Chapter 199: ASHLYN
Laurel was the first visitor, arriving exactly one week after the birth, at which point Ranon allowed them to see their baby.
"Ough, the smell!" Laurel protested when Hazel changed Ashlyn’s diapers. "How can a small baby shit so much?"
Laurel had never handled a newborn, because when she met with Carl, he had already been potty trained; thus, she didn’t need to deal with this kind of stuff.
"Go away, Laurel, if you will only badmouth my baby." Hazel threw the dirty diaper towards Laurel; of course, it had been folded neatly and was put into a plastic bag so the poop wouldn’t scatter on the floor, or else Renna would chew her out for her childish behavior.
"Hazel!" Laurel didn’t have a good reflex, so the dirty diaper brushed her hand, and she became hysterical. "Ah! It’s gross!"
Hazel chuckled when she saw Laurel rush to the toilet, but the smile on her face faded almost immediately when nobody saw her. She changed Ashlyn’s diapers without any emotion. It looked methodical, the same way you changed your clothes.
However, her gaze softened and the smile returned when Laurel came back after washing her hands.
"Are you done? Come, give me my dirty niece." Laurel stretched out her arms to get Ashlyn.
"She is not dirty," Hazel protested, but she handed over Ashlyn. "You should come with something. How can you come empty-handed?"
Hazel sat down and stared at the baby in Laurel’s arms. Even though their relationship couldn’t be said to be on good terms, Hazel could see how Laurel adored Ashlyn.
She wondered why she couldn’t feel the same.
She wanted to, but something held her back. She didn’t want to get too close to her daughter and become emotionally attached to her.
"Who said I came empty-handed?" Laurel raised her brows, while Ashlyn wriggled in her arms because she was uncomfortable. Laurel wasn’t used to holding a newborn, so the baby was in discomfort. "I bring toys with me."
"What toy?" Hazel looked at her. She was certain Laurel only came holding a small, expensive purse of hers, but she brought nothing else. "You only brought your ugly self here."
Hearing that, Laurel was shocked. "I am way older than you; how could you talk to me like that?"
"Serves you right for calling my daughter dirty."
Laurel was more than a decade older than Hazel, but as River, she was six years younger than her.
"The toys are downstairs; I can’t bring them all here."
"Them all?" Hazel repeated her words.
She had a bad feeling about it, and she was right; when she went down to check what kind of toys Laurel had bought for Ashlyn when she walked her back to her car, Hazel’s temper flared.
"Which toy store have you robbed?!’’
Meanwhile, Laurel just chuckled as she waved her hands. She bought the toys for her niece, but aside from that, she did it to piss Hazel off, too.
"I want to buy her a car toy, but she can’t drive yet."
"Don’t buy her anything!"
Seeing the number of toys in the lobby that Laurel had bought gave Hazel a headache.
The next day, it was Logan and her father who came to visit. Both of them bought toys and clothes for the baby. Good thing Hazel didn’t go crazy buying the baby’s stuff, because she got them a lot.
Logan liked Ashlyn and attempted to take her back home.
"Good, you can change her diapers too. She peed like a broken faucet." She then genuinely informed him. "She poops well, too."
That statement was enough to make Logan drop the idea of taking Ashlyn with him. "I will take her when she is already potty trained."
"Well, let’s see if she likes you enough to go out with you."
"Oh, he will love me so much more than your cold husband."
What Logan said reminded Hazel of Michael. There was a time when he said the same thing, too.
Meanwhile, Greyson didn’t speak much, but he held Ashlyn all the time, and Logan had to argue with him to carry her.
"Can we talk?" Greyson asked Hazel when he finally handed over the baby to Logan.
However, despite fussing over her, Logan didn’t know how to hold a newborn, so he put her down on the sofa and cooed at her.
"Sure." Hazel nodded. She knew Greyson would want to say something.
Both of them then walked towards the balcony, the last place they had a conversation. It was sunset out there; the sky had turned into a golden color, and it was beautiful.
Hazel was used to staying out here around this hour to enjoy the view.
