Too Late To Love Me I Already Left With His Twins (Lydia and Dave) novel Chapter 258

o children

Anna POV

The moment I stepped through the front door, I heard little feet pounding against the floor upstairs.

“Auntie Anna!”

I barely had time to put my bag down before Eli came running toward me, his hair sticking up on one side and his shirt half–tucked into his shorts. Ava followed close behind, but unlike her brother, she wasn’t smiling.

“When is Mum getting back?”

The question stopped me.

I forced a smile.

“Good morning to you too, troublemakers.”

“Auntie Anna,” Ava repeated, coming closer. “When is Mum coming back?”

“And why weren’t you at home throughout the night?” Eli added.

I looked between them.

Two little faces.

Two pairs of eyes searching mine.

Two children who had absolutely no idea that their entire world was currently sitting behind a glass door in an

intensive–care unit.

I swallowed.

“I had somewhere important to be.”

“Where?”

“A hospital.”

Ava’s eyes widened.

“Were you sick?”

“No.”

“Then why were you there?”

I opened my mouth, but nothing sensible came out.

Before I could find an answer, Ava stepped closer.

“I had a bad dream.”

Something inside my chest twisted.

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Two children

+15 Bonus

“What kind of dream?”

She looked down at her fingers.

“That Mum never came back.”

I went still.

She continued in that painfully matter–of–fact way children sometimes had when they said things that adults needed entire therapy sessions to process.

“I woke up and she wasn’t calling me. She always calls us before she sleeps. Even when she’s tired. Mum can’t sleep without calling us.

Eli nodded vigorously.

“She didn’t call me either.”

“Auntie Anna,” Ava whispered, “why isn’t she calling us?”

I crouched down in front of them.

“She’s okay.”

The lie tasted awful.

But I couldn’t bring myself to say anything else.

Ava studied my face.

“You’re hiding something.”

My heart dropped.

“What?”

“You are.”

Eli folded his arms.

“She definitely is.”

I blinked.

“When did you two become detectives?”

“You’re acting weird,” Ava said.

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Why did they have to be so observant?

I stood up before my face betrayed me.

“Come on.”

“What did the chef make?” I asked, deliberately directing the question toward the kitchen.

I raised a hand.

“Isn’t corn one of your favourites?”

“Auntie Anna.”

His voice cracked.

“Tell her to call me.”

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