, Joyce would surely suffer even if she were able to find a new lover and start up a new family.”
“Nat is right. I'm sure there's another way to resolve this issue, so please don't do anything rash.” Shane, who had
been silent the whole time, spoke up all of a sudden.
The two kids nodded in unison as well.
Caitlin and Jonathan exchanged glances upon hearing that. They felt touched when they saw how worried Natalie
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇtand her family members were.
“Don't worry, you two. We understand what you mean, so we won't do anything rash for now. Joyce still needs us,
after all!” Jonathan said with a forced smile.
Caitlin nodded. “Yeah, that's right! We won't do anything rash!”
“I'm glad to hear that. Now, let's go check on Joyce, shall we?” Natalie said.
Jonathan then led the way and entered the ward with them following closely behind.
Joyce was lying on the bed with her eyes tightly shut, and her face was so pale that she looked like a corpse.
Her left hand was wrapped in thick bandages, and she had an IV drip hooked up to transfer blood into her body. It
pained them greatly to see her in such a haggard state.
“According to the doctor, Joyce cut really deep into her wrist when she attempted to commit suicide. In fact, her
artery was completely severed. Had we found her even a little bit later, she wouldn't have survived the trip to the
hospital!” Caitlin sobbed as she gently caressed Joyce's cheek.
Natalie felt a mixture of heartache and anger when she saw the state of her best friend.
It hurt her to see what Joyce had done to herself, but she also felt angry at how well Joyce had kept her intentions a
secret from everyone.
None of them suspected a thing about her planning on committing suicide.
“By the way, Mrs. Rivers, is Joyce's baby all right?” Natalie asked while staring at her tummy.
Caitlin nodded. “Yes, her baby's fine. To be honest, I was thinking of having the doctor abort the baby when I first
found out about it. I assumed she got pregnant because she was raped by some scumbag, and I didn't want her
keeping his child. However, the doctor said Joyce had lost too much blood from her suicide attempt, so she
probably wouldn't survive the abortion procedure. In the end, we decided to keep the baby for the time being. The
baby is still very little, so the abortion can wait till Joyce gets better.”
“I suppose that's true...” Natalie nodded in agreement as well.
“Now that you know Stanley is the father, would you still want her to abort the child? Or would you choose to have
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏmher keep the child instead?” Shane asked all of a sudden.
“Um...” That question caught both Jonathan and Caitlin completely off guard.
They were actually planning to have Joyce abort the baby regardless of who the father was, and Stanley was no
exception.
First of all, Stanley didn't love Joyce, so he wouldn't care about her and the baby even if he was the father.
Although they couldn't care less about Stanley, they were concerned about how Joyce would feel about all this.
It was highly possible that Joyce would choose to keep the baby if she knew that Stanley was the father. Because
they knew how much she loved Stanley, they believed Joyce would not regret her choice of keeping the baby even
if doing so would make her life incredibly difficult.
However, they also knew that aborting the baby without Joyce's consent would upset her to no end, and they didn't
want her to end up going crazy because of it.
As such, Caitlin and Jonathan were at a loss as to what they should do.
Noticing that they had both gone silent, Shane glanced at Joyce and said, “In that case, maybe we should let Joyce
decide for herself. She's the mother of the baby, so she has the right to decide if the baby stays.”
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