hapter 0583

Julian immediately took another step backwards, adding more space between him and me. We both nervously glanced at Nicholas who mostly seemed confused by his own reaction. He cut off his growl with a sharp grunt.

"Sorry," he said.

"Don't worry," I replied.

"It's my fault," Julian said.

"No," Nicholas quickly corrected. "I don't know what came over me."

"I knew this game was a bad idea," Bridget says, rising from the couch. "I tried to warn everyone, but no one takes me seriously."

I distinctly remembered Bridget championing the idea for charades so much that she took to mostly organizing it herself. Now, suddenly, when something had gone wrong, she didn't want anything to do with the idea?

"We should definitely stop," Bridget continued, "I, for one, am out totally." She looked around at everyone, expecting them to agree.

Maybe she wasn't wrong in this instance. The joyful mood I had been attempting to cultivate seemed utterly at waste now, with only thick tension in the air.

Jessica worried her bottom lip. Veronica looked down at her lap. Julian apologized. Nicholas said, "I'm the one at fault."

Everything really did seem like it was falling apart.

Then Elva raised her head, looking up from her coloring books. She spotted the empty spot between Nicholas and Jessica on the couch.

"Can I be on Nick-lass's team?" she asked.

And just like that, the entire mood shifted. The tension broke and everything brightened. Jessica laughed. Veronica's lips twitched in an almost smile. Julian smiled outright. So did Nicholas.

"Of course you can," Nicholas said. He glanced at me. "If it's okay with your mom."

Elva turned her doe eyes on me. It would have been fine with me anyway, but having her look at me like that would have melted even my coldest moods.

"You can," I told her, and she cheered. Cóntent belongs to NovélDráma. Org

wait a minute," Bridget said. She placed her hands on her hips.

four, compared to your team's three." "My team' she says," Julian scoffed. "Didn't you just tell everyone

to take

had thought we were quitting the game," Bridget

told her. "Just sit this one out without making a

sidestepped into her line of sight, blocking her from seeing my child and looking at her that way. Elva was innocent in all this. If Bridget wanted to be mad at someone, let

me.

me and I wouldn't care. Not anymore. The moment she pushed me off that boat was the moment she forfeited any right to my feelings. I should have stopped

long time. It

turned at stormed

the

word. I decided to stay with her, while Julian returned

I think, was

paper with a word and looked at

was a concept more than a thing. It would be a trickier word to try to act out. But Elva seemed confident about what she had to do. She had an idea before I could even suggest

took her place in front of her team. I stood nearby, ready to

"Timer!" she called.

down from three, then

me. Tears welled in my eyes at once, but I blinked them back. I dropped down to one knee and

Jessica called.

me, with her noodle arms around my neck, then she let me go. Turning, she rushed across the room to

time to catch Elva's hug. He wrapped his arms around her in

"Family," Nicholas said.

shook her head a

Nicholas considered.

Jessica asked, slightly taken

Nicholas. An understanding flashed

"Home," he said.

I said. My heart hammered

"You got

so fondly at Elva that I thought I might melt into a puddle right there in the living room. Elva so wanted Nicholas to be her

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