Chapter 273: Chapter 273: "Don’t You Think I’m a Very Unfit Mother?

Rory Linden simply couldn’t empathize with Charlotte Rhodes.

As a mother herself, she couldn’t believe anyone would distrust the son they had raised with their own hands in favor of an outsider.

From Charlotte Rhodes’s expression, it was clear she wasn’t completely in the dark.

She was just a doctor, not a family counselor.

Rory Linden took a deep breath and said, "Auntie Rhodes, I’m a surgeon. My priority is to see every one of my patients discharged in good health. I really can’t help with anything else."

Charlotte Rhodes leaned back against the pillow, looking utterly drained.

"If you still want to call President Harrison, you can use your own phone." Rory Linden glanced at her watch. "If there’s nothing else, I have to get back to work."

Rory Linden left the hospital room.

She was busy in her office for a while.

About half an hour later, Sean Harrison called.

Rory Linden answered the phone and immediately asked, "Did Auntie Rhodes call you?"

"No," the man said. "I was calling to ask about that."

Rory Linden had a private office now.

She looked at the medical records on her computer and said, "Oh, right. To keep her from getting emotional when she called you, I told her about the medication. I have a feeling... she probably knows something."

It wasn’t surprising.

A woman of Charlotte Rhodes’s age had seen a thing or two.

It was unlikely she wouldn’t have her own suspicions when her health was so erratic.

"If she wants to play dumb, that’s her business, not mine."

Sean Harrison changed the subject. "By the way, I’m with Leo at the robotics company’s factory right now. He wants to draw out his ideas to see if they can be brought to life. A designer is helping him brainstorm. Do you want to see?"

The background on his end wasn’t quiet; voices could be heard occasionally.

"I have to work soon."

"I’ll take a few pictures for you, then. You can look at them when you have a free moment."

Not long after the call ended, a few new messages came in.

It was two photos.

One photo showed Leo Linden sitting at a table, his small finger pointing at a drawing on a white sheet of paper as he spoke to a staff member beside him.

The other showed Leo Linden holding up his finished artwork for the camera.

An octopus was drawn on the paper.

Four of its legs were planted firmly on the ground, while the other four arms were raised, holding different objects.

In the photo, Leo Linden’s eyes were squinted into crescents, and he was grinning with pure joy.

Rory Linden was suddenly glad she had brought Leo Linden back to the country.

If they hadn’t returned, Leo’s future path, staying with just her, might have been much narrower.

Rory Linden had a busy day.

Before leaving work for the evening, she had to do one last round of checks on her patients.

She went through several rooms, saving Charlotte Rhodes’s for last.

A nanny and a caregiver were in the room.

It wasn’t empty.

But without Evan Hollis, the room felt much more desolate.

Rory Linden asked about Charlotte Rhodes’s condition as usual, gave a few simple instructions, and was about to leave...

"Dr. Linden, do I have a little grandson?" Charlotte Rhodes suddenly called out to her. "Can I meet him?"

Rory Linden’s expression froze.

She wasn’t sure how Charlotte Rhodes knew about this.

When she first returned to the country to operate on Charlotte Rhodes, she had indeed mentioned having a child.

But she never said the child was Sean Harrison’s...

Seeing her silence, Charlotte Rhodes continued, "You don’t have to be so tense. Evan Hollis told me. I don’t mean anything by it, I just... want to see him."

"Auntie Rhodes, I do have a child. I gave birth to him abroad and struggled to raise him by myself until he was four. He has nothing to do with your Harrington family."

Rory Linden tried hard to draw a clear line between Leo Linden and Sean Harrison.

For Evan Hollis to have suddenly mentioned Leo before disappearing was, in her opinion, no coincidence.

She couldn’t completely trust Charlotte Rhodes, either.

’What if she gets back in touch with Evan Hollis one day...’

Charlotte Rhodes paused, then said with a bitter smile, "We’re quite similar, then. I was also alone abroad, raising Sean Harrison."

"No, we’re not the same," Rory Linden immediately corrected her. "I had no money. I had no family, relatives, or friends abroad. It was just me. I endured far more hardship than others. Anyone who never helped me doesn’t deserve to be my child’s family."

"I was alone, too. My parents used me as a tool for marriage alliances, forcing me into one marriage after another without any regard for the kind of man I was marrying..."

Charlotte Rhodes’s tone was bitter.

Rory Linden could have guessed that her marriages were unhappy and her life unfortunate.

If that weren’t the case, she wouldn’t have taken her frustrations out on Sean Harrison.

Rory Linden couldn’t help but say, "But none of that was Sean Harrison’s fault. Just as, despite all my hardships, I know with perfect clarity that none of this is my child’s fault."

The room fell silent.

Charlotte Rhodes had no rebuttal to that.

She had loved Sean Harrison at first, too.

But as he grew older, his face began to resemble his father’s more and more.

It got to the point where the mere sight of him filled her with disgust.

Plus, his performance in school was always disappointing...

"But fate is a strange thing. Sean Harrison’s son has also walked a similar path," Rory Linden said seriously, her eyes downcast. "There’s just one difference: I will be good to my son. I won’t let him be lonely. I will be his rock."

The hospital room window was open, and the wind rustled through the leaves, making a soft SHUSHING sound.

Charlotte Rhodes looked out the window and murmured, "Didn’t you just say it’s not the child’s fault? If you know something is a mistake, there’s no need to repeat it."

"But what choice did I have?" Rory Linden gave a bitter laugh. "That car accident made him believe he had a mental illness. I had no choice but to go abroad alone to have the baby."

She paused, then continued, "But in the end, it was my choice. As hard as these past few years abroad have been, I haven’t regretted giving birth to him for a single second."

"He’s already been deprived of a father’s love. As his mother, I have to love him twice as much to make him feel that coming into this world was worth it."

Rory Linden recounted her experience to Charlotte Rhodes, word by word.

She wasn’t trying to reawaken the other woman’s maternal love or make her reflect on her past actions.

It was just that...

Evan Hollis’s capture was only a matter of time.

Rory Linden just hoped that Charlotte would reconsider her relationship with Sean Harrison.

That way, when Evan Hollis was finally caught, she wouldn’t harm her own health from the shock.

Charlotte Rhodes shifted her gaze to Rory Linden and asked, "You think I’m a terrible mother, don’t you?"