The Abandoned Wife

Upon seeing that Roxanne was still in a daze, Lucian couldn't resist lifting his hand and caressing her face.

"You..."

Roxanne was stupefied for several seconds before she belatedly snapped back to her senses. Mild embarrassment showed in her eyes.

While the man had sneaked up on her countless times when they were in Miralaea, she could more or less postulate the reason after the fact.

But this time, I didn't do anything. Why did he simply kiss me?

Innocence was written all over Lucian's face. "Sorry, I lost control."

At that answer, Roxanne's eyes went wide in fury. However, she couldn't really censure him either. All she could do was turn around as though nothing had happened and put the washed tableware aside.

The two of them spent some time doing the dishes. When they exited the kitchen, Archie, Benny, and Estella pestered Lucian to play with them for a while.

was rather

say, Roxanne saw him off with the

she watched as Archie and Benny got into bed

home with your grandpa and

on the bed, Roxanne only started coaxing Estella after spending a long time bracing herself

that, her initially smiling face fell. She clutched at Roxanne's arm tightly.

"I want to be with you too, Essie, but your grandpa and grandma miss you. Why don't you go back and keep them company for two days? Then, I'll go over and

before Estella was finally less

planning to leave,

girl for a while before

remained morose the entire day as her mind was occupied with the fact that she had to go back

Under Archie and Benny's lead, she got along smashingly with the other children. At the sight of the children all fired up, Jeffrey and the other teachers wore expressions

expected Ms. Jarvis to be Essie's biological

that the others dared comment on

I didn't expect Essie to be Archie and Benny's biological sister. No wonder she always clung to the