The Knight's Mysterious Maid-Chapter 224: Family (3)

"I think you shouldn’t be angry with me since I wasn’t going to fall and I made her laugh. She’s playing with a smile now instead of looking really sad. If anyone wants to come to take her as their daughter, they must ask for my permission first since I am feeling really protective of her now," Annalise said as she watched the little girl play on the rope again.

"If you are so worried, you should adopt her," Rafael suggested.

Annalise didn’t respond to his option since it was impossible for her to adopt the little girl. She couldn’t take her home with her to the border. It was a long trip and more importantly, outsiders weren’t easily welcomed.

There was also the possibility that the child heard stories about the border and would be afraid. Annalise would not be able to just bring her back.

"I wasn’t being serious, but you seemed to have been considering it," Rafael said, joining Annalise down on the grass to watch the little girl play.

"If I hadn’t spent a little time with her, I wouldn’t have thought about it, but seeing how quiet and small she is, how could you not want to protect her? I have a soft spot for people who are unable to defend themselves. I want to protect them. I am still trying to figure out if she can’t speak or if she is scared to speak. Maybe she doesn’t want to waste her energy doing it and I don’t blame her," said Annalise.

It was a waste of time and energy to speak to others sometimes so staying quiet was good. You wouldn’t get annoyed with people not understanding your words or have someone twist your words.

"She seems to be in her own little world over here instead of playing with the other children, but she did look like she wanted me to come over when I first saw her. I hope that she can make friends with the other children so she isn’t alone. She shouldn’t be alone at this age. As strange as you may think I am, I had many friends at this age," Annalise replied.

Thomas was not her only friend. He was just the one brave enough to travel far from home with her. There were others at home who were most likely waiting for her to return so they could shake her shoulders and ask her what she was thinking.

"Rafael, is it alright if I ask you about your grandfather Nicolas? About the other Callahans," Annalise said, wanting to test if it was something she couldn’t talk about with him.

"What is it?" Rafael asked, lying on the ground to take a quick rest before his mother or father came looking for him to fix something.

"Where are the other Callahans? I hear about your grandmother Nicolas but no one else. Was he also an orphan or did he come from a small family?"

"I’ve never heard about other Callahans, but I knew he wasn’t an orphan. His parents died a few years after he became a knight. Their house was on fire and they did not make it out. He had no siblings and if there were other relatives, he never spoke about them and no one came to visit. I am only familiar with my parents and late grandfather as Callahans," Rafael replied.

"I see," Annalise replied, thinking that her thoughts about Nicolas were wrong. "Did he ever have anyone he loved? Anyone he didn’t show around too much?" freewebnoveℓ.com

"What are you trying to get at? My grandfather kept to himself. There was a woman or two, but he wasn’t being sneaky to not show them. When he wasn’t protecting the kingdom as a knight, he spent his time here or with my family until he died during the war with the border. Are you curious about people saying we stole this name?" Rafael asked, turning his head slightly to gaze at Annalise.

"He was well known before he decided to adopt my father. He was loved despite coming from a humble background. People have a habit of loving to remind my father that he isn’t the blood son of Nicolas Callahan. The manor was Nicolas’s at first, but it wasn’t as big as it is now."

"My father built it up over the years with the money he received for his service and then he handed it over to me to shelter the men following us as Callahan knights. I’m sure you might have noticed by now that when I don’t follow what anyone wants you will hear them speak of me having something that doesn’t belong to me," Rafael finished.

"The knights hang onto your every word so if I were you, I would send a letter to the king to inform him that I would no longer be protecting the kingdom and have the knights follow your lead. I would hope for the king to call upon men from every family to fulfill their duties to protect the kingdom and watch how they all come running to you. Like ants to a drop of sugar," Annalise said, imagining their desperate faces.

"I prefer to just ignore them. We cannot all go a devious path like you do. Tobias would dislike you for offering me this advice when he needs me now. If I put down my sword now, the king would lose his mind. There are not many people he can trust to do what he needs," Rafael said, staring at the clouds passing by over them.

"I am still surprised you are friends with a duke and the king. Now that I know more of your personality, it doesn’t make any sense for you to get so caught up in nobility. Are we going to ignore that I got you to admit you were pretending to not like me anymore?" Annalise questioned, leaning over Rafael to block his view of the sky.

"Are we going to talk about why you are so focused on knowing if I still like you?" Rafael responded. "It is a bit unfair to Logan unless the difference is that you like me-"

"We should lay around and look at clouds," Annalise cut in, laying beside Rafael. "This must be one of the most harmless things I did as a child. I also like to lay around when it is night so I can see the beauty of the sky."

"Annalise!"

Annalise turned her head to the right to look at Beatrice walking toward them. "I truly think it should be looked into how your mother comes at these times," she said as she sat up. Why didn’t Beatrice come out when she was in the tree or before that? "Lady Beatrice."

"While the men are busy, this would be a good time for you and me to take a few knights and go into town to do some quick shopping so they won’t have to leave here early for us to shop. I need to get you a few things for the ball tomorrow night and I want to get a few gifts for the children. I’m sure my son can do an hour without you by his side," Beatrice said, glancing at Rafael who wasn’t happy with the interruption.

If not for wanting to get shopping out the way so River did not have to leave the orphanage early before the dress shops closed, she would have sat down to watch Annalise and Rafael being like a family with the little girl swinging on a rope.