The Reclaimed Rose (Annalise and Steven)

Jessica said icily, "I can care for Cody, don't worry."

Gary hadn't expected Jessica to change so much since the last time they met, which wasn't that long ago. He'd assumed she would be as gullible as before.

He suddenly felt helpless and glanced at Julia, who snapped, "She must be bluffing! She probably thinks that by telling us all this, we'd be cornered and agree to let her reconcile with Casper!"

Jessica overheard their exchange but did not mind it. She countered coolly, "No, that's not it. I only married Casper because I thought marrying rich was easier than getting a job.

"I figured I wouldn't have the life I wanted if I lived paycheck to paycheck, so I pinned my hopes on a wealthy man who could provide for me. But now that I've made money through my own hard work, I realized it isn't as hard as I thought."

Now, it was Julia's turn to be speechless.

At last, Jessica said, "Whatever fanciful life you had does not appeal to me anymore. It just seems ordinary at this point. So, go ahead and do whatever you want. Don't worry about me.

"I'll be meeting with Casper later, and I could talk him into returning to the family if that's what you want. But only if you promise not to bother me or my son again. I'm living the life I want now, and I'm happy."

Gary was skeptical. "You'll talk to Casper for us?"

"Yes." Jessica pointed out, "You might not believe this, but... Casper no longer attracts me as he once did."

She hung up after that and caressed her baby bump. Back when she was living off her savings, she would worry about running out of money no matter how much she had in the bank.

Now that her savings had gone up because of her hard work, her confidence blossomed. She couldn't help but wonder if her life would

have been different had she stuck

with Casper during her poorest days.

A chuckle escaped her. She reckoned she wouldn't be much better off relying on Casper. After all, she had been with Steven at the time, too.

If Jessica had married Steven, she might end up in the same boat as Annalise. In all fairness, the latter suffered a worse fate than she did. It seemed Jessica had been lucky.

Jessica would have been miserable regardless of which man she chose to be with. The only way she could rewrite her life was through her own hard work.

Now that Jessica had accomplished that, she knew her future would be bright, and each day would be better than the last.

Gary and Julia stared at the phone, somewhat stumped by Jessica abruptly hanging up on them. They exchanged a look, and after a while, they called Casper.

Casper put the call through, but he was annoyed. His parents had bombarded him with phone calls for the last few days, and it was getting on his nerves. As such, he decided he would take a stand against his parents today before they got the idea that he was a pushover.

Gary snapped, "I told you Jessica was bad news, but you wouldn't listen! I just got

off the phone with her, and you wouldn't believe how rude she was to me!"noveldrama