The Reclaimed Rose (Annalise and Steven)

Chapter 465

Zachary thought his grandmother cooked as well as his mother did. The food was delicious.

He smiled to himself.

Even though Zachary had made a mistake by going down the wrong path, he was lucky that he still had his family by his side-even if that meant his biological parents had left him.

When Steven got up, he looked at the time and felt the space beside him on the bed. Steven realized that the other side of the bed was cold.

He wondered if Annalise had already gotten out of bed. Steven got up and went to the kitchen. He asked impatiently, "Annalise, are you done cooking?"

But there was nobody in the kitchen. At that moment, Steven finally remembered that they had divorced.

Steven stumbled back to the dining table and plopped into his seat. Overwhelmed with frustration, he buried his head into his hands. Steven wondered why he kept forgetting that they had divorced.

of the time when he was still

his senses, he looked at the empty kitchen again. He regretfully wondered if he had spoken to Annalise with a bad attitude like

like there was a void in him. He couldn't understand why he just couldn't

...

I

leaned on me and whispered,

arms around her,

to talk to me because they were curious, One of the kids was worried that if was surrounded by other kids now, I would be sad

the other kids only liked me temporarily. She said they

and gazed at

so, I asked her what that meant. She told me not to cry when that happens. I told her I didn't know you were worried that I would be sad, and you must care

I shot Zane a confused look. As an adult, I interpreted Willow's words in that the other child

felt a little conflicted. Willow had always been very carefree. She never noticed the negative emotions behind other people's intentional provocations. If I pointed this out, Willow may be sad to learn about their hostility. After a flurry of thoughts, I decided not to address

me and then at Zane. She said, "Mommy, Daddy, you both look very serious. What's on