"You first—" George, still in a happy mood, displayed a rare moment of gentlemanly conduct.
"To avoid burdening the family, I aborted the child..." Mary spoke calmly, her voice trailing off towards the end.
As a Christian, she had just recently lamented the passing of another believer's daughter, and now she had personally snuffed out a small life.
This action made her feel somewhat guilty.
"This..." George's happy expression vanished as he clearly heard what his wife said.
He looked up, staring at his wife's familiar face, his ears disbelieving.
Just then, Connie, who had arrived at the door and was about to knock, also heard her daughter's words.
Her hand froze mid-knock...
After a long sigh, Connie turned and retreated with a complex expression.
However, feeling a bit dazed, she accidentally bumped into a chair in the hallway as she left, making a loud noise.
"Missy! Go back to sleep. Now."
In the room, George, not knowing how to react, heard the commotion outside and shouted loudly, as if to vent all the frustration in his heart.
Missy, who had a history of playing in the hallway late at night, inexplicably took the blame for Connie this time.
Soon after, the hallway fell silent, and George also calmed down a bit. He looked at his wife and asked, "Why?"
Since things had come to this, he only wanted to hear his wife's explanation directly.
They had clearly discussed it yesterday, and George had explicitly expressed that he wanted this child.
"No why." Mary shook her head and said calmly, "Isn't this better?"
In Mary's view, having a child was her personal matter. Now, by aborting the child for the sake of the family, she felt she was making an even greater sacrifice.
Thinking this, the more she thought about it, the more reasonable it seemed.
It seemed to be true; without the burden, Mary kept her job at the church, and George no longer had such great financial pressure.
Plus, George's weekly salary had increased.
Now, the couple's combined weekly salary was eight hundred dollars, much higher than when George had his highest salary in the football team before.
Calculated this way, the Coopers' lives seemed to be getting better and better.
But looking at his wife's calm demeanor, George only felt that she was so unfamiliar.
Then, losing the desire to communicate, he turned his back and lay down on the bed.
Meanwhile, Connie, who had secretly left the Cooper family's house, curled up on her sofa as soon as she returned home.
She couldn't understand why her daughter had made such a big decision for the family without discussing it with her.
"What happened? Connie." Seeing her return looking as if she were exhausted, Mike poured a glass of water and asked with concern, "Is it that Mary doesn't believe stocks can make money? Actually, I can list my bank statements from the past few months for her to reference first..."
Stocks were considered a new industry at the time, so it was normal for people who didn't understand them to feel distrustful.
"It's not about stocks." Connie interrupted Mike and said, "It's Mary, she aborted the child..."
Connie, feeling gloomy, now really wanted to confide in someone. So, she blurted out all the news she had heard.
"How could this happen?" Mike also didn't expect Mary to be so decisive this time.
"Forget it, let's not talk about it. Grandma is tired, I'm going to rest." Thinking of this upsetting matter, Connie felt emotionally exhausted.
Saying this, she got up and walked towards her room. At the door, she turned back and reminded him, "Oh, right, let this matter go. Don't mention it at the Cooper family's house again."
"Understood," Mike nodded knowingly.
Sensitive issues concerning family members like this could easily cause family conflicts.
...
However, that night, George, who was usually open-minded and cheerful, still suffered from insomnia.
Subsequently, for the next few days, feeling depressed, he also started a schedule of leaving early and returning late, often missing family dinners at home.
By Friday, even Missy noticed her dad's unusual behavior these past few days.
During dinner, seeing her father absent again, she cautiously asked, "Mom? Is Dad not wanting us anymore?"
Hearing the little girl's innocent words, several pairs of eyes simultaneously looked at Mary.
Children, with their simpler minds, are generally more sensitive to changes in the family atmosphere.
Even Sheldon, who usually didn't pay much attention to such things, noticed that something was wrong between his parents.
"No, it's nothing..." Mary forced a smile and comforted the children, "Your father is just very busy with work lately, it will be fine after a while."
Children are simple-minded, very sensitive, and easy to fool.
Indeed, the Cooper family children all relaxed after hearing their mother's explanation.
Only Sheldon still looked a bit puzzled.
As far as he knew, his dad's sporting goods store had very fixed working hours every day, and there was no possibility of overtime.
It made sense; who would go buy sporting goods late at night for no reason?
However, out of trust in his mother, Sheldon didn't think about it any further.
On the other side, Connie, hearing Mary's explanation, gave her a deep look, shook her head slightly, and said nothing more.
Coincidentally, just as dinner ended at the Cooper family's, George returned smelling of alcohol.
"Hurry back to your rooms and rest." Mary quickly sent the children away, then pulled her husband aside and questioned him, "What's wrong with you?"
George, already eight parts drunk, said casually, "Dale gave me such a big raise, is there a problem with me going out for a drink with him?"
He was very unhappy about his wife's previous unilateral decision.
Moreover, George had seriously thought about it on the night he had insomnia, and he realized that his wife's decision was likely because he wasn't earning enough money.
And realizing that the responsibility might lie with him, George felt very stifled and useless.
So, with a heavy heart, he could only go out to drown his sorrows in alcohol.
Of course, a large part of the reason was that he didn't want to come back and face his estranged wife.
"Even if Dale gave you a raise, you shouldn't have drunk so much with him." Mary knew well the reason for her husband's current state.
After scolding him, she didn't bring up the alcohol again, but changed the subject, saying, "The church is planning the Christmas event, and I'll be very busy this weekend. So, Missy and the others will be in your care for the next two days."
Because the church's previous Halloween event was very successful, Pastor Jeff entrusted Mary with planning this Christmas event as well.
"You go ask Connie if she has time to look after Missy and them..." George shook his muddled head and said, "I have to work overtime at the store this weekend. I need to be worthy of the raise Dale gave me."
"Why? Just for a hundred dollar raise in weekly salary, he makes you work overtime on the weekend..." Mary said indignantly.
George's previous weekly salary was three hundred fifty dollars for five days of work, but now it increased to four hundred fifty dollars for seven days of work.
Calculated by hourly wage, there was no difference from not getting a raise at all.
So, Mary's angle of criticism was spot on. Just as she was about to argue with her husband further, she found that he had already started snoring.
...
Weekend, Regina's house.
After another week of practice, the girls could now cooperate well and sing the new song.
However, when it came to instrumental performance, besides Karen on the drums, the other three girls' instrument skills were not up to par.
Especially "Queen Bee" Regina, after all this time, her guitar skills still hadn't even reached beginner level.
"We'll talk about instrumental performance later, let's go to the recording studio first to record the demo." Mike, understanding the girls' situation, gave the next instruction.
There were professional musicians in the recording studio to create the background music.
Once the master tape was ready, the girls could just practice lip-syncing with the accompaniment.
After all, the school's Christmas party was about atmosphere, and the professional requirements weren't that high.