188\u2013Slipping Away\u00a0<\/p>\n
Madeline:\u00a0<\/p>\n
It had been two days that I had not been able to get in contact with Elgin.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Not that I tried to, but I did hear from the council that he had not responded to them either.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I was the one who told them that he was probably busy with his children.\u00a0<\/p>\n
They understood for now, however, I was concerned about what was going on.\u00a0<\/p>\n
His behavior had really shaken my mind, especially at a time when we needed to discuss things, sit together, and figure everything out.\u00a0<\/p>\n
At this point, I did not know who to trust. I shared a lot with Baxter, and he promised to return soon.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I hated that I had stressed him out as well.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cMommy, we want to talk to you,\u201d Bodhi uttered, snapping me back to them.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I had been sitting in front of the TV, pretending to watch it while getting lost in my own thoughts.\u00a0<\/p>\n
My kids were playing with their toys when Bodhi finally spoke to get my attention.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cYes, my child, what is going on?\u201d I replied, keeping a smile on my face.\u00a0<\/p>\n
It was not easy to be a mother and still have time for yourself, especially when you wanted to cry, laugh, or feel hurt.\u00a0<\/p>\n
When you have a child, you need to make sure that your behavior is not ruining their mood.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIs it true? Is Elgin our true daddy?\u201d Bodhi asked.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The minute he said it, I realized they had misinterpreted something.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Elgin had only told Elara that she was his daughter, probably during the hours she had been in his care when I was at the council. 2\u00a0<\/p>\n
That must have led my children to believe they were all his.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cHow about we not talk about it for now? Very soon, I will answer all your questions,\u201d I told them, feeling guilty that every time they asked something like this, I had no response.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The truth was that I did not even know myself what the future held.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cOkay,\u201d Bodhi nodded.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cMommy, are we going to go and meet Daddy then?\u201d Gina asked, and my muscles tensed.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cHe means to say Uncle Elgin,\u201d Elara replied, making me feel conflicted about how attached they had become to him.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cNot today. You remember his daughter is hurt. He will be spending time with her,\u201d I answered, swallowing hard.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Sometimes children\u2019s questions were difficult to answer.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cOh, is Daddy still upset with me?\u201d Elara uttered. 1\u00a0<\/p>\n
1\/3\u00a0<\/p>\n
108 Stipping Away\u00a0<\/p>\n
+25 Bonus\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cNo, of course he is not. He called me asking about you,\u201d I replied.\u00a0<\/p>\n
As soon as I said that, Elara stood up and clapped her hands.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThe other Daddy used to be so nice. He would get angry with people, but then he would come and be so concerned about us,\u201d Elara remarked, remembering Sawyer.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cYeah, he was nice. I mean he is nice,\u201d I corrected myself, feeling odd that I had mentioned him in the past tense.\u00a0<\/p>\n
In the last two days, his emails had become distant. It upset me because I knew why he was busy.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I guessed that in the previous few years, somewhere along the line, even when I did not want to, I had developed some kind of feelings for him.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Then I remembered how he believed in polygamy, and everything changed for me.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I could not get myself to like him anymore.\u00a0<\/p>\n
How could I fall for him when every time I thought about him, the next image that came to my mind was of Nina.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cAnyway, you three keep playing. I\u2019ll go attend this call,\u201d I told them as I got up from the living room and stepped into the kitchen to answer the call from the council.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cHello?\u201d I answered.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI know it is too early to be calling someone, but I need to speak with you about your marriage and everything, since neither of you, the bride or the groom, seem interested in discussing it,\u201d Lady Abigail remarked.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I recognized her, not from her voice, but from the tone and the words she used.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThat is because the wedding was forced upon me, but anyway. What is it that you want to talk about? Do you want my <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
188\u2013Slipping Away\u00a0 Madeline:\u00a0 It had been two days that I had not been able to get in contact with Elgin.\u00a0 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[24],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19189","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-no-daddy-novel-by-novelnozi"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19189","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19189"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19189\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19389,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19189\/revisions\/19389"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19189"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19189"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19189"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}