Not A Trophy Wife

Chapter Twelve

It'd been a week since Evelyn passed away—a tough, sad week. The whole town was in mourning. The silence, which was usually so pleasant, was stifling these days—terrible. The pain I witnessed was indescribable, and the tears in people's eyes were endless.

I woke up in Jayden's bed like I had every morning for the past few days. But this time, he wasn't by my side.

After getting up and dressed, I took a few bites of breakfast from the small table before heading out.

Jayden wasn't outside, nor in the garage, so I headed for the cemetery. As I had assumed, there he was, standing in front of Evelyn's grave.

"Hey. I knew I'd find you here," I told him softly, standing behind him and wrapping my arms around him tightly.

"Hello, stranger." Jayden turned to me, put one arm around my shoulders, and kissed me on my forehead.

"How are you?" I asked him.

"I'm fine. I'm just thinking. About my mother. About Evelyn. About James."

"Jayden, what happened to your mother? If it's not too painful to talk about it..."

"My mother was suffering from kidney failure. She required weekly dialysis. She was on the waiting list for a kidney transplant. One day we got a call that there was a suitable donor for her. The surgery was successful. She had been given a chance at a second life. But not a wonderful life. I had to be away from her for a while. About a year later, I returned. But she could no longer work as before. The money was not enough even for the most basic needs—food, medicine, and household bills. Then, miraculously, Elliott Wright contacted me to offer me a job at his repair shop. I had to leave, but it was the only way to give my mother the peace and rest she needed. She had worked all her life. She'd raised me alone. She was working two jobs to give me a normal life. It was my turn to do that for her." Jayden rested his head on mine and sighed. "Unfortunately, about half a year later, her second kidney stopped functioning normally. Her body suddenly rejected the transplanted one as well. She passed away in a few days."

"I am so sorry. Where was your father?"

"I don't have a father. When I was young, my mother told me that he abandoned her when she got pregnant, and she hadn't had any contact with him since. It was just the two of us. But for a short while, Elliott was like a father to me. Even Clive. Then I met James, who I also loved as a father."

My eyes filled with tears again. Evelyn had told me Jayden had a hard life. And it really sounded that way. My parents weren't perfect, but they were always there for me. Although we couldn't say we were extremely rich, they'd managed to make it look that way. I'd attended only private schools. My mother had always bought me expensive clothes and expensive cosmetics. She often took me to beauty salons, to expensive restaurants and taught me to eat fine hors d'oeuvres. Even though we weren't quite the right fit there, my mom made every effort to induct me into high-class society. But anyway, I still had a mother and a father at the end of the day. And Jayden had lost them all.

"Don't be sad, Savi." Jayden wiped the tear that had run down my cheek. "Life is beautiful simply because we live it. Evelyn had a happy life despite all the hardships and trials. She was happy because she knew how to love and was loved. And, if there's an afterlife, I'm sure she's happy there with James again." He grabbed my chin and lifted my face up. "Smile, stranger, because life can be happy. Because your smile makes life happy."

I couldn't help but smile through my tears. Even at that moment when we stood before Evelyn's grave, grieving her loss, even when I had to comfort him, the opposite happened again—Jayden comforted me.

"Sometimes I think you're not real," I said softly.

"Why?" he asked in astonishment, the corners of his lips curling into a small smile as well.