Her Seven Little Bodyguards

Jude was like a wrung-out sponge, and he was earnestly soaking up all the knowledge that he could get his hands on. It was not surprising that he jumped at the opportunity to learn from Vania, and he quickly nodded in agreement.

Vania leaped for joy and immediately started making plans to mold Jude in her image.

She announced with a smile, “Let me go get dinner ready for all of you, and we can have a study session together tonight.”

The four children all nodded in response.

Vania grew more blissful in their presence, and soon enough, she had chucked all her worries out the door as she focused on preparing dinner.

Jude had only been with them for a few days, and he was still fairly thin compared to the others, but he was beginning to look a lot livelier. His melancholic eyes had a touch of aloofness to them, and even at a young age, his looks were extraordinarily striking.

a little confused. He turned his puzzled eyes toward his three older brothers in an

was the first to respond. He sighed and sat on the couch. “Jude, you don’t know about this, but before you came home with us, Mommy already tried to get one of us to inherit her designer dreams, but none of us liked designing, so we didn’t let her teach us. After we turned her down, Mommy would often bring it up again

creased a little when he heard what

his mother’s artistic genes? He was feeling a little unsure of himself, and he was afraid that Vania would be disappointed in him if he

gave his younger brother a comforting pat on the back. “Relax, it doesn’t matter if you’re not very good at drawing or

nodded lightly to signify that he understood what James meant. After spending a few days with the other three children, he had become less reserved than he was when he first met them. Even

clutching a lollipop as he declared, “Don’t worry, Jude. Our

James and Jake agreed

nodded again and carefully committed their words

As soon as she