$25 Bonus\u00a0<\/p>\n
358\u2013Broken Hearts Find Comfort Together\u00a0<\/p>\n
Baxter:\u00a0<\/p>\n
I knew I should not have snapped at Madeline like that. Even though my tone was calm when I dismissed her request to know if I had any plans, I could tell that I had upset her.\u00a0<\/p>\n
When I walked back into the room and lay down on the bed, it felt like it had been a long time since I had done that. I only did it to avoid Madeline\u2019s eyes, because neither of us could sleep until we had found our daughter, Baxter.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I snapped my eyes open when I saw Madeline walk into the room and sit on the bed right beside me.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI think keeping ourselves awake is not going to help us. You should also rest,\u201d I told her, trying to turn my back to her. However, she held my hand, stopping me.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI do not want to lose you,\u201d she murmured. Those were the first words she said after sitting down, and they instantly had my attention.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The way she crumbled while looking down after saying that made me feel guilty. I sat up at once and held her by her arms.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cYou are not losing me,\u201d I assured her.\u00a0<\/p>\n
She gently placed her hand over mine and shook her head.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cNo, the Moon Goddess always takes away whatever I like. And I have liked you for many, many years. I am afraid \u2014-\u201d she uttered, her voice breaking as her breath quickened.\u00a0<\/p>\n
She had no idea what hearing those words did to me.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cCome here,\u201d I said as I pulled her against my chest, holding her tightly.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cYou are the only one I can trust, Baxter. You are the only one who gave me hope, who gives me life. You are the only one who has protected me. Even that night, you did not care about your own life, and you saved me and my children. Otherwise, none of us would have been alive today,\u201d she continued softly, and I started to feel even more guilty. 2\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI had no clue you were thinking of all of this,\u201d I said, still hugging her tightly. She began to wiggle out of my arms so she could place her hands on my chest and look me in the\u00a0<\/p>\n
eye.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a difficult time for us, Baxter, and I know we need each other\u2019s comfort, but we also need to understand not to judge each other. You know how I feel about you, and if you do not, then let me tell you. You saved me and my children, Bodhi and Elara, that night. The only failure is me,\u201d she confessed.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Her voice broke again, and I started to feel terrible for making it about myself. The truth was that she had been drowning in guilt.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThat night, I could not even take Elara and run toward the porch. Then you had to come out and put yourself in danger for us, and Baxter, I could not even reach Gina,\u201d she continued.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The more she spoke, the more I realized that her telling me not to worry about her had come from feeling responsible for losing Gina. She was likely thinking she was incapable, and that was why I had put myself in danger to save her.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cMy Madeline, we are going to find her, okay? Remember what Yuvonne said today,\u201d I said as I rubbed her elbow and caressed her cheeks, running my hand through her hair to fix it.\u00a0<\/p>\n
1\/3\u00a0<\/p>\n
+26 Bonus\u00a0<\/p>\n
She nodded. I realized she had been wanting me to step up, but at the same time, she was scared about something The moment I started to speak up, she handed all the control to me.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cBut how will we find out who started the rumor?\u201d she questioned, her eyes showing emptiness.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cYou do not worry about that. I will contact someone and figure it out,\u201d I stated as I pulled her back against my chest.\u00a0<\/p>\n
She hugged me tightly. Holding her in my arms and listening to her confess just minutes ago how much I meant to her changed something in me. I was more determined than ever to find Gina and prove to her that she could rely on me. At the same time, I knew what I had to do.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I broke the hug and helped her climb onto the bed, pulling her close to cuddle.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cTomorrow, we will ask Yuvonne and Ron to book us a room at the motel. This place is not safe. And since we are out at night a lot with the warriors, I am afraid the monster might get triggered. Remember, we still have two children living with us here,\u201d I told Madeline.\u00a0<\/p>\n
She only nodded, getting comfortable as she pressed herself closer to my chest. I tightened my arms around her. She stayed quiet, letting me take the lead, and I was going to do exactly that.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u65e5\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
$25 Bonus\u00a0 358\u2013Broken Hearts Find Comfort Together\u00a0 Baxter:\u00a0 I knew I should not have snapped at Madeline like that. Even […]<\/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-19559","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\/19559","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=19559"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19559\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19727,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19559\/revisions\/19727"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19559"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19559"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19559"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}