Thorns Grow After Betrayal (Celeste and Chester) novel Chapter 121

Celestine slapped Joanna's hand away with a sharp smack.

Joanna's face flushed scarlet, her eyes glimmering with tears—it was clear she felt deeply humiliated.

A heartbeat later, a tear slipped down her cheek.

She looked utterly wronged.

Chester couldn't stand it. His voice rose, angry and scolding, "Celestine, what is wrong with you? Joanna has never done anything to hurt you, yet you keep targeting her again and again! Do you even realize what she's done while you were away? She took care of Celia—she stepped in as a mother, for your child! She even worried Celia wouldn't get used to her cooking, so she spent her free time in the kitchen, cooking from scratch. She burned her hands, cut her fingers—she did all of that out of kindness, not because she owed you anything!"

Chester, standing tall and righteous, listed out every supposed good deed, dragging Celestine out for public flogging.

He expected to see remorse in her eyes, some hint of regret. Instead, Celestine calmly took out a sanitizing wipe and cleaned her palm, her red lips curling into a half-smile. "Oh? So she's the victim now?"

"Drop the sarcasm and apologize to Joanna!" Chester barked.

Celestine met his gaze, unflinching. "Funny. I did all that for nearly six years, and I don't remember you ever showing me this much concern. What's the matter, Chester? Is Joanna's cooking made of gold? Is she better than everyone else?"

Before she married into the Fordham family, even Uncle Murdock's household—cold as they were—never made her cook.

It was only after she'd become Mrs. Fordham, when Chester casually mentioned wanting to taste her cooking, that she forced herself to learn everyone's likes and dislikes, dish by dish.

Back then, she'd been hopeless in the kitchen.

Those hands, the ones everyone said were made for painting, ended up covered in burns and knife nicks.

Chester had never once looked so frantic or upset about it.

Celestine took a shallow breath, her voice laced with mockery. "Is it just because I never cried?"

Chester hesitated, then softened his tone. "You're the child's mother."

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