When Edric walked out of the room, he was smiling while looking at her.
"How is it?"
But instead of answering her directly, he said, "Don't worry. I already saved you from the trouble of explaining things to her."
Jane wanted to check it herself but he stopped her saying, "She wants to rest. Now, why don't you three go and choose your rooms?"
"What?!" Naomi cried in excitement.
"Did you convince her to stay?" Jane immediately ask him after she heard that.
"Obviously. And she wants me to stay here, too."
After receiving the confirmation, Naomi didn't wait for her siblings and she excitedly ran on the hallway and started opening the doors to check on the rooms.
There were four main rooms in this house excluding the Master's Bedroom where Mrs. Sanchez was resting and two guest rooms.
There were three maids and buttler's quarters too.
The four main rooms were sharing a toilet and bathroom and at the same time a connected wardrobe.
While there were two toilet and bath for the servants and one common toilet and bathroom on the first floor beside the kitchen.
Seeing her sister's enthusiasm and brother's semi-passive reaction, Jane still wanted to ask him.
"How did you convince Mama?"
"Does it matter how I did it?"
"Of course it matters." It was such a big deal for her.
But for Edric, it wasn't. The important thing was the end result, right?
But since she asked and made it such a big deal, Edric answered her question through telepathy.
'I told her that I'll be responsible of you. That something happened and I'll take full responsibility.'
"What?!" Jane suddenly blurted out which caught Anton's attention and looked at them.
However, when he did, he thought that both were acting strange.
Little did he know that Edric and Jane were actually having an argument.
'Are you insane?! Mama now thinks that we're a couple who have done couple things.'
'Does it matter? You're going to be my wife. Are you going to hide from them about this marriage?'
'Yes! We'll stay married for 365 days. And then after that, what will happen? Mama will treat you like her own son. And when she finds out that it seems to be a fake, she'll get hurt.'
'Jane, you're going to marry me. You knew I didn't come from an average family. Once I reveal our marriage, everyone in the circle will know. And it won't be long to reach that to your mother.'
To make his point clear, Edric even added, 'Do you think she'll be happy to know this from other people and not from you first? At least when everything's over, we'll just tell them that it didn't work out for us.'
Though Edric had a point, Jane was still upset about it.
"Fine. You win."
"Ate? What's going on?" Anton's sudden question broke them from off from their heated argument.
Hearing her brother's question, Jane turned to Anton and said, "It's nothing Anton. Go and choose your room."
"Any room's fine with me. As long this is not a prank."
Hearing Anton's response Edric frowned and then asked.
"What prank are you talking about? This is real. Not a prank."
After a moment, they were both done choosing their new rooms.
By three in the afternoon, Phil arrived together with the movers.
Sandro and Pedro helped them in unpacking their things and bring them to their chosen rooms.
There's not much to unpack, after all they didn't have much.
Now that they're settled, they started to get familiar with the house.
There was not much electronics in the house aside from the huge TV and the audio sytem sets in the living room and the smart appliances in the kitchen.
There were no computers and internet connection in the house. Which was essential for them because Naomi and Anton used them for studies.
So Phil called the internet provider to install everything on Monday. After that, he ordered computers from a trusted store online which were expected to arrive by Monday.
Jane was so busy with this sudden move that she had forgotten about Mr. Sandoval for the meantime.
Monday came and they patiently waited for Atty. Fernandez's phone call.
The three were all gathered around their mother as they waited for that call.
On the other hand, Edric decided to go to his chosen room to finalize the documents for their marriage.
Phil was left with them in the living room.
When the clock hits twelve, the phone rang.
Jane immediately answered it in a heartbeat. She put the phone on speaker so everyone could hear their conversation.
"Hello Attorney?"
"Miss Jane?" From his tone, he seemed to be troubled with something.
"Yes, it's me Attorney. How did it go?" Jane didn't beat around the bush and asked him immediately.
"The judge approved our motion. So I'm now here at the police station. But there's a problem."
"What problem?"
"They said your mother died from a heart attack last night."
"That's nonsense!" Jane could not hold back her surprise.
"That's what the Chief told me. They said they're trying to inform you but your neighbor said you have moved out."
Jane remained silent.
Mrs. Sanchez who was listening to the phone call finally spoke.
"Ahm Attorney. Are you still there at the police station?"
"Yes. But may I know who this is?" Since Attorney Fernandez had not meet Mrs. Sanchez, he was not familiar with her voice.
"This is Ann Sanchez."
"Oh! Missus Sanchez? I thought..." From how he reacted, he was really surprised by it.
"No! I'm not. Can you come over so we can discuss the case that I'm going to file against them?"
"Sure! Where are you?"
"My daughter will send you the location."
"Okay! I'll be waiting!"
When the call ended, the atmosphere in the room turned cold.
"Ahm, does everyone here wants some snacks?" Phil interrupted to break the mood.
So this was the plan. They wanted to declare her dead so Mr. Sandoval could have her to himself. And no one would look for her.
After all, who would want to look for a dead person?
