He didn’t worry about that when he was with his exes. But Ophelia was special.

Chapter 15: He Calls Her Lia

Ophelia didn’t mention Erin’s birthday party to Winford because she didn’t intend to take him along. She wouldn’t waste his precious time on Erin. Instead, she planned to tell him casually before she went out. But Bessie brought an evening dress to her and let Winford know about it. A servant came and told Ophelia that Bessie was chatting with Winford downstairs. Ophelia squinted and stopped what she was doing to head there. Ophelia didn’t forget that Bessie had designs on Winford.

When Ophelia got downstairs, she saw Bessie handing an invitation to Winford shyly. “The birthday party will be held in five days. My mom hopes you can go, as do I.” He glanced indifferently at the invitation and didn’t mean to take it. Bessie moved closer to him and said in a flirtatious voice, “Mr. Pruitt…” Before she finished speaking, she seemed to lose her balance and fell. With a soft scream, she was moving into Winford’s arms. Winford didn’t shift away, so Bessie waited for herself to be in his arms, her eyes flashing with a hint of joy. However, someone pulled her collar from behind, and she screamed again. Bessie almost rolled her eyes because of the tightness.

“Bessie, how could you fall on a flat ground?” Ophelia’s voice sounded. “If I didn’t know better, I would think you were seducing my husband.” Then, she pulled Bessie up. A smile was on Ophelia’s face, but coldness filled her eyes. Bessie looked embarrassed and tried to hide her guilt. “Ophelia, what are you talking about? I just lost my balance…” Ophelia pulled a weak smile and responded perfunctorily, “I see.”

“She’s here to give you an evening dress,” Winford said in a level voice. “I know. A servant just told me.” Ophelia’s face softened right away, and she walked to him. Since he was sitting on the couch instead of his wheelchair, she sat beside him naturally as his wife. Then, Ophelia looked up at Bessie. “It’s just a dress. Why did you send it yourself? You can just tell another person to do that.”

Bessie watched them in surprise and thought, “They are so close already? I heard Mr. Pruitt doesn’t like to be near anyone. Why hasn’t he pushed her away?” But Bessie still gave a soft smile. “I’m here to give the invitation to Mr. Pruitt. Letting a servant do that would be disrespectful to him.”

Hearing that, Ophelia thought with scorn, “Is that so? You must be using it as an excuse for getting close to my husband.” Thus, Ophelia responded, “Invitation? I told Erin that he won’t go.” Then, Ophelia held Winford’s arm and said gently, “Right, honey?” Because of the intimacy, a hint of surprise and jealousy flashed through Bessie’s eyes again. However, she doubted Ophelia had told Winford about the birthday party, so she turned to Winford immediately.

Winford could feel Ophelia’s soft body against him and smell her scent, and she was waving his arm secretly. He turned around and saw her wink with her cute eyes. With amusement, he wondered when she had asked him about that. However, she looked afraid that he would agree to go, so he could only say, “Right. I won’t go.”

Ophelia was pleased that he had read her mind and wanted to kiss him or hug him. However, Bessie was still there, so Ophelia suppressed the urge. Ophelia turned to Bessie. “Bessie, you heard that. He won’t go.” Bessie bit her lip. “Mr. Pruitt, we are in-laws…” Ophelia held Winford’s arm tighter.

Winford noticed that. He hadn’t looked into how she was doing in the Greene’s house. But he had heard that Erin wasn’t Samuel’s first wife. By Ophelia’s attitude to the birthday party, Winford could tell that she wasn’t on friendly terms with Erin. So he lost his politeness.

“I remember Lia’s mom is gone.” What he meant was that he wouldn’t go to Ophelia’s stepmom’s birthday party. Bessie froze. Again, Ophelia held Winford’s arm tighter, so he looked down and found she was gazing at him with twinkling eyes. He paused before asking, “What is it?” She answered, “Nothing.” But she was joyful that he had called her Lia and backed her up. She felt warm and wanted to have some alone time with Winford. So she didn’t want Bessie to be there.

“Bessie, put the dress here and then go.” Bessie finally had a reason to be in Sunset Vista, so she didn’t want to leave yet. She smiled, “I spent a lot of time picking the dress for you. Take a look and tell me if you like it.” Then, she asked someone to take the dress out. When it was shown, everyone fell silent. Right then, Graham came over, and his eyes dilated. Ophelia pressed her lips together and remembered something. The dress was bright red and bright green, and its style was different. It looked more like a bedsheet than a garment. It was an outfit Ophelia would “like” in the past, and Erin and Bessie shaped that dress sense of hers.

“Ophelia, do you like it?” Bessie smiled like a sweet sister. A trace of coldness flashed through Ophelia’s eyes. “Yes. It must have been difficult to find this dress. Thank you, Bessie.” Bessie didn’t get the subtext, so she responded, “It’s worth it since you like it. Then remember to wear it at the party. You’ll be gorgeous in everyone’s eyes!” Bessie sounded like she was talking to an idiot, so Ophelia revealed a faint smile: “OK!” Ophelia looked like she was still easy to manipulate, so Bessie felt much better. Bessie thought, “Although you won Mr. Pruitt’s heart, you are still a moron. I’ll see how you embarrass yourself at the birthday party.” Then, she left with expectations.

Winford watched the dress with a frown. After some moments of silence, he asked tentatively, “You like this style?” Ophelia didn’t expect him to ask that. She glanced at the ugly dress and answered in haste, “No!” Hearing that, Winford unknitted his brows. Graham couldn’t help but chime in, “Then why did they send it to you?” Bessie was even so confident in her choice.

Ophelia pursed her lips. “Because all my dresses were in this style.” Graham didn’t know what to say. Winford’s brow furrowed again. “Since you don’t like this style, why did you wear those dresses?” Ophelia glanced at him and said in an injured tone, “They are ugly, and people would laugh at me. I didn’t want to wear them, but Erin and Bessie gave me a dress in this style whenever there was a party.” The first time Bessie tricked her into wearing a dress like that, many people made fun of her. So Ophelia didn’t want to wear anything like that again. But Erin and Bessie kept telling her that others were just jealous of her beauty.

Ophelia’s mom died when Ophelia was very young. Not long after, Erin married into the Greene family. Ophelia was brought up by Erin and grew up together with Bessie. Thus, Ophelia trusted them very much and listened to them. Come to think of it, Ophelia used to be a pitiful idiot. The two people didn’t forget to send Ophelia a dress out of “kindness” even after Ophelia got married to Winford.

Hearing Ophelia’s words, Winford squinted. “Then don’t wear anything like that again,” he said in a flat tone and looked at the dress. “Get rid of it.” Graham responded, “Yes, Mr. Pruitt.” However, Ophelia said, “Wait!”

Chapter 15: He Calls Her

She blinked and continued in an innocent tone, “They are so kind. How can I just throw it away?” Days later, Erin’s birthday party was held.