A Reborn Bride Pearl Emerging from Dust by Sally Garcia

"Lisette, since you brought it up, we'll just be honest with you," Horatio said, not bothering to sugarcoat it.

"Yeah, we've already moved your stuff into the smaller room. We thought you'd put up a fight, honestly. Didn't expect you to go along with it so easily. That's great!” He nodded, as if this was a perfectly reasonable arrangement.

Valerian chimed in, "From now on, you'll have the small room. Horatio's room will go to Callie. It's not really fair for Horatio to squeeze in there, so you two are swapping."

"Lisette, you're so mature about all this," Monty added, looking at her with what he probably thought was a proud, fatherly smile. "We should've checked with you first, though. You're not upset, are you?"

Lisette just stood there. Upset? Was she even allowed to say she was upset? She wasn't their real daughter. She knew that if she acted out of line, they'd just see her as ungrateful.

She forced a smile, though she felt sick inside. "Of course not. Why would I be upset? It makes sense for Callie to have the bigger room. I'm just grateful you all took me in at all. I mean, I'm adopted, having a small room is no big deal."

for a flicker of sympathy from any of

"Honestly, I'm the adopted one. I probably shouldn't even be living here. If I'm causing problems, maybe

floor, as if she really felt guilty. "If you'd known it'd be

looked at Callie,

Don't blame Dad and my brothers for being kind to me. It's just... they felt bad for me because I didn't have

that she was adopted, knowing it always made Monty and

Callie would stay quiet, but not this time. Just as Monty and the others were starting to look a little guilty, Callie finally spoke up, voice sharp from

you think the Jewell family hasn't been good enough to you?" Callie's words cut through the

keep bringing up being adopted? Haven't we all treated you like family? Or is

you should at least treat us like it. Even blood relatives