"Mama. Are you okay?" Jane didn't forget to ask her.
"Yes, don't worry child. I'm fine."
"Don' worry Mama. I'll make each and everyone of them pay for this. We will get the justice that we deserved."
"Thank you Jane. I won't be able to survive this if not for you."
During this entire drama with Mr. Sandoval, Mrs. Ssnchez almost wanted to give up. She knew that his terms were impossible to meet.
But Jane, Jane showed no signs of giving up.
She had always been a fighter ever since she was a child.
She had no idea that the once starved child whom she had saved from that dark alley that night would bring so much inspiration to her.
"Don't thank me Mama. I didn't do much. It's Edric and Phil who find Attorney Fernandez out of the blue. When every lawyer in town turned their backs on us, they found him for us."
Phil who heard such compliments from Jane scratched the back of his head awkwardly.
He didn't expect to also get the credit, too. After all, he was only doing what he was asked to do.
"Okay. Phil, please send him the address."
"Okay, Jane."
While waiting for Attorney Fernandez, Jane decided to go and look for Edric.
She gently knocked on his door and entered after she heard him say 'Come in' from the inside.
She slowly opened the door and got inside.
"Jane. Take a seat. Is there anything you want?"
"Yes."
"What is it?"
"Show me Mr. Sandoval."
Edric then flashed a knowing smile and said, "I know you'd say that. Wait for me downstairs. We'll leave after five minutes."
Jane then walked out of the room and went downstairs to inform Mrs. Sanchez and her siblings that they'll be going somewhere.
"Where are you both heading to?"
"Ahm, we're going to the city hall to apply for our marriage license."
Yes, they had told them about this during dinner last night.
***
****Flashback****
Everyone was gathered around the dinning table to have their dinner.
Ever since Edric moved in to the house, he and her would always sit down together every meal.
The young ones had no idea what was going on and Mrs. Sanchez would throw silent glances at them.
Mrs. Sanchez frowned while looking at Edric and Jane.
"Jane? What's wrong?"
"Ahm...Mama, Edric and I have something to announce." Jane's voice was shaking as she was unsure about it.
"Oh, what is it?"
"Ahm..."
But before she could even continue what she was trying to say, Edric interrupted her and said, "I plan to marry your daughter within next week."
With Edric's honest and direct answer, Mrs. Sanchez almost choked on her food.
Jane immediately ran towards her and gave her a glass of water after seeing that the latter was coughing.
She gulped the water in one go and then looked at Edric who maintained a serious face while looking at her.
"What? Are you two serious?!" Anton was shocked to hear this.
"Yes Anton. I'm serious about marrying your sister."
"Ate? Did you agree?"
"Ye-s." Her answer came almost like a whisper.
"Do you even love each other?" Anton's question hit them both hard.
Jane looked at Anton and then to Edric and then back to Anton.
"Anton. I agree to his proposal because-"
"Young man, there are things that you haven't seen because we didn't want you both to see. However I can assure you that I'm sincere with your sister. My intentions for her are clear."
Before the situation would escalate, Mrs. Sanchez who had finally calmed down decided to intervene.
Of course she knew it would be awkward for these two to tell the younger ones about the main reason.
She had already seen this coming when Edric told her last time that he was taking full responsibility for the thing that had happened between them.
But this was too soon. Announcing their marriage was too soon. The fact that her daughter was already a grown up woman had not sunk in to her yet.
And now, they're asking for her blessing?
She's not even ready to let go of her daughter's hand yet.
These two were giving her a mini-heart attack.
"Ahm...can we discuss this topic after dinner? Edric, Jane, I want to talk to you both."
"Okay Mama."
Jane and Edric replied to her in unison.
After dinner, Mrs. Sanchez, Edric and Jane met up at her room to have a serious talk.
"Are you really serious about this marriage?"
"A hundred percent sure Mama." Edric was confident with his answer but she wanted to hear Jane, too.
"Yes. Mama."
"You know Jane, it's not too late to back down. I'm not going to force you into something you're uncomfortable with." Like every mother in the world, she only wanted to see Jane happy.
If she's uncomfortable with this, then even if Edric was very willing to marry Jane given the circumstances, she won't allow this marriage. She could tell that there's no love in those eyes.
In fairness, they looked good together.
But she could see that Edric was honest and sincere towards Jane and it did matter for her.
Looking at Mrs. Sanchez's serious face, Jane grabbed her hand and gently squeezed them.
"Don't worry Mama. I'm very sure of my decision. And I don't think he'll break his promise. He'll take good care of me."
Wow!
Jane could see in her peripheral vision that Edric was quite shocked by what she just did.
'What did you expect me to do? I'll always keep my promise. So please keep yours, too.' She told them through telepathy.
Jane was surprised when Edric's arms sneaked around her waist pulling her closer to him as he said, "Jane's right. As long as I'm alive, I'll take good care of her."
It may sounded as those promises but it held a different and much heavier meaning for Edric.
"Okay. Then you have my blessing."
***End of Flashback***