The Reclaimed Rose (Annalise and Steven) novel Chapter 450

However, Howard beat Suzy to it, already holding Penelope in his arms. He smiled at Suzy and said, "I've got this. You take a break."

Suzy went along and said sincerely, "Thanks."

"Anytime."

Everyone headed back to the living room for dinner. The dining table was a little cramped for all of us, so we ended up splitting into two tables.

Penelope and Willow sat together at one of the tables, talking nonstop as soon as they started eating. Every once in a while, they'd pause and ask questions if something didn't quite make sense.

The house was buzzing with life.

I really liked this vibe. When I was living at Steven's, he hardly had time for me. Even after Zachary was born, Steven would only leave him with me when he was a handful.

Once Zachary got a bit older and could feed himself, Steven would take him out for nice dinners in the evenings, leaving me alone to sit in the living room.

Back then, I never imagined I'd have so much talking and laughter in my life. It felt amazing. I finally had someone to hang out with.

After dinner, Willow came running over, her eyes lighting up as she said, "Mommy!"

I ran my fingers through her hair and asked, "What's up?"

"Can we play freeze tag?" she asked, practically bouncing with excitement.

I nodded. "Of course!"

Willow and Penelope were still at the age where teachers made them nervous. They were scared of how serious Leah looked and went to hide.

Willow grabbed onto the hem of my shirt, peeking at Leah from behind me. She was worried that if she didn't get what Leah was saying later, Leah might snap at her. So, to avoid that, Willow made up her mind to pay extra close attention from then on.

Meanwhile, Penelope didn't even dare look Leah in the eye. She found her pretty scary.

Zane scooped up one of the girls in each arm and carried them over to Leah. "These are the ones."

Leah could tell both girls were afraid, so she forced a smile and said, "Alright, you two, go ahead and bring out your toys."

"Huh?" Willow looked surprised. "We get to play with our toy planes?"