Faux Vows, True Desires

Even though Ms. Scott came back with the Fredericks, unless Mr. Coleman gave the green light, neither she nor her car could set foot on the Anderson family's turf. Frederick and Jeannie exchanged glances. They were both aware that something major had gone down between Stefan and Ms. Scott during their vacation.

Stefan had already made it clear: Ms. Scott was not allowed to go into the estate.

Whether Stefan was right or wrong, they had to back him up for now.

So they hopped out of the car, grabbing their luggage.

"Mr. Anderson, Ms. Coleman, why are you getting out? The estate's main house is still a ways off from the entrance. It'll take at least ten minutes on foot. I can drive you."

Ruby was caught off guard by the fact that Stefan would completely ban her from the estate. But she quickly realized that she had two options at this point: either she could chauffeur the Fredericks in, or she was stuck cooling her heels at the entrance.

"We're good. We've been sitting all day on a plane and then in the car. Our feet are about to swell up. A little walk sounds good right about now; it might help with that," replied Jeannie with a calm smile. Bag in hand and Frederick dragging their suitcases, they started walking into the estate.

Seeing this, the security on duty rushed over to help with the luggage.

Another guard dialed inside, and in no time, the butler had sent a car to pick them up.

"Ms. Coleman!" Ruby called out in a hurry.

She could clearly see the entrance to the estate through the wrought-iron gates and panicked when she saw the Fredericks about to enter.

"Ms. Coleman, I'm here for Grandma Savannah. If she doesn't see me, she might worry."

speed, but one of the guards honestly said, "Grandma Savannah went down the hill. Patrick Anderson went with her. They're probably in the

foot of the hill living with their parents. Grandma Savannah loved chatting with the elderly. There was no way she'd be bored. She didn't need a young person to

the guard

aback. He hadn't said anything wrong. Why was Ms. Scott glaring at

the guard stared back at Ms.

was a competition to see who had bigger eyes, he wasn't convinced he'd lose! Jeannie laughed.

Ruby was speechless.

Ruby, but the minute

might even say, "If we're not backing Stefan, who are we backing? Who

main house's living room, the Fredericks were sitting on

he chose to hang around the estate, admiring the mysterious Ascend Estate. Little

under the intense scrutiny of

Lucinda?" Jeannie broke the silence among

be her boyfriend because my wife Fiona kept nagging her to get married. She was at her wit's end, so she came up with this plan. Then Stefan suggested they get hitched for real. Lucy's a

them an honest account of how things came about, the whole

straightforward sequence of events, but the Fredericks were

Stefan all too well. It looked like he had set his sights on

That sneaky little bugger.

were under the impression that Stefan and Ruby were the real deal. On the surface, Jeannie was nice to Ruby, but deep down, Jeannie didn't want Ruby to

was too greedy! Her

and eat it too, but there was no such thing as a free