“My head hurts! It feels like the world is spinning!” Joanna Bennett reached out to rub her temples, feeling darkness engulfing her vision. She couldn’t even open her eyes. Was this the end of her life? But maybe it wasn’t such a bad thing. With Ethan Fletcher gone, she had no attachments left in this world. Who knows? Perhaps she would meet him at the Bridge of Helplessness in the afterlife and finally repay him for his kindness.
“What nonsense! How unfair!” a voice cut through her thoughts.
“Joanna Bennett, look around and see which family dotes on their sister-in-law as much as ours!”
“I, Hannah Lawrence, haven’t had a day of peace since marrying into this family. I’ve worked like a mule, and now I’m being blamed for speaking out!”
“I’m telling you, if she doesn’t marry, your father will die on his deathbed without peace!”
“What heartlessness! I’m taking Grace back to my mother’s house!”
Joanna Bennett felt like she was in a dream. How could she be hearing her sister-in-law’s voice? Was it about her niece Grace again? She had already clarified that it was impossible to arrange a position for him. Were they still not giving up? It looked like she’d have to have a serious talk with them.
Just as she was about to get up, her heavy body pulled her back to the bed. She felt old and useless. As she was about to speak, a harsh voice interrupted her thoughts.
“Enough! You’re babbling like an old hag. It’s not your place to interfere in Bennett family matters.”
Wait… wasn’t that her second brother’s voice? But hadn’t he passed away two years ago? Could it be that she, Joanna Bennett, was already in the afterlife, reunited with her family?
People say troublemakers live long, but she wondered how her robust second sister-in-law had died. Was she still causing trouble even in death?
“That’s enough. Both of you. And you, Second Brother, your choice is truly disappointing.”
“Our little sister is at least a high school student; we can’t just send her off to suffer in that kind of family. Even if I were in the underworld, I’d have no way to explain this to our mother.”
That was her older brother. That was his voice. Joanna Bennett seemed to hear her big brother speaking. But hadn’t he and his wife died twenty years ago? Was this really a family reunion?
Joanna rubbed her aching head. She wanted to ask for a glass of water, but she wasn’t sure if the housekeeper had arrived yet. Blinking her eyes open, she expected to see the familiar white ceiling and bright lights.
Instead…
Dim light, wooden beams overhead, and when she turned her head, she saw a mud-brick wall. Was she hallucinating?
Joanna reached out her hand. Though she had taken care of herself in her later years, she could never fully erase the hardships of her youth, marked on her hands by time. But these weren’t her old hands; they were slender, with well-proportioned joints.
Struggling, Joanna propped herself up and saw an old-fashioned dressing table beside her. It was the one her elder brother had made when she was young. The square mirror on it was still the old-fashioned type with a wire frame.
She looked closer. Wasn’t this how she looked when she was seventeen or eighteen?
Could it be she was alive again?
Could the voices she just heard be those of her parents?
Wait a minute. Does that mean her father was still alive?
With that thought, Joanna struggled to stand. She had to see him. In her past life, Joanna Bennett had been spoiled for over a decade by her father, Daniel Bennett. But when Daniel fell seriously ill, he arranged for Joanna to marry a stranger. She had always resented him for that.
How tragic.
When she heard that her father was marrying her off to a crude, disabled man, she could only see his greed for the five-hundred-dollar dowry. Later, she truly believed her stepmother’s words that her father wanted to find a wife for his fourth son before he died. In her anger, Joanna had said many harsh things, only for her father to pass away shortly after.
After marrying into the Fletcher family, she was constantly tested and tormented. Ethan Fletcher rarely came home, always cold and distant. Worse, he sent pictures from the army, one with him and a young girl from the art troupe.
In her despair, Joanna ran away with a young man from the village. But a tragic accident on a slippery road caused her to lose their unborn child. Joanna vividly remembered Ethan’s livid face at that moment. But whenever she thought of how his sisters treated her, his mother’s scoldings, and Ethan’s indifference, she stubbornly believed she was not in the wrong.
In the end, she divorced him and wandered alone for over a decade.
It wasn’t until Ethan found her again that the complicated second half of her life began.
Although that story was for another time.
Now, Joanna was determined to visit her father, to apologize sincerely for her immaturity and inability to understand his heartache.
“Crash—”
As she struggled to stand, her weak arm knocked a porcelain cup off the table, its crisp sound ringing out as it shattered on the floor.
“Joanna is awake.”
“Go check on her, quick.”
Hearing the commotion, people outside the house rushed in like bees.
As soon as the door opened, the cold winter wind swept in with the crowd, making Joanna shiver.
It was then that she began to observe the people before her.
“Little sister, are you feeling any better?”
The person who spoke was Paul Bennett, the eldest in the family. Standing beside him with a worried expression was his wife, Maria Martin. Joanna remembered they had three daughters.
Evelyn Bennett, fifteen years old. Candy Bennett, ten years old. Olivia Bennett three years old.
“That’s right, little sister. Don’t listen to your second sister-in-law’s nonsense. Just focus on recovering,” said her second brother, George Bennett, who guessed she must have heard the quarrel outside and was trying to get up.
With that, George shot a stern look at the woman next to him.
She, who had been about to speak, now sulkily closed her mouth. It was, of course, Hannah Lawrence, his wife.
Behind them were their two daughters and young son:
Sophia Bennett, sixteen years old.
Lauren, Charlie, eight years old.
Benjamin Bennett, four years old.
Further back stood their third brother, Paul Bennett, and his wife, Rachel Wendy, with their two sons peering in through the doorway:
Matthew Bennett, twelve years old.
Lucas Bennett, six years old.
The absent fourth brother, Grant Bennett, was twenty years old.
Joanna looked at these faces, all younger than she remembered, and for a moment, she couldn’t comprehend it.
“I’m fine. Where’s Dad? How is he?”
Once she came back to herself, Joanna began asking anxiously, tears uncontrollably streaming down her face.
“Don’t worry, little sister. Dad is alright.”
George spoke up, his mouth twitching.
“What do you mean ‘alright’? He’s lying in bed, barely hanging on.”
Hannah Lawrence spoke irritably. Her mother-in-law had passed away years ago. She had served this family tirelessly ever since she married in. Now, she would have to take care of this old man too.
“Hannah Lawrence. If you don’t know how to speak, leave. Second Brother, keep your wife in line.”
Paul, the eldest sibling, still commanded respect. Amidst the commotion, Hannah realized she had angered him and quietly slipped off to the side.
“Sneaking off to the side.“The doctor from the clinic said it’s a head injury. He bandaged it up and told us we’ll have to wait and see if he regained consciousness,” Emily, the elder sister-in-law, explained worriedly.
Their father-in-law served as the village’s local doctor. In addition to earning his daily labor points, he brought in a little extra income by treating the villagers. He was undoubtedly the breadwinner of the family.
