I Was His Wife, Then His Widow, Then No One's But My Own novel Chapter 271

Nora crouched down slowly, leveling her gaze with Cassie's.

"No, I've just been a little busy lately."

The moment she heard that, Cassie's face fell. Her lips jutted out in a deep pout, her voice practically trembling with grievance. "You say you're busy, but then why did you bring her out to play? You don't have time to visit Dad, and you don't have time to visit me, but you have time to go shopping for dresses with her?"

The more she spoke, the more justified she felt. It was all her mother's fault.

Nora's expression remained perfectly composed. "Because Bonnie and I happened to run into each other today. It's the weekend, and I have to keep the promises I made to her."

Cassie opened her mouth to argue, but there didn't seem to be any holes in her mother's logic. If they really just ran into each other and it was a prior promise, shopping together made sense.

Even though she still felt a knot of discomfort in her chest, she couldn't find a reason to keep throwing a tantrum.

Seraphina Shaw walked up from behind, stopping right behind Cassie. She rested a hand gently on the girl's shoulder and smiled at Nora.

Her smile was warm and perfectly polite, her tone brimming with feigned indignation on Cassie's behalf. "Nora, that's simply not right. No matter how busy you are, you can't neglect your own flesh and blood. Abandoning your own daughter to coax someone else's kid—how does that sound reasonable to anyone?"

Cassie's slightly calmed emotions instantly flared back to life at those words.

She looked up at Seraphina, then back at Nora, her eyes swimming with renewed hurt and anger.

Cassie froze. Then, as if suddenly realizing something, she whipped her head toward Bonnie, a fresh layer of disgust in her eyes.

Seraphina was right. Bonnie had accused Seraphina of trying to ruin things with her mom, but wasn't Bonnie actually the one trying to ruin Cassie's relationship with Seraphina?

She looked Bonnie up and down, her gaze landing on the fluffy pink tutu in the other girl's hands. Cassie let out a harsh scoff, her voice dripping with disdain.

"You're too old to be liking such a babyish pink color. It's embarrassing. I stopped wearing stuff like that ages ago. The clothes Seraphina buys me are cool and edgy. Only total losers wear what you're holding."

Bonnie's eyes instantly welled with tears. She looked down at her favorite new dress—the one she had spent ages picking out, with its pretty little floral patterns and lace trim.