As Abbadon would say, "Communicate, you morons!" It seemed like neither of them had a brain. The story seemed to have a lot of far-fetched situations and atypical reactions by the characters just to move the plot along. If the sister knew the ML wanted Julia, why did she allow her idiot husband to repeat a bunch of stupid gossip and suppositions and not correct him. Also, it had that really annoying Neels trope of the two sisters deciding what was best for the FL, which coincidentally lined up with their own interest and convenience. "I need money, so it's in your best interest to sell the house." Greedy and selfish, much?
An Independent Woman