Chapter 305: Chapter 305: "I Will Protect Mom for You.

"Well..."

Rory Linden was a little hesitant.

Charlotte Rhodes had just been resuscitated and was extremely weak.

She was afraid Leo Linden, in his childish innocence, might say the wrong thing and upset the old woman.

"Mommy, can I stay here?"

Leo Linden earnestly asked for Rory Linden’s opinion.

Rory Linden knew that Jason Stone’s sudden summons must mean it was urgent.

She didn’t have much time to waste.

She glanced at Charlotte Rhodes, hesitated for a few seconds, then knelt down and patiently said while holding her son’s hand,

"Leo, Grandma isn’t well. Don’t say anything that might make her angry, okay?"

"Okay, I know!"

Leo Linden nodded seriously.

Rory Linden then felt her son’s pants. "The hospital doesn’t have any clean pants. Mommy will change them for you when we get home, alright?"

"Okay!" Leo Linden said obediently. "You can go do what you need to, Mommy. I’ll be good."

Rory Linden glanced at the nurse waiting by the door, then finally stood up and left.

After she left, the nanny and the caregiver returned to the hospital room.

The nanny brought over a chair so Leo Linden could sit by the bed and chat with the old woman.

Charlotte Rhodes reached out, took her grandson’s small, delicate hand, and asked him, "Are you in preschool?"

"Yes." Leo Linden immediately added, "But preschool has already started, and I haven’t gone to school yet."

"Why not?"

Charlotte Rhodes asked.

That was all it took for Leo Linden to open the floodgates:

"Because Mommy and Daddy took me on a trip! We went on a really, really big cruise ship! It was so much fun..."

"Mommy and Daddy took me to the zoo. A giraffe’s neck is really long, and it was right next to our car..."

"We also went to a theme park..."

"Mommy bought me lots of toys, and we brought them all back..."

Since Leo Linden hadn’t started preschool yet, he had no one to share his happy experiences with.

So when Charlotte Rhodes asked, it all came pouring out in a rush.

As the little boy spoke, the smile never left his face.

He was so happy.

Charlotte Rhodes watched him quietly, feeling more and more that he was nothing like Sean Harrison.

When Sean Harrison was a child, he had never sat beside her like this, chattering away about happy things.

He certainly never would have smiled so purely.

Whenever the two of them, mother and son, were together, Sean Harrison was always silent and withdrawn.

Even at preschool age, whether he was eating, speaking, or making any kind of request, he would always check her expression first.

’Back then, her temper was always terrible.’

’She hated her family for pushing her into a marriage alliance, forcing her to wed an older man who didn’t love her.’

’She hated the man’s infidelity and the predictable misery of the rest of her life.’

’To make matters worse, Sean Harrison wasn’t as outstanding or as obedient as she had imagined.’

After recounting everything that had happened over the past few days, Leo Linden belatedly and carefully asked, "Grandma, was I being too loud?"

Charlotte Rhodes shook her head gently. "No."

The nanny and caregiver watched from the side, unable to help but marvel at how well-behaved and adorable Leo Linden was.

The chair was high.

Leo Linden sat on it, his legs too short to reach the floor.

His legs dangled, swinging back and forth.

Charlotte Rhodes recalled that Rory Linden had come from abroad to perform her surgery and asked, "Did you and your mommy used to live abroad?"

"Mhm!"

Leo Linden nodded.

Charlotte Rhodes asked again, "Was it just you and your mommy?"

"And Aunt Alice," Leo Linden said, tilting his head. "When Mommy was busy with work, Aunt Alice would take care of me."

The little boy had barely finished speaking when the door to the room opened.

Sean Harrison pushed the door open and walked in.

He saw only Charlotte Rhodes and Leo Linden in the room and glanced around.

The nanny knew he was looking for Rory Linden and quickly explained, "President Harrison, a nurse came and called Dr. Linden away just now."

"Daddy!"

Seeing Sean Harrison, Leo Linden’s beautiful eyes curved into crescent moons.

Sean Harrison walked over, scooped his son up in one motion, and cast a somewhat wary gaze at Charlotte Rhodes.

Leo Linden was young and didn’t understand the delicate relationships between adults.

He threw his arms around Sean Harrison’s neck and said, "Daddy, I was chatting with Grandma. I told her all about our trip, and she said I wasn’t being loud."

"I see." Sean Harrison held his son protectively. "Let’s get going."

Watching the big and small versions of the father and son before her, Charlotte Rhodes was filled with an indescribably complex mix of emotions.

Leo Linden waved at Charlotte Rhodes. "Bye-bye, Grandma."

Sean Harrison said nothing more and carried Leo Linden out the door.

The father and son stood in the hallway.

Leo Linden, still hugging Sean Harrison’s neck, asked in a small voice, "Daddy, can I tell you something?"

"What is it?"

Sean Harrison looked at his son.

The hallway was mostly empty.

Leo Linden pressed his little mouth to the man’s ear and whispered, "I like you a lot, Daddy, but I like Mommy more."

Sean Harrison looked at his son’s small, innocent face, a hint of confusion on his own.

He didn’t know why his son would say that.

Leo Linden pursed his little lips before saying, "I was really happy on our trip these last few days, but I know Mommy and Daddy are still going to live separately. I’d rather live with Mommy."

He thought for a moment, then added very seriously, "Don’t worry, I’ll protect Mommy for you."

The little boy was only four this year, but he spoke like a miniature adult.

"There you are."

After finishing her work, Rory Linden had wandered the hallway for a bit before spotting the father and son standing in a corner.

She hurried over to them and looked at Sean Harrison. "I just left Leo alone in Auntie Rhodes’s room. He didn’t say anything out of line, did he?"

She was still worried about Charlotte Rhodes’s condition.

"Grandma really likes me," Leo Linden said seriously. "I told her about the last few days, and she was very happy listening."

Sean Harrison saw that the woman had already taken off her white coat and asked, "Are you done with work?"

"Yes."

Rory Linden walked over and reached up to ruffle her son’s fluffy short hair.

The man’s ink-black eyes lowered to look at the woman before him. "Let’s go home."

Home.

Rory Linden froze for a moment when she heard that word.

She looked at the big and small versions of the father and son gazing at her with almost the exact same expression, and said with a smile, "Yes, let’s go home."

’Actually, now that Evan Hollis has been caught, she and Leo Linden could, by all rights, move out of the man’s villa. But during the trip these past few days, they had seemed like a normal family of three. Leo Linden even liked to hold both of their hands when he walked. She just couldn’t bear to see her son heartbroken.’

The three of them returned to the villa together by car.

After dinner, Sean Harrison took the initiative to help his son bathe, change his clothes, and finally, put him to bed.

Meanwhile, Rory Linden took her tablet to the lounge area by the first-floor French windows, found a well-lit spot on the sofa, and began to read some research papers.

She wasn’t sure how much time had passed before the faint sound of slippers shuffling against the carpet brought her back to her senses.

She followed the sound with her eyes.

Sean Harrison was walking over from the direction of the living room.

The man was wearing a bathrobe and carrying a bone china teacup.

He slowly walked to her side and bent over to place the teacup on the small coffee table in front of her.

Since the coffee table was less than a meter high, the light, silk bathrobe he was wearing drooped slightly as he bent down to set down the cup.

The same muscular lines as years ago were suddenly displayed before her eyes, catching her completely off guard.