"Congratulations." Greyson looked sincere when he said that; he walked towards the railing and leaned against it, watching the sunset. "I am sure you will be a good mother, and I hope you will have a smooth-sailing marriage."
"Thank you." Hazel sat down on her favorite chair. Her stomach was a little bit bloated after giving birth.
"I am glad you are fine," Greyson said again. He seemed to look for the right words to say to get his point across.
"You mean I could die on the operating table?" Hazel’s reply was curt; she didn’t even try to make it easy for Greyson. She watched how he grimaced, but Hazel couldn’t care less.
There were a lot of things in her mind to think about aside from accommodating his feelings.
"Has Ranon treated you well?"
"Better than the Roses." She was well aware that she was being snappy, but Greyson made it hard to like him.
Greyson pressed his lips. If it were in the past, he would have shouted at Hazel for giving him an attitude, but he was here to make amends with his daughter.
"Can we put the past behind us?"
"Sure." Hazel nodded. It was very easy; it didn’t sound convincing, as if she were mocking her father.
"Hazel, you have become a mother now." He lowered his head. "You should understand me a little bit."
"Now that I am a mother, I don’t even understand why you did that to me." Hazel felt disconnected from her daughter, but it didn’t mean she would neglect her. She wouldn’t do what Arthur had done to Hazel to Ashlyn.
"You are not grieving, Hazel. Everyone faced grief differently."
Hazel squinted her eyes dangerously. "Do you wish for me to die, and Ranon will treat our daughter the way you treated me?"
Even if she died, Ranon would still love Ashlyn. She could see it in his eyes, how much he adored his daughter.
Moreover, the thing between them was not even that serious. This sham marriage would end soon. She only needed time to recuperate and then deal with the legal proceedings.
"Even if I had died during childbirth, Ranon would never turn into someone like you." Hazel was a hundred percent certain about that.
Greyson didn’t know how to relay what he meant, while Hazel was not in the right mind and mood to understand him.
"I know." Greyson nodded. He looked exhausted. "That’s not what I meant." He didn’t want to talk about this further because he knew he would say the wrong thing, and it would upset Hazel even more. "Can I still come to see Ashlyn?"
"As long as you treat her well..."
***
"Tired?" Ranon asked when he had just put Ashlyn in her crib.
"Hm." Hazel lay down on her stomach. She moaned softly when Ranon started massaging her back. It felt very nice. He gave the right pressure on the right place.
"Hungry?"
"If you keep feeding me, I will have a hard time losing weight."
"You are breastfeeding Ashlyn; why do you need to lose weight?" She just gave birth a little over a week ago, but was she already thinking of losing weight?
They didn’t make a huge celebration for Ashlyn, as they didn’t like unnecessary attention, and more so, the baby had not yet understood either.
Therefore, they were planning a family dinner with both families next week. Just thinking about it was already exhausting for Hazel. Imagining the Leightons and the Roses in the same place was overwhelming.
She would skip the entire thing if she could.
"Don’t sleep yet; you need to pump." Ranon kissed her forehead and shook her body gently to wake her up, because she was so close to falling asleep. It was very comfortable after all.
Ranon was very involved with their daughter. Aside from the tasks he couldn’t do, such as feeding the baby, he would take care of the rest.
Oftentimes, he would be the one who woke up in the middle of the night and warmed the milk. That was why it was crucial to have enough stock for Ashlyn.
’I have a lot of spare time; you can go back to sleep.’ That was what Ranon said when Hazel woke up with him.
"Ugh, I feel like a cow." Hazel rubbed her eyes while Ranon prepared everything for her. But somehow she became a little bit self-aware because Ranon was there.
It was rather embarrassing for Hazel to do it in front of him.
Thankfully, Ashlyn needed his attention, as she needed to be changed; thus, Ranon had something else to do.
"Oh, right..." Hazel started a conversation. "About the divorce... What story will we come up with?"
Ranon had his back facing Hazel, so she didn’t see how he stopped his movement for a brief second upon hearing her question.