Chapter 281

“What’s wrong, Grandma?” Shermaine asked.

“You’ll see when you get here,” Janice replied, her voice tinged with something unreadable.

“Alright,” Shermaine replied.

Janice knew they would be overjoyed. None of them had imagined the woman they had mourned was still alive.

After hanging up, Janice returned to the living room, her eyes welling as she watched Ruth sit quietly on the sofa.

Janice was absolutely certain that this was Ruth, the woman she had once loved and adored so much. No one could fake that kind of presence, not even Madeline.

Janice had already asked about everything. Years ago, Ruth had indeed been injured and thrown into the sea, but someone had rescued her. Unfortunately, she had been comatose for years. Only recently did she regain her memories, and she came straight back.

Janice’s heart ached for all Ruth had endured.

Ruth could clearly sense how moved and happy Janice was to have her back.

Still, Ruth felt uneasy. She wondered how she should face Shermaine and Ross when they arrived. She thought, ‘Will they accept me as their mother?’

With that unease weighing heavily on her mind, Ruth waited anxiously.

Outside, the sound of a car pulling up broke the silence. Moments later, footsteps approached. Shermaine and Ross had returned.

As soon as Janice called, they didn’t ask any questions. They just jumped in the car and drove straight home, though Janice’s cryptic tone had hinted at some grand surprise.

“Grandma?” they called in unison upon entering.

Janice sprang up from the sofa, cheeks flushed, pulling them toward the sofa. “Sheary, Ross, look who’s here.”

As Shermaine and Ross approached the sofa, the woman seated there came into view. Her face was exactly as they remembered. She was elegant and poised, and her smile radiated the warmth Madeline had never possessed.

Shermaine and Ross froze in shock.

Ruth stood, her eyes instantly glistening with tears, voice trembling. “Rossie, Sheary.”

Before Shermaine had been abducted, Ruth had always called her Sheary. In Maple Leaf Ville, Jay had named her Shermaine after finding the characters engraved in her bracelet.

When neither of them responded, Ruth’s tears spilled over. “Rossie, Sheary, it’s me. I’m Mom.”

Her greatest fear clawed at her. Ruth thought, ‘What if Madeline’s impersonation made them hate the very sight of me and refuse to accept me as their mother?’

Shermaine moved first. She saw the irreplicable gentleness in Ruth’s gaze, which was something that Madeline had never captured.

Without a word, Shermaine stepped forward and wrapped her arms around the weeping woman, feeling the tremors of fear in Ruth’s frame, especially after their silence.

Ruth clung to her, the tension melting. “Sheary,” she whispered, stroking Shermaine’s hair. “You’re all grown up.”

For Ruth, the recovered memories were still fresh. Every time she thought about it, her heart ached deeply.

Shermaine’s kidnapping had shattered her so completely that she had collapsed on the spot. After waking up, she had personally searched for Shermaine, only to be betrayed and walk into Madeline’s trap.

Chapter 282