That very same day, Briar received the promised monthly wifey allowance of B$500,000 plus an additional allowance, which Logan told her that it was a wedding gift.
That alone made her so shy that she could barely look at him afterwards.
Due to her impending journey to see her brother, the two of them didn't share this news with the children, Logan's kids, on that day but decided to share the news when she returned from seeing her brother.
Briar didn't find anything wrong with that. In fact, she was glad to receive a grace period of straightening her words. That way, when the kids confront her, she will know what to say. She didn't want all the effort she put into making them like her to vanish just because her status had changed from nanny to stepmother.
She had invested so much in the family to lose it all, just for that.
Besides, there were a few things which she needed to do before she could relievedly say that she was married.
Although it was just a fake marriage, in Logan's eyes. To her, this was a marriage. Her first and last marriage. There was no way she was going to marry another man. In her mind, soul, and heart, Logan was and would always be the man and perfect husband for her, despite his shortcomings.
In her love-brain eyes, he was perfect and deserved to be treated like a king.
That same night, Briar packed her clothes under the tearful eyes of Tiana, Logan's youngest daughter and her favorite.
Tiana was very cute and since she raised her from day one until now, when she was seven years old, Tiana felt more like her daughter than that woman's.
However, there was nothing that she could do about the fact that she was returning home except to comfort and coax the little girl for a very long time.
The next day, Briar left home before Tiana could wake up and it was Logan who sent her to the airport. She wanted to take the bus, but Logan booked a flight for her, and she was grateful for that.
When traveling on the plane, Briar saved a lot of time to travel. From Stardale to City Y where the domestic flight was ending, it was a mere an hour and a half hour. From city Y, she then took a connecting bus to the small city called Ascot, where her brother was hospitalized and also lived.
Her brother was no longer staying in the village. It's been eight years. Even her parents plus the siblings who hadn't gotten married moved into the city as well.
And that journey took her almost two hours, but having money in her account, she wasn't as depressed as she was before.
However, the pressure all came down on her as she sat in the cab, taking her to the hospital. When she thought of the people that she was going to see there, her eyes flashed with a glint of viciousness for a brief second before calmness replaced them.
'Cool down, B. No matter what, you can't explode. Remember that you are a good girl and good girls don't fuss up or act like shrews!' Briar closed her eyes as she started meditating on a familiar mantra, something that she had conjured up when she was fifteen years old.
Moving from Silos Spring, a small village with less than five hundred people, to a bigger city like Stardale, where millions of people stayed, maintaining her village traits wasn't going to take her anywhere. Especially since she was in love with a city man who was so rich and classy, she had to upgrade and level up.
However, at times, there come moments when that explosiveness that she had hidden for a very long time just wanted to jump out and reveal her inner self. It was moments like that when she started meditating and suppressing the small devil in her that wanted to mess with her plans.
Nonetheless, the mantra didn't seem to work at all, as once she stepped into the hospital, all hell broke loose.
"Didn't you say that it will take you two days to find the money? Why are you here so early?" a shrewish voice rang in her ears, so loud that it sounded as if someone was hitting bells and drums in her ears.
Briar glared at the woman yelling and speaking to her so sarcastically the first second that they met. How could she keep her temper when she was getting tested as soon as arrived in place?
The woman, seeing Briar glaring at her, flinched for a second before she collected herself, and raised her head high like a peacock seeking attention.
"Unfilial bastard! Is that how you look at the mother who suffered so much to bring you into this world?" suddenly the woman started yelling, her hands on her waist as her saliva flew everywhere. "Just because you work in a bigger city, do you now look down on this pitiful mother of yours?"
"Huh!" Briar was so angry that if she was a chimney, the spectating nurses, doctors and other people moving about would have seen her face turn red and emitting smoke.
Looking at her shameless mother. The mother who barely did her duties and nearly starved her to death just because she was a girl acting like crazy as if she owed her, Briar for the umpteenth time in her life, she felt like putting a sack over the other's head and pummel her big time.
She just never understood what was wrong with her.
Right now, in the whole family, she is the person earning and supporting everyone. The majority of her salary was sent to her family even though they shamelessly sold her to Selena, Logan's deceased wife when she was just fifteen.
For some cash, to take care of the younger siblings and her brother Benjamin, who at that time was supposed to get married, they didn't hesitate but packaged her away to a different city where she knew no one.
On top of that, they played the filial card to her every day and all the money she had earned was all eaten by them as well.
Now she just arrived, and yet there was no word of concern about how she had traveled. She didn't even bother to ask. Not only that but there weren't any welcoming greetings at all.
Other parents, whenever they saw their children, would welcome them with open arms, hugs and kisses, and yet her mother welcomed her in such an infuriating manner.
What was she trying to imply by saying all those words?
Was she trying to say that her brother didn't matter, or did she find the money pretty quickly? Just what did she want to say, exactly?
"Mother!" Briar seeing that her mother might cause a series of dramas if let be, she called the other with gritted teeth, her glare issuing a warning. 'If you don't stop, you will be in for some hot soup!'
This time, her mother didn't say a word but hmphed at her before she walked away as if she wasn't the person who was causing trouble.
Seeing her mother walking away, Briar followed along, ignoring the glares directed at her. Some were judging, some had pitiful gazes, and some just looked complicated. But what did that matter to her?
Every family has its own problems, so why drag others into hers?
Briar and her mother went all the way to the ward where her brother Benjamin was currently and when she saw him lying there, bandaged from head to toe, tears automatically started falling on their own.
'How could he be so injured like that?' her heart ached as she walked towards him.
Her brother had always been strong and capable. Even in a fight, he would never come out scathed like that and yet there he was, looking like a mummy, and her mother didn't seem to care at all.
Briar shifted her attention from her brother as she wiped the tears streaming down her cheeks towards her mother before walking towards her with a fierce expression.
Her mother, seeing that, started unsteadily stepping backwards, her eyes quivering around showing fear and Briar knew that very moment, that her mother knew something.
"You …. What do you want to do?" her mother fearfully stammered, asking as she continued to back away, guilt visible in her tone and those darting eyes of hers.
And at that moment, Briar was certain.
"Mother, what did you do?" as she continued to push her mother into the corner, Briar coldly asked, a fiery gaze fixated on the other, leaving no room for any games.
If her mother had anything to do with what happened this time, she swears to the ancestors and spirits lingering around. This time, she was going to have a piece of her.
She had done enough damage.