Sign the Papers Mr. Langford novel Chapter 26

What a considerate thing to say.

Yet every single word was designed to remind everyone in the room of her failure as a biological mother.

Wren looked at her.

Willow was wearing a cream-colored knit dress today, her long hair cascading smoothly over her shoulders. She looked so soft and gentle, fitting into the Langford living room like a perfectly curated piece of furniture.

She sat beside Leo, intimately familiar with his toys, his preferences, and the shifting moods of everyone in the house.

Wren suddenly realized Willow hadn't replaced her overnight.

She had systematically stolen her place through countless little daily moments like this.

At dinner, she knew Eleanor liked her food bland.

When playing, she knew exactly how Leo liked to be praised.

And toward Lawrence, she was eternally gentle, considerate, and utterly trouble-free.

She was exceptionally good at playing the kind of woman the Langford family demanded.

In the past, Wren had refused to stoop to fighting over these things.

Now, she just didn't care enough to try.

She looked down at Leo and handed him the paper bag.

"Mom brought you some books."

Leo took it and peeked inside.

"Space books?"

"Yeah," Wren said, her voice softening. "You love rockets, right? These are pretty easy to understand. You can have Dad read them to you tonight."

Leo froze.

"You're not going to read them to me?"

Wren's chest tightened painfully.

In the past, she had read to him every single night.

He hated when the nanny read to him, and he refused to listen to audiobooks on the tablet. He always insisted that she sit by his bed and read to him, page by page.

But she couldn't allow herself to be dragged back into that cycle of bottomless sacrifice.

She loved him.

But she needed Leo to understand that Mom wasn't someone who would just wait by his bed forever.

"Mom isn't staying here tonight," she said.

Leo's little face instantly fell.

"Why?"

Eleanor frowned sharply. "Wren, you're leaving again?"

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