702 Christening - Part 2 (1/2)

Sunday, continued…

Anna quickly retorted to Susan, ”Stow it Susan, you like a Sunday sleep-in so you cannot talk.  Plus, little Jang there kept me awake most of the night.”  This drew a round of laughter from her siblings and their spouses as they all knew Susan liked her weekend sleep-ins, even on camping trips unless she was working.  Normally no one would have got her out of bed today before 11am, but today was a special day.

Observing his youngest daughter Stan Jones could see how happy she was, despite something bothering her.  She deserved the life she had with Hou Yi, a husband who adored her and was willing to spoil her, a beautiful baby, and the ability to pursue what she wanted.  That was, after the relationship with Lu Jinhu, something that he was and would always be grateful for.

He had, throughout her life allowed Meredith to cause constant trouble for Anna.  He would not call her on her behaviour as he loved her so much, and he did not want to risk their children's home life hence his allowing her behaviour that impacted Anna.  He dismissed the behaviour and the impact on Anna, until Meredith started to cause trouble for Alecia.  Alecia did not deserve that, and it made him recognise Anna did not deserve what he allowed Meredith to do.  That encouraged him to obtain legal representation to deal with separation and eventually a divorce.

That process made him see Meredith was only concerned with money.  Alecia offered to loan him the money to pay off Meredith and deal with his legal fees, on the promise Anna and Hou Yi were not told, which he agreed to.  She accepted the deal a couple of weeks ago, which he was grateful for. The only thing he had to do was obtain an intervention order to protect himself as of her threats during the proceedings to protect himself.  Now he had to simply work to rebuild his life.

Turning back, Stan said ”You are talking about my youngest grandchild. He is an Angel and would not do that.”

”An Angel?  Dad he was a devil last night and determined that I would not get sleep.”

”Anny you were like that as a baby so…”

”What goes around comes around.  Dad, I know your philosophy.” Hou Jang and Du AnLing were confused at the laughter and once Hou Yi explained what it meant to them they joined in.

As the conversations drifted on, Anna moved over, and sat down beside her father, and as everyone around them was talking, she had to ask the question for weeks she had been itching to ask her dad ”Are you happy?”

”Anna, you know me I would not have given up on my marriage unless your mother had taken me past breaking point. Her attitude when you and Yi told us about your marriage had me there, but I was willing to give her one last chance to change her attitude and treatment of you. This resulted in lots of arguments, which became worse after James and Alecia came here. I told her if she kept pushing, I would end the marriage.  The final straw was what she did that resulted in Alecia getting her intervention order.  That was not deserved.  Eventually I was able to give her what she wanted to walk away, but before you ask I made sure I protected myself from her behaviour.”

”You know we can arrange for a house to be built on the property for you, if you want?”

”Do not worry, James and Alecia have let me live in their house here, until I can figure out what I want.”

”Is she behaving otherwise?”

”As you know, sweetheart, I simply let her always do what she wanted during our relationship as I could not stand the private arguments if she did not get her way. When I walked out because of her behaviour, I took immediate steps to deal with the matter, but you can guess what happened.”

”She and her father started harassing you.”