America 1982.

Chapter 29 Dad's Slight Abnormality

Bethea's foster home is located in a residential area in downtown Providence. The environment is quiet, with large areas of greenery, and is close to parks and the Providence River.

It was an English-style detached house with five bedrooms and six bathrooms. In addition to a garden and a swing in the backyard, there was also a small boardwalk leading to the river. In the summer, the family could row a boat on the sparkling river and go fishing.

When Tommy Hawke and his two sons arrived, Bethia was already wearing the same pink Betty Boop costume as Tony, holding a stuffed doll from "Diaper Crew" in her hands. She was waiting outside the door, accompanied by her foster mother Monica and two pet dogs, and excitedly waved at the Hawke family's pickup truck.

When they parked their car in the public parking space, Tony and Tommy actually felt a little embarrassed. Looking around, they could see that there were no high-powered pickup trucks for cargo and passenger vehicles that were the favorite of blue-collar workers in the entire residential area. Instead, there were luxury SUVs with surfboards on the roof or yacht hooks on the back of the car. They did not need any external reminders. Just by getting out of the car, they could intuitively feel that the three people from the Hawke family who were at the bottom of society did not fit in here.

When Colin Hawke jumped out of the car, Bethia at the door shouted, "Daddy!"

Then, he ran over nimbly like a strong and sunny little deer and threw himself heavily into his father's arms!
Colin Hawke picked up Bethia with a loving look on his face, lifted her up above his head and spun her around in circles: "Bethia, my sweet girl! How have you been this week?"

"She insisted on wearing Betty Boop." Foster mother Monica slowly came over from behind. She did not interrupt the intimacy between the two. She just smiled and said, "She also insisted on changing the plan to go to the park in the morning to the afternoon. I didn't understand it before, but when I saw Tony and Tommy, I understood her insistence."

"Good afternoon, Mrs. Hopkins, thank you for taking care of Bethea." Dad, Tony, and Hawke all spoke politely to each other at the same time.

The 42-year-old woman in front of him was a senior partner in a local accounting firm. Her husband, Reid Hopkins, ran a dental clinic. Their biological daughter had grown up and was attending New York University with a full scholarship. Let's put it this way, the two pet dogs raised by this family were richer than the three members of the Hawke family at that time.

After all, the two pet dogs enjoy the treatment of being served a bath twice a week at the pet hospital and being taken away by the pet doctor for regular physical examinations every month. However, the two brothers of the Hawke family no longer know what unlimited hot water and dentists mean since their father lost his job at General Motors and Ford.

"Daddy~Why are only Tony and Tommy wearing the coat I mentioned?" Bethia giggled as her father supported her, then looked at the three of them with her soft and bright eyes and asked.

"OK~ Come down, baby girl." Colin Hawke carefully put his daughter down, then took off his coat and threw it to Tony, revealing the T-shirt underneath. From the front, it was just an ordinary white T-shirt, but when he took off the coat and exposed the back, he could see a graffiti of Betty Boop and the Diaper Clan printed on it, and there was also crooked children's handwriting below:

"Bethea Hawke and her family."

Monica covered her mouth to avoid losing her composure, and then she exclaimed with a moved face: "Oh, you printed the painting that Bethea gave you last time on a T-shirt? Great, Mr. Hawke, I am so touched."

"Do you like it, Bethea? This was drawn by my precious daughter herself, so of course I have to carry it with me." Colin Hawke proudly turned around in front of Bethea, enjoying his daughter's surprised expression with pride on his face.

While his back was turned to Bethea, Dad did not forget to look at Tony and Tommy, especially Tommy, and said in the same disdainful tone as he had in the car: "Family comes first, huh?"

Tommy Hawke could only shrug and make a winning gesture to his father.

There was a park next to the residential area, and Bethea was eager to go to the park to show off her diaper family to everyone.

Monica handed Colin Hawke a handbag of vitamins, drinking water, biscuits, snacks, yogurt and other children's products that she had prepared long ago, and reminded him of Bethea's precautions. However, Colin Hawke hesitated for a moment, and turned around to call Tommy Hawke, who was tossing his sister with Tony: "Son, come here. I had insomnia last night and I'm worried that you can't remember clearly. Come and listen with me."

Tony was left to play with Bethia. Tommy came over with some doubts. Monica looked at Tommy and said, "The weather is a bit dry today. Observe her lips for about half an hour. If they are a little dry, remember to let her drink water. There is a lip balm for children. Remember to let her take vitamins at four o'clock, so that she will..."

After spending a few minutes listening to Monica's serious instructions, the father and his two sons took Bethia to the park to play.

He didn't know if it was an illusion, but Tommy Hawke felt that his father seemed to be intentionally or unintentionally letting him spend more time alone with Bethia, which made him feel a little abnormal.

Bethea is the apple of her father Colin Hawke's eye. The status she holds in his heart is totally unmatched by his two sons. In order to ensure that he can spend all his time with Bethea, he even didn't allow Tony and himself to accompany her on visits.

With doubts in his heart, Tommy asked Tony while his father took Bethea to buy ice cream: "Tony, do you think it is possible that Dad has a terminal illness and is about to die?"

"Really?" Tony turned his head to look at his father in the distance, then looked at Tommy with a look of seeing a ghost: "I don't think it's possible."

"Why? Why are you so sure?" Tommy looked at his brother suspiciously.

Tony shrugged. "I don't think if I had a terminal illness and was about to go to see God, I would be in the mood to go to a strip club and drink. Last night, he worked overtime until the early hours of the morning and went to a strip club with his friends and got drunk. I received a call from the club and drove him home."

"Well, your reason is very sufficient. I hope I am overthinking it." Seeing Tony's extremely determined expression, Tommy said in a low voice.

Tony was curious: "What do you mean by overthinking? What did Dad do to make you curse his impending death? Did he do the five-finger exercise on your poster collection but didn't clean it up?"

"No, I gave the poster to Dennis. Do you think Dad seemed to have spared a lot of time today for me and Bethia to play alone? This is very unusual. Before, he wanted to glue Bethia to his head with glue." Tommy expressed his doubts to Tony.

Tony nodded slightly, then patted Tommy's shoulder: "Maybe he hopes that you can spend more time with your sister before you go to college and leave here."

"I'll bring Bethea home before I get into college." Tommy exhaled, as if he was talking to Tony, but also as if he was talking to himself.

Bethea was waving her ice cream in the distance and shouting the names of her two brothers. Tony ran slowly towards Bethea, turned his head and smiled at Tommy who had caught up with him:

"I'm more confident that you will become an X-Man and make coffee for Professor Charles Xavier in the bathroom than what you said."

(End of this chapter)