The Reclaimed Rose (Annalise and Steven)

Steven was heartbroken, too. He patted Zachary's back gently. "You still have Mommy Jessie." Zachary's crying stopped abruptly.

Thinking his words had helped, Steven continued, "She'll treat you even better than Mommy did."

"No, she won't." Zachary pulled away from Steven's embrace. "Daddy..." His tone turned serious. "Please stop lying to me. I may be a kid, but I understand everything." Before Steven could respond, Cody spoke up, "Daddy, can we go home?"

Steven turned to look at him.

Cody frowned. "I'm hungry."

"Let's head back, then." Steven quickly decided. "We can't let you go hungry."

Zachary stood frozen, watching as Steven walked away holding Cody's hand.

His own dad had also become someone else's dad without him even realizing it. Since when had everything turned out this way?

Zachary could not figure it out.

...

The martial arts coach, Howard Lardon, arrived early. When we pulled up to the mansion, we found him-who was rather unfamiliar-standing awkwardly in the courtyard. Zane casually asked Richard, "Why didn't you take him to the living room?"

Howard quickly explained, "I asked to walk around the yard."

"It's hot outside," Zane said calmly. "We usually get home around this time. If you arrive early next time, please wait inside, where it's cool."

"Of course." Howard could tell Zane was not just being polite, so he asked, "When should we start the lesson?"

Zane looked at Willow, who tugged gently at my clothes.

I bent down and asked, "What is it?"

Willow whispered in my ear, "I want to start now."

She was still too shy to answer Howard. So, I explained, "Our daughter is kind of a special case. She doesn't like talking to others."

Howard nodded understanding. "I see."

"Why don't you start with her now?" I patted Willow's shoulder. "She's been looking forward to this for a long time."

Though surprised his student was just a kindergartener, Howard crouched down to look at Willow. He said, "I'm Howard Lardon. What's your name?" Before he could finish, Willow darted behind me.

Howard apologized, "Sorry. I forgot."

"It's okay."

I understood Willow's feelings. Of course a little girl like her would feel uncomfortable around an unfamiliar adult male.

I smiled at her and asked, "Would you like me to stay with you?"

She nodded hard.

"Where will we train?" I asked, holding Willow's hand.

Since this was Zane's house, Howard looked to him for direction.

Zane replied evenly, "We've prepared a room on the first floor specifically for her training."

"Alright."

Zane led the way. The room on the west side of the first floor was spacious. There were floor-length windows and a large balcony.

Howard started to teach Willow

some basic moves, but her stamina was poor. She was already out of breath after less than two minutes of each exercise. But when he tried to ask how she felt, she would not say anything.

Seeing this, Howard told Zane he wanted to focus on running with Willow for the first month to build up her stamina. After that, they would move on to martial arts training.

Zane nodded in agreement.

As Howard was about to continue the lesson, Zane spoke up, "You're definitely more qualified than me when it comes to training, so feel free to modify the teaching plan as you see fit. You don't have torun it by me